) 
EXPLORATION OE THE WESTERN DISTRICTS OF 
THE PROVINCE OF NELSON. 
CHAPTER I. 
DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE OE JOURNEY. 
On Monday, the 8tli of January last, T started from Nelson, 
accompanied by Mr. James Burnett, a surveyor, who, at my 
request, had been engaged by the Provincial Government as my 
topographical assistant. 
It was one of those bright sunny days which give so much 
charm to the climate ot Nelson. As we passed through the 
Waiinea plain, we observed with pleasure the numerous farms 
and homesteads with which it is dotted; their green fields and 
enclosed meadows enlivened by the presence ot stately cattle. 
Cultivations became more sparse as we proceeded, the original 
waste having here and there only as yet given way before the 
industry of the hard-working settler, whose humble abode, in 
many instances, appeared to have risen from a forest of charred 
stumps. 
Prom Pox-hill (where we passed our first night) we followed, 
for some distance, the course ol the Hiver Wui-il i, having on our 
left the rocky walls of Ben Nevis. At the end of a valley 
branching off to the right of the river, we ascended a saddle 
about 400 feet high, which forms the watershed between the 
’Waimea districts and the Motueka valley. It was here that I 
established my first station, from which our view penetrated 
deep into the recesses of the high and rugged mountain-chain 
south of the Wangapeka, whose snowy summits were then 
glittering in the beams of the setting sun. It was dark when 
we arrived in the Motueka valley, where we received (at the 
house of Mr. Hooker) a hearty welcome. 
Here we bade adieu for some time to come to the comforts of 
a civilized life, and prepared ourselves for our sojourn in the 
wilderness. Although it rained heavily the next morning, we 
nevertheless started for the Lake-house, an abandoned shepherd’s 
station. We crossed the Motueka river, and followed the old 
B 
