48 
DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE OF JOURNEY. 
already felt giddy at 
when the others had 
that it would be 
me 
one feet in length, and consisting of pieces of rata lashed together 
with flax, the steps being placed at irregular intervals. Between 
these two ladders is a little platform. As we descended, several 
of the steps, which were rotten, broke under our weight; but as 
Mr. Mackay had been kind enough some time before to 
replace the old flax rope by a new one, we had secure hand¬ 
hold. 
The same man of my party who had 
the former cliffs remained behind, and 
reached the foot of the ladder they told 
impossible to bring him down. I, however, re-ascended, and 
after a considerable loss of time, succeeded in assisting him 
down to the first platform. As the second and longest ladder is 
lashed to a tree which grows in a crevice in the rocks, rendering 
it necessary to lean over in order to reach the ladder, it was here 
that I experienced the greatest difficulty in getting him down, his 
giddiness endangering not merely his own life, but also the lives 
of those who assisted him. I must confess that it was a moment 
of anxiety for us all, and we felt greatly relieved when we got him 
safely down. 
I do not relate this incident for the purpose of giving interest 
to my narrative, or to show the dangers of travelling round this 
coast, but merely to warn persons who have not steady 
heads and sure footing against attempting this route. The man I 
refer to is a first rate traveller, a keen river crosser, and in every 
o er respect a good bushman, but he is giddy, which perhaps 
he himself had not previously known, and this would be a very 
great drawback to passing round the coast. J 
After travelling another mile, we arrived at the granitic rocks 
and finding a nice little sandy beach before us, camped. 
e next day, June 8, the coast becoming very rocky we ex- 
changed our boots for Maori sandals (pereiras), which Awed a 
better foothold on the smooth boulders. The coast consists of 
rocky promontories with masses of huge granitic boulders be¬ 
tween over which the traveller has to find his way by a succes¬ 
sion of climbings and jumps, and where a fall woulil be of the 
most serious consequence. In going over one of these nro non 
tones, whilst I was looking at some crystals in the 
porphyritie granite which forms these wild spots I had ,,ot 
observed a narrow chasm, overgrown with o -««1 Ah, 
lay before me, and in a moment Tfellmv St W W ^ h 
of one of the aneroids w P as smashed t?p As 3 S? 
Which the needle turns was broken in two M* l P 1Vot U P on 
was that my leg was brTen/as? MtZj gSt minT 
although'^ 
foot, which had not heen^ll plTte^ AptLsS 
