454 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XVII. 
in the affair by the counsel of E Kuru, who was at his 
own settlement a hundred miles up the river. 
So I started the Sandfly off to Port Nicholson, and 
rigged a new canoe for my trip. She was a very 
graceful, light-looking vessel, without topsides, but 
with tapering head and stern well peaked up at either 
end ; about thirty feet long, broad in the beam, quick 
and handy to paddle, and adapted for six people. She 
was painted a bright red with kokowai, or baked ochre, 
and from a long staff on the stern I hung an English 
red ensign. I gave a passage to a trader named 
Yankee Smith, who was bound to Pukihika with a 
boxful of goods, and four of my " boys" completed the 
muster-roll. 
Recommending the settlers not to be alarmed till I 
should return with a report of what was to be ex- 
pected, I started a day after the missionaries and the 
body of natives, who were sure from their numbers to 
travel slowly. THe first night we encamped close to 
Te Kau arupuwa, after some trouble in finding a house 
free from fleas. In villages which have been the 
longest deserted, these annoying insects always abound 
most; and the only way to prove the houses is to 
make one of the native boys put his leg inside the door. 
In many cases he draws it back perfectly covered. 
Another canoe, bound to the puni, or camp, of the taua 
joined us here. 
A small drizzling rain prevented us from starting 
till about ten o'clock the next morning; but it partook 
of the character of the fog at the bar some days before, 
for the rest of the day was calm, warm, and cloudless. 
I shall not attempt to dilate upon the scenery, which 
was of the same lovely kind as that which I have de- 
scribed during a former excursion here. The whole 
way up, it was the same. The river winds, or glides, 
