Chap. VII. FIRST ARRIVAL OF EMIGRANTS. 189 
Nicholson, charged with letters from Captain Smith, 
who was there in the Cuba, anxious to commence the 
survey of the town. Near Oterawa a whaling heads- 
man named Maclaren lived with his native wife during 
the summer ; and he agreed to look out for the emi- 
grant vessels and pilot them to Port Nicholson. 
Colonel Wakefield then proceeded in a whale-boat 
through Queen Charlotte's Sound, arriving at Te-awa-iti 
at midnight on the 15th. He crossed the Strait in 
three hours with a fresh breeze, still in the whale-boat, 
on the 17th ; and was forced by the increasing force of 
the wind to encamp on a beach near Port Nicholson 
heads that night. At noon on the 18th, he reahed 
the Cuba, at our old anchorage north of Somes's 
Island. He described his first welcome by the natives 
as most gratifying ; the chiefs insisted on rubbing 
noses with him, and repeated constantly that all the 
land was his. 
On the 20th, a sail was reported outside ; and he 
boarded the Aurora at the heads. This was the first 
emigrant ship that arrived. A strong north-west wind 
obliged her to anchor at the entrance of the harbour 
until the 22nd, when Colonel Wakefield left a pilot on 
board and returned to the Cuba. During the next 
week, the work of disembarking had been going on. 
A small jetty was run out by the surveying men ; loca- 
tions were allotted near the beach for the pitching of 
tents and temporary huts, in the erection of which the 
natives assisted ; and some wooden houses in frame 
sent out by the Company for the reception of the 
labouring emigrants, were also set up. At this time a 
Mr. Bullen, a Wesleyan missionary, visited the place, 
and performed divine service on board the Aurora on 
Sunday the 26th. 
On visiting Thorndon, the level piece of land at the 
