thanks to the good humour exhibited by the Maoris , even when 
they sank sometimes waist-deep into mud, and could work their 
way through the swamp only with the greatest difficulty. Amid 
singing and laughing, and amid the wildest joking, the canoe was 
pushed ahead. Finally after the lapse of two long hours , as the 
creek grew wider and deeper, we were afloat. Now, after all 
belonging to the expedition had been seated in the canoe, I 
counted not less than twenty-four of us, whom besides a heavy 
load of baggage and provisions, the “dug-out” 1 had to carry. In 
the fore-part sat the Maoris, twelve in number, each provided with 
a paddle, in the middle the five Pakehas. Behind us four Maori- 
women with two children had crowded in, who wished to meet 
their husbands, expecting to fall in with them upon the Waikato; 
and the helm was managed by Captain Drummond Hay, whom 
the Maoris jestingly styled a “Maori Pakeha,” because he had ac- 
quired certain Maori-accomplishments to perfection , and understood 
especially the management of the paddle as well as any of them. 
Thus we paddled ahead towards the Waikato, all of good cheer, 
and with all those feelings of sanguine hope, which the successful 
9 
start of an interesting journey is wont to call forth. 
The narrow creek soon turns into a river about 100 feet wide, 
the Mangatawhiri river , which about four miles below empties into 
the Waikato. Round about nothing but moor and swamp; the 
water is dark-brown , and only low hills , partly covered with bush, 
the spurs of remoter mountain chains , interrupt the far-extending 
low-lands. It presents the picture of a New Zealand swamp-land 
scenery. The strokes of the paddle are scaring up wild ducks and 
water-hens ; 2 they fly up or endeavour to hide themselves by div- 
ing; but the keen eye of the native espies them even among the 
densest reed-thicket, the sharp-pointed paddle serves him as javelin; 
he hits his mark with certainty and never misses ; and thus one 
1 “Dug-out” is the name of these canoes among the backwoodsmen of North 
America. 
2 The Sultan-hen of brilliant plumage ( Porphyris melanolus ), or the Pukeko of 
the natives; the New Zealand bittern or Matuku ( Botaurus melanotus ), and the wild- 
duck Parena ( Spatula rhynchotis ). 
