The Wanganui Valley Above Taumarunui.

Rochfort interpolated here in his report of his adventures a brief description of the country through which he travelled before reaching the junction of the Wanganui and Ongarue Rivers. “The Wanganui River [valley] above Taumarunui,” he wrote, “is open for seven or eight miles, with five Maori settlements; and Whata-raparapa [to correct his mis-spelling of the name] the furthest open land up the river, where I first came out of the bush from Waimarino, is the scene of a celebrated fight between the Patutokotoko (who gave me so much trouble in the Manganui-a-te-ao) and the Ngati-Maniapoto. The old pa of the Patu-tokotoko is on a flattopped isolated hill, with open land all round, except towards Piopiotea, in which direction forest stretches to Waimarino. Dotted over the flat below the pa for a mile or more are short posts stuck in the ground; some are rotted and fallen; these mark the spots where the fallen in battle lay or were buried. Turanga-tahi and Tuhiora were the chiefs of the Patu-tokotoko, and their descendants speak with pride of having beaten back their border enemies.”