286 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. VIII. 
tika ! or ** keep her straight ! " yelled the others ; 
and the roller broke on either side of us, and roared 
along towards the shore. As the surf extended nearly 
half-a-mile from the beach, this was repeated several 
times ; and the operation of landing was very well 
performed, excepting the conflicting advice which was 
given by all hands at once in the shrillest tones every 
time a roller passed. The moment we touched the 
sand, my two supporters lifted me up with a jerk, and 
pitched me high and dry on to the beach. Before I 
had time to recover myself, they had all jumped out 
into the water, and hauled the canoe out of reach of 
the next wave. 
We encamped on the barren sand-hills at the back 
of the beach, and proceeded to dry our clothes, which 
had all been well drenched. I was sorry to find that 
one of my only pair of boots had been lost during the 
landing. Ten minutes after we were in safety, the 
predictions of the weather-wise among the natives were 
verified, and a fresh gale came up in a puff from the south. 
It was accompanied, however, by fine, clear weather; 
and thus proved rather agreeable than otherwise. 
One of the lads was at once despatched to IVanga- 
nui to give news of our arrival, and to bring back 
E Kuru Kanga to meet me. In the meanwhile I 
walked along the sand-hills to the south, to a small 
river called the PVangaihu, or " Nose opening." At 
its mouth it was not more than twenty yards broad, 
but seemed deep and rapid : inside, it expanded to the 
width of a quarter of a mile. I picked up, on its banks, 
lumps of scoriae and pieces of stone containing petri- 
fied shells, of the same kinds, however, as those now 
existing. Quantities of pumice-stone also spoke of 
the volcano of Tonga Riro, from which the natives 
told me that this river, as well as the Wanuanui and 
