Chap. VII. SITE OF NELSON. 179 
are found nine feet of water at low-water spring-tides ; 
but the springs rise 13 or 14 feet on this coast. In 
the pool which I have described is excellent anchorage, 
as in stormy weather the sea is broken by the bar. 
The Bolton, a ship of 500 tons, lay here when we 
arrived, having discharged her immigrants, and being 
in waiting for tlie Lord Auckland, which was dis- 
charging hers inside the haven. The anchorage was 
in consequence called Bolton Roads. From thence 
the navigation to the inner haven requires a practised 
pilot ; as the tides are exceedingly rapid, and the 
channel very narrow. A peaked rock called the 
" Arrow," rises high out of water, not 100 yards 
south of the point of the Boulder Bank ; and the ship 
channel is between the two. As we pulled in, we saw 
the wreck of a large ship, the Fifeshire, which had 
come out of the harbour imprudently with no wind to 
assist her in steering, and had been drifted by the ebb 
directly on to the Arrow. The inner gut, between 
the Boulder Bank and the main, is still narrower, 
but holds out less danger, as the tide sweeps fairly 
through it. 
Once inside this, you may fancy yourself in a dock, 
except that a rapid tide sweeps along the land side for 
about a mile. The side towards the Boulder Bank is 
out of the influence of the tide, and there vessels 
generally anchor. 
A little way inside this last narrow, we saw a group 
of wooden houses, tents, rough booths, and sheds, 
disposed about a small hollow in the side of the hill ; 
and Captain Wakefield greeted us as we jumped out of 
the boat. 
The eastern shore of the haven is formed, for a mile 
from its entrance, by a low but steep ridge of hills 
that are bare of wood. But, beyond this, the haven 
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