74 
P1IT SIC AL a E O a BA PHY. 
Buller is the Maruia, the sources of which are also in the Spencer 
mountains, near the head of the Mataki-taki; hut instead of fol¬ 
lowing, like the former, a northerly course, it turns towards the 
south-south-west, breaks through the slaty ridges ol the western 
chains, and, after flowing to the westward for seven miles, enters 
a deep gorge, called by the Maories the Ivopi-o-kai Tangata, or 
Cannibals’ Gorge. 
The river, leaving this wild country, turns towards the north, 
and enters the Maruia plains, formed of several terraces, rising 
one above the other, to a total altitude of 250 feet, with an 
average breadth of two miles, and covered with grass and occa¬ 
sional scrub. For a distance of thirteen miles the river meanders 
through this smiling district, which is surrounded by serrated 
mountain chains, and receives at its northern extremity the 
Warwick, a tributary of about equal size, conveying the waters 
from the chains lying to the eastward. Leaving the plains, the 
river again becomes confined between the hills, through which its 
course is extremely serpentine, vexing enough to the explorer 
who follows its course, and who, after some miles of heavy walking 
through dense bush, finds that he has only made a few hundred 
yards of direct headway. The river washes the foot of Mount 
Mantell, a rocky isolated mountain mass, 6,000 feet high, at the 
eastern foot of which flows the Mataki-taki. The last-described 
river is the last which conveys water from the Spencer mountains 
to the Buller. 
On the southern slopes of this wild Alpine stack we find the 
principal sources ol the Grey, or Pohaturoha; on its north-east 
side the sources of the Wairau; on its eastern, those of the 
Acheron and Clarence, and in the deep recesses of these snow- 
clad giants, those ol the \Vaiau-ua or Dillon; so that we may 
say that, with the exception of the Takaka and Aorere, which fall 
into Massacre Bay, the Wangapeka and Motueka, which run into 
Blind Bay, and the Karamea and other smaller streams, which 
reach the sea on the West Coast to the north of the Buller, all 
the rivers of any size on the northern part of this island take 
their rise in this magnificent chain. 
I have already alluded to the high rocky ranges which lie in 
the same latitude as Nelson, from which the Fiver Owen takes 
its rise. This chain consists of a large mass of rocky peaks from 
6,00° to 7,500 feet high, partly isolated, and partly connected 
with each other by lower ridges. As the principal obiect of my 
mission was the exploration of the Grey district, and these ranges 
could be much better explored froin Nelson, whence they 
are easily reached, I could only mark their boundaries towards 
tiie Buller. I nfortunately, from both the mountains near them 
which i ascended, the view in their direction was very much closed 
m, from Mount Murchison by the rugged masses of Mount Owen, 
and from Mount Francis by the higher ridges of Mount Newton, 
