Chap. XIII. HARMLESSNESS OF NIGHT-AIR. Sfft 
his presence, whenever Mr. Park landed to complete a 
sketch of the river, as a thorough confirmation of the 
bargain, in which he had taken so earnest a part. He 
eagerly rejoiced in thinking that the use of the compass 
and pocket-sextant were measures indicative of the 
early arrival of the settlers, and frequently repeated 
his former metaphor of covering the land with White 
people as he did with a handful of sand. On our 
return to my house, I accompanied the rest of the party 
as far as the north head of the river, and wished them 
a prosperous voyage to Taranaki. 
Having engaged a passage in the Surprise, which 
was well laden with live hogs, I bade farewell to E 
Kuru; promising to return soon in order to establish a 
trading station, and to hasten the arrival of surveyors 
and settlers to inhabit the numerous houses which 
had been built for them. 
I landed at Kapiti, and in a day or two after crossed 
over to the main, and walked to Port Nicholson. In 
the course of this walk I was benighted on the hills 
between Porirua and Pitone, having mistaken the time 
of the rising of the moon. As it was too dark to pro- 
ceed along the tortuous path beneath the thick foliage, 
I lay down to sleep for a few hours among the moss 
and forest-fern beside the path. It is worthy of 
remark, that although everything was so damp that 
I could not light a fire, and I had no blanket or any 
other clothes but those in which I walked, to shield me 
from the wet, I suffered no inconvenience from cold, 
and rose fresh and vigorous at the first dawn of day. 
A bull- dog, presented to me by a whaler at Kapiti, kept 
watch on the path while I slept, and scoured the 
bushes all round whenever an owl or other night-bird 
disturbed the sylvan silence. On reaching the hill 
above Pitone, just as the sun rose over the eastern 
