66 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. III. 
the morning of the 16th. We were fortunate in find- 
ing a deserted hut free from fleas, and waited very con- 
tentedly for a change. Enai, who had accompanied 
us in his canoe, supplied our mess with fish and birds ; 
and we chattered bad maori with the natives, and of old 
times with Jacky Guard. Port Gore forms a fine har- 
bour of refuge for vessels caught by adverse gales in the 
Strait. Its capabilities in this respect have been appre- 
ciated by the natives, who call it Omahanga, or " Place 
" of Flight." On the morning of the 16th, we left this 
place at seven o'clock, and arrived alongside the Tory 
at three in the afternoon. 
We found that we had missed a noble sight during 
our expedition. A whale had been chased into the 
harbour by some of the boats, and killed close to the 
ship. 
We could not fail to perceive, on our return, that 
the population of Te-awa-iti were watching our move- 
ments, apparently intent upon purchasing land for 
themselves in the neighbourhood of whatever location 
Colonel Wakefield might select for the expected colony. 
Information also arrived that a missionary schooner 
had visited Port Nicholson, with a message to the na- 
tives not to sell their land, and that Mr. Williams (the 
chairman of the Church Mission) would soon arrive 
from the Bay of Islands. 
My uncle, therefore, who had intended to proceed to 
Cloudy Bay, where Guard and Wynen engaged to pre- 
pare the natives for disposing of the Ohiere to us, deter- 
mined to go to Port Nicholson as soon as the wind 
should be fair. 
We had proved during our excursion that all the 
statements we had heard as to the salubrity of the cli- 
mate were true. Ten nights' bivouacking in the open 
air, although exposed to heavy dew, and in the end of 
