tance to the southward, is low and level, with sandy beaches. One side of the entrance to the harbour is formed by a curious hill, or immense rock of basaltic lava mixed in some places with pumice. It is of a conical or irregular pyramidal form, and about six hundred feet high: standing as it does entirely alone, in the middle of a great extent of low level coast, it forms a very striking object, whether viewed from sea or land. It was formerly a very strong "Pa" (Pah), a native fort or village, for the word means either. I should observe, however, that all the villages are fortified by a ditch and stockade. The land sides of the hill are terraced from top to bottom, and must have been inhabited for a very long period, as the greater portion of the soil of which the terraces are formed is composed of cockleshells. At present the Tawranga (Towrunga) tribe is a very small one, and will most likely in two or three years cease to exist, as at present its only support is that of another tribe, the Waikato, which is the largest in the country, but they are a very bad set. This tribe (the Waikatos) is at war with the Roturoa tribe, which latter occupies the land behind the Tawranga tribe and a port called Muckatoo, about twenty miles to the east along the coast. The Waikatos have no port on the eastern shores, and have for some time been trying to get possession of Muckatoo: they seized it once while I was on my journey, but were beaten off again by the Roturoa people. It appears probable that they will pick a quarrel with the Tawranga people, as a pretext for dispossessing them of their territory, which would be more convenient for them, than Muckatoo, that place being further off, and the tribe one of the most warlike, if not the most powerful, in the country. About six weeks before I arrived at Tawranga, a small party started from Roturoa, and lying in wait near Tawranga, seized a number of people (about twenty, I believe) and cooked them absolutely in sight of the
