178 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. VII. 
by Pepin's Island. All this east side of the gulf is 
backed by high and rugged mountains. The land 
towards Massacre Bay rose blue and clear over the 
distant horizop, until the haze and night closed in ; 
but the low land at the southern end was not yet dis* 
tinguishable, and the bay, looking like a broad strait, 
deserved the name of " Blind" given to it by Captain 
Cook. 
In the morning, which was calm and cloudless, we 
found ourselves lying about half-way between Pepin's 
Island and the entrance of Nelson Haven, and about 
two miles off shore. The vessels in the harbour and 
the buildings on the beach had a curious appearance 
over the low bank of boulders which forms the har- 
bour. 
This curious bank, of no great breadth, and raised 
but few feet above the highest tides, which indeed 
wash over it in some low spots, runs along parallel 
with the land for about six miles, thoroughly shelter- 
ing a space, which averages a quarter of a mile in 
width, from the force of the sea. This natural break- 
water joins the land at its northern extremity, but 
leaves a narrow gut between its southern point and 
the steep coast adjoining; at the very S.E. corner of 
Blind Bay. This gut is the entrance of Nelson Haven. 
Further to the west, a moderate-sized river, called the 
lyaimea, empties itself by several mouths into the 
sea. This river and the waters which flow out of the 
haven form a deep pool, sheltered by a bar. The bar 
extends from a spot on the seaward shore of the 
Boulder Bank, about half-a-mile north of its southern- 
most point, to the sands which stretch out some dis- 
tance from the low coast, extending 10 or 12 miles to 
the westward of Nelson Haven. 
Our anchorage was outside the bar. On the bar 
