432 Transactions. 



on frames, and exhaling an insupportable odour. The Natives gathered 

 on the summit of the cliff, drawn thither by curiosity, and talked with loud 

 voices to our guide as long as the speed of our boat allowed, whilst many 

 children followed us along the banks. 



As we advanced the land became lower ; it was covered with tall vege- 

 tation, and cut up by small streams of almost stagnant water ; many isolated 

 mounts of no great elevation dominated the plain, recaUing the tumuli of 

 Greece. 



At 12.15 the river suddenly terminated in a basin 200 toises wide, and 

 beyond it there was nothing but a streamlet of water. We disembarked 

 on the mud, leaving M. Faraguet to guard the boat. We were at this time 

 seven miles from the corvette and about three miles and a half in a straight 

 line from the mouth of the Mogoia, the general direction of which is S. i S.W. 

 to N.iN.E. 



At 12.55 we took a path cleared through high vegetation, which appeared 

 to be frequently used by the Natives. The lay of the land prevented our 

 seeing very far ahead, but at 1.50 p.m. we found ourselves on the borders 

 of the sea of the other coast. We had therefore taken fifty-five minutes 

 to cross New Zealand, which in that place had only about two miles of 

 width. [It is clear from this account that M. Lottin did not go to the head 

 of the Tamaki at Otahuhu, but crossed the Mokoia basin south of Panmure 

 and came out on the Manukau north of Mount Richmond.] We now had 

 before us what appeared like an immense lake. AVe tasted the water, and 

 found it salt ; and, noticing a hill near us, we directed our steps towards 

 it, with the intention of obtaining a more exact idea of the locality. A 

 canoe was out fishing. The piercing vision of the Natives soon discovered 

 us, and they immediately paddled ashore, and directly afterwards a numerous 

 and armed crowd surrounded us. After talking some moments with our 

 guide, the noisy escort accompanied us to see the chief of these parts. 



We passed near some huts which exhaled the odour of rotten fish. There 

 was no palisade to protect them ; it was a kind of flying camp, ready to 

 be quitted at the first announcement of an enemy. Many young girls came 

 forth and joined our party, whilst a crowd of children gazed at us most 

 earnestly, notwithstanding the blows from the butt of the guns which our 

 escort seemed proud to bear. Presently we saw the chief ; it was Inaki, 

 one of these handsome New-Zealanders. He commanded under him who 

 owned that part of the island, having the title of rangatira-paraparao, 

 general-in-chief of the warriors. He was advantageously posted on the 

 upper part of a slope at the extremity of a double rank of his warriors, and 

 clothed in a beautiful mantle of dog-skin. He stood upright, supporting 

 himself on a spear ornamented with plumes and tufts of hair. I made him 

 a present of some cloth and a medal of the expedition, which had been given 

 me by M. D'Urville for that purpose. The guide explained our intentions, 

 and he gave us his permission to chmb the hill, which is sacred, and up 

 which, as a matter of fact, none of the Natives followed us. [This was 

 probably Mount Richmond, formerly a pa, possibly at that time used as a 

 burial-ground.] 



■X, Arrived at the summit, we were disappointed in not being able to see the 

 entry from the ocean. In the place indicated by the Natives towards the 

 west was a well-pronounced depression in the mountains which bounded 

 our view, but an island between them and us prevented our seeing as far 

 as the ocean. [This would be Puponga Peninsula.] The immense bay 

 seemed entirely safe ; but near the shores many mud-banks appeared, 



