98 Historical Notes on the 



a belt of forest, through which parties passing before us had cut a 

 track, and it was already dark when we camped in an abandoned Maori 

 pah, where the dense vegetation afforded us welcome shelter against 

 the heavy south-wester continuing to blow during the first part of 

 the night. 



A glorious morning succeeded the bad weather ; not a cloud 

 was visible on the azure vault of heaven ; and having crossed the 

 "Waitaki, a large river joining the Whataroa near its mouth, which, 

 owing to its soft bed, was troublesome to horses and men, the latter 

 having to carry the loads over in order not to risk the animals in the 

 quicksands, we arrived at the Maori pah, lying on a small sand-spit. 

 I use the habitual expression Maori pah, but a description of this 

 settlement would give a very poor idea of such a Maori village, con- 

 sisting as it did of three miserable low huts, in which a very old 

 couple, and the widow of the late Chief Taitahi. with her children, 

 were living. Owing to so many diggers having passed here, the 

 greatest portion of their staple food — potatoes — was already gone, of 

 which, of course. *he Maori diggers got the lion's share, they would 

 have to suffer a great deal of privation before they could expect a new 

 crop. Evidence of a lamentable state of things was very visible, prin- 

 cipally among the children, who were covered with sores and ulcers ; 

 living, as they did, upon anything they could obtain, and greedily suck- 

 ing the fat of the woodhens they were able to catch And so what had 

 given to the active population of the West Coast a golden harvest, had 

 made these poor people still more wretched than they had formerly 

 been. About a mile south of the Maori huts, and two miles from 

 the mouth of the Whataroa, another headland had to be passed, but 

 owing to the circumstance that high water was still towards noon, we 

 were compelled to remain here the greater part of the day before we 

 could continue our journey. But as the weather was really glorious — 

 no cloud in the deep blue sky — I had plenty of work to do in sketch- 

 ing the magnificent scenery before me, and taking the necessary 

 bearings of a great many of the principal peaks and valleys of that 

 part of the Southern Alps. The view towards the sources of the 

 Whataroa was exquisitely grand ; but I shall not give a description of 

 it till I speak of the view from Lake Okarita, which, for diversity 

 of scenery and greatness, cannot be surpassed by any other landscape 

 on the globe. 



At three o'clock we could start, and rounding two smaller 

 headlands, which were the former terminal moraines of the Waitaki 



