52 
DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE OF JOURNEY. 
returned to Nelson, had given their punt and canoe to our store¬ 
keeper, who placed the last at my disposal. The natives, however, 
declared that it would be quite impossible to go up the river 
with this canoe, which was heavy and ill chopped, and I therelore 
changed my plan, and instead of going up the Buller to the 
Inangahua, where I intended to have ascended a mountain, I 
thought it just as well to ascend the mountain chain north of the 
Buller, and to descend thence by the valley of the Orikaka to the 
Buller, striking it near the junction of the Inangahua, in case I 
could not otherwise obtain sufficient knowledge of the physical 
geography and geology of the surrounding country. In order to 
obtain a section of the chain at the point where the Buller pierces 
it, I intended to ascend the river for ten miles in the Gfoldseeker, 
the name given by the Canterbury diggers to their canoe. 
After a few days’ rest, during which the necessary preparations 
were made, and washing, mending, and other household occupations 
were gone through, we started on the 18th June to ascend the 
river. One of my natives being ill, I was compelled to secure the 
services of one of the few Maories who were living here, and I 
again learnt that, generally speaking, Europeans can much better 
hear fatigue and privations than the Maories of the present 
generation. 
The Buller, or Kawatiri, near its mouth, and for several miles up, 
is a very fine and large river. Eor three miles the influence of the 
tide is felt, and we therefore started so as to profit by it. Where 
the tide was no longer sensible, the river became more rapid, and 
we had several ugly places to ascend. The Maori endeavoured to 
persuade me to return, asserting that we could not get any further 
but of course I did not yield to his remonstrances. 
The country on. the banks of the river is flat, and covered with 
luxuriant forest, in which we camped the first night. The next 
day we arrived at a gorge where the river leaves the mountain 
range. This gorge, for the first mile, was singularly free from 
rapids, although the river was swift, and in some places ver y deep 
The change of scene from the open country to the gorge was very 
striking steep hills and rocky walls bounding the river on both 
sides, whilst sma 1 waterfalls rushed down here and there the 
silvery hues of which were bordered by dark black-birch forest 
and gave animation to the otherwise gloomy scenery. In the next 
mile large granitic masses occasionally narrowed the river bed 
along which the water rushed with fury. Here our difficulties 
commenced, and we only succeeded in passing several of the rapids 
bnxf 111 T? f great eXertl °! 1 ’ the eanoe ],em S extremely broad in its 
Dow. It .was evening when we arrived at the Ohika-iti a nrettv 
nver flowing from the southern chain, up which I travelled for a 
short distance, and found at its head a bold rugged mountain 
he native told me that above the junction some very long rapids 
occurred, and that it would be perfectly impossible to^go^any 
