128 WANGANUI RIVER. [PART I. 



Unable to find the mouth of the river, we stood off 

 the land during the night, and on the following 

 morning found ourselves to the northward of Wan- 

 ganui, which we were unable to reach until the 

 morning of the 20th ; for on approaching the coast 

 we found that the water shoaled to a distance of 

 about three miles ; and it was therefore thought 

 advisable to send Mr. Barret, our pilot, to explore 

 the entrance, and to convey E Kuru to his village. 

 He afterwards reported the depth of water over the 

 bar to be insufficient to admit the Tory, and we 

 therefore stood again to the northward. As, how- 

 ever, one of the Company's settlements has been 

 formed at the mouth of this river, which is already 

 inhabited by several hundreds of Europeans, I will 

 give a few particulars regarding this place which I 

 have gathered from different sources. 



The entrance to the Wanganui river, situated in 

 latitude 39 55' 54" S., is half a mile broad, but 

 at low water its depth does not exceed eight feet, 

 so that it will only admit vessels of moderate bur- 

 den. The largest craft that ever entered it was a 

 vessel of 150 tons. The headlands of the river are 

 low ; a spit of sand runs off the southern head, and 

 the channel is near the northern. At low water 

 the sea breaks across the bar. Inside the bar the 

 river deepens, and is about 300 yards broad. Its 

 banks here are low and sandy, and covered with 

 driftwood and pumicestone, which the river brings 

 down from its source, which is in the Tongariro. 



