102 Historical Notes on the 



cold nights it was very low, so that we could easily cross, it being" 

 scarcely above our knees when running in several branches. jSunierous 

 deep channels, now empty, and the enormous amount of drift-wood 

 lying everywhere upon the shingle flats and spits, were indications 

 enough to show that, with the least freshet, it would be impassable for 

 travellers on foot ; and I can easily understand that, during spring and 

 summer, it is almost impossible to wade through it. Even in this 

 season, .the least rain makes it very dangerous to cross. A week before 

 our arrival, when there had been a freshet in the river, a prospector, a 

 capital swimmer, was washed from his feet, and drowned, before his 

 mates could offer him any assistance. The river having a general 

 tendency, at present, to keep principally on the northern side of its 

 broad bed, we crossed it at once in three branches, and kept on the 

 southern side, travelling partly in dry channels, over grass -flats, or 

 sometimes, through dense bush, where a branch of the river sets close 

 against banks covered with forest vegetation. This forest consisted 

 either of pines intermingled with arborescent ferns, the whole inter- 

 laced by climbing plants, or — and what was still worse — of shrubs, the 

 branches of which were not only grown to dense masses and towards 

 the ground, but were still more closely united by Bushlawyers (JRiibus 

 australis) and Supple- jacks (Rliipogonum scandens). It was a hercu- 

 lean task to pass through bush of the last description when only a 

 few hundred yards long ; and we seldom reached the river-bed without 

 having left part of our garments or skin in our battle with that un- 

 pleasant "West Coast vegetation. 



After two miles the bed enlarged still more, the river flowing in two 

 principal branches on each side of it, with a large wooded island in the 

 centre. Towards evening we camped about seven miles from the coast, 

 near a grove of pine trees and arborescent ferns. During our 

 journey up the river we had occasion to observe an abundance of 

 animal life existing there ; there were large numbers of woodhens, 

 and my Maori companions soon made sad havoc amongst them. 

 R"ext morning the same fine weather favoured us, and after four miles 

 we arrived at the foot of the Southern Alps, which rose from the plains 

 in all their majestic splendour. Here the main river turned towards 

 south, and an important branch joins it from the south-east, coming 

 also from a large glacier, which I called after Professor Agassiz, the 

 illustrious naturalist. The valley of the main river narrows here con- 

 siderably, and rocky points are washed by its water on the right side, 

 consisting of a beautiful mica slate full of garnets ; but even here, 



