The King Country, or, Explorations in New Zealand
A Narrative of 600 miles of Travel through Maoriland

This 1884 work by a Victorian 'gentleman explorer' recounts a journey into then unexplored and hostile Maori territory.

James Henry Kerry-Nicholls (Author)

9781108039925, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 December 2011

418 pages, 45 b/w illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 2.4 cm, 0.53 kg

Originally published in 1884, this work by the relatively unknown 'gentleman explorer' James Henry Kerry-Nicholls (d. 1888) focuses on nineteenth-century New Zealand. It recounts the journey into what he describes as terra incognita, the area known as the King Country, almost exclusively Maori and little explored by Europeans due to political difficulties and Maori hostility. Travelling with only three horses and what he could carry on them, and accompanied by an interpreter, he endeavoured to cover and accurately record details of an area totalling 10,000 square miles; owing to good contacts, he was even able to meet Maori King Tawhiao. Writing in what now seems an imperialist style, he recounts a history of Maori–European relations, notes potential sites for European settlement, includes geographical surveys and descriptions of the landscapes, and supplies a map which gives the 'most complete chart of the interior of the North Island as yet published'.

Preface
Introduction
The Frontier of the King Country: 1. The King's camp
2. The Korero
3. Ascent of Pirongia
The Lake Country: 4. Auckland to Ohinemutu
5. Hot-spring life
6. Tradition, idolatry, and romance
7. En route to the terraces
8. The terraces
9. Ohinemutu to Wairakei
10. Wairakei
Exploration of the King Country: 11. The start
12. The region of Lake Taupo
13. Eastern shore of Lake Taupo
14. Tokanu
15. The Rangipo Table Land
16. Ascent of Tongariro
17. Ascent of Ruapehu, first day
18. Ruapehu, second day. Ascent of the Great Peak
19. The Kaimanawa Mountains
20. Second ascent of Ruapehu. Sources of the Whagaehu and Waikato rivers
21. Karioi
22. Forest country
23. Ruakara
24. Ngatokorua Pa
25. Hot springs of Tongariro
26. Western Taupo
27. The Northern Table-land
28. The Aukati Line
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM]