CHAP. III.] THE ERITONGA. 85 



had the brown colour peculiar to streams passing 

 through swampy ground. I considered that we 

 were now about fifty miles from the sea. In the 

 bed of the river we had the satisfaction of seeing 

 the Tararua range very near to us. A creek here 

 joined the river from the eastward ; it appeared to 

 come straight from the mountains, and I therefore 

 determined to follow itg^ For this purpose we had 

 to cross the Eritonga, which we could not have 

 managed had not a newly-t^fifooted mai, which had 

 fallen across it, formed a natural bridge. After 

 scrambling for two hours through dense underwood 

 and a soft alluvial soil, we reached the creek, which 

 we crossed, and on the banks of which we en- 

 camped. 



On our route thi|jjday we had seen traces of na- 

 tives ; a footpath coining from the eastward, al- 

 though marked only by the half-broken branches 

 of shrubs (a common mode among the natives of 

 pointing out a path through the bush), had been 

 trodden about a year ago, if the appearance of the 

 broken twigs did not deceive me. We had also 

 sure indications that wild pigs were common in the 

 forest. On the sandy banks of the Eritonga we 

 observed the footmarks of dogs and cats, but higher 

 up those of the. pigs only were discernible; and 

 from the direction of their paths, which are as well 

 marked as those of men, although more winding, I 

 concluded that they must have found their way to 

 this place not from Port Nicholson, but from Pal- 



