DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE OF .TOURNEY. 67 
amongs t< the hillocks of drift-sand which on this part of the coast 
he between the low hills and the sea-shore. As if to bid us adieu, 
tne horrid weather which we had so frequently experienced, again 
se in during the night, the rain came down in torrents, and con- 
mued the whole oi the next morning with unabated violence. 
dealing that we might be delayed by the Paturau river, we 
started, notwithstanding the rain. It was very cold, a sharp 
north-west gale blowing the drops in our faces, which pricked us 
as i vv ith needles. The tide was so high, owing to the gale, that 
vve could not get round several of the rocky points along the 
s ore, and which we had therefore to climb over. In some in¬ 
stances, we waited lor toe receding waves, and ran through the 
water round these points, and it was not without several mishaps, 
though not of a serious character, that we reached the Paturau 
1 ' ■ 1 ^ 1 * bo tide ulus would have been an easy walk, over a 
haicl sandy beach the whole way, so that the coast journey, with 
the exception of the places enumerated in my description, will be 
found perfectly easy if taken at the proper time of the tide. 
"When we reached the Paturau, it was swollen, and gave us more 
trouble than any river we had previously crossed. A four- 
mile walk brought us to the mouth of the Hapu, where the 
native track leaves the coast, and follows the streamlet, so as 
more easily to cross the limestone range between it and the "West 
Wanganui mud-flat. This range is from 1,000 to 1,200 feet high, 
and is densely clothed with forest nearly to its summit, where the 
trees are replaced by manuka and other scrub. 
The weather clearing towards evening, we obtained from the 
summit of the range a fine view over the picturesque inlet of 
West Wanganui, and of its islands, and the many hills around it 
covered with wood. Towards the south, the eye swept over high 
mountain chains, deep gorges indicating the courses of the 
various rivers we had passed over during the last few days. On 
the east lay the broad swampy plains of the Manga-manga-rakau, 
bounded by the Whaka-marama range, over which appeared the 
snowy peaks of the mountains on the eastern side of the Aorere 
valley. Instead of crossing the mud-flat, we followed the western 
shore, and towards evening reached some Maori huts lying at the 
southern head of the inlet, and although the Maories were not 
there, we were soon comfortably lodged. 
At sunrise Ave fired some shots, and in a short time, although 
the weather was stormy, we had the satisfaction of seeing a canoe 
approach from the north-western corner of the harbour. It was 
our friend Puaha, who had come over to fetch us, and having 
embarked with a fair wind, we soon reached the pah at Otauwharo, 
where Ave were received and treated by the chief Matiu with true 
old Maori hospitality. _ _ x 
Durum the day I examined the interesting formation near our 
dwelling?and continued my researches on the following day by 
u 2 
