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Jan. 10.-From Papakaio, our resting place, we crossed the plain towards Waitaki, walking, although there was no path, without trouble; for the soil was stony and barren, and produced nothing which grew higher than the knee. On arriving at the bank of the river, we found it flooded; the effect of a recent N.W. wind, which always causes the rapid melting of the snow on the mountains in the interior.

The N.W. wind all along this coast is strangely hot, dry, and oppressive, which I have never known to be the case in the North Island. It has been suggested that it brings these properties from the Australian continent; but it would seem but natural that, after having blown over so many leagues of ocean, it should have imbibed moisture. The sirocco, a dry hot wind, while blowing over the sands of Africa, is found to be moist by the time it arrives at Malta; and it is probable that, on the west coast of New Zealand, the N.W. wind is similarly moist, as well as warm. Its peculiar dry character on reaching the east coast may, perhaps, be explained by the supposition that, in passing over the snow mountains, its moisture is con

densed, and falls on them as а warm rain. The rapid melting of the snow, and the immense floods in all the rivers, whose sources are in these mountains, would be thus accounted for.

As the sky foreboded rain, we hastened on to the nearest native station, Te Puna-a-maru, several miles more inland. The river, or rather the valley through which it rushed, appeared to be nearly a mile broad. It was furiously rapid, and of a dirty white, or pipe-clay colour. When not flooded, it runs in many streams, each of which is in itself a small river, over stones and pebbles, and between islands and banks of shingles. In the winter months, it has comparatively little water, the main stream being then not deeper than a man's waist in the shallowest places, but still dangerous to ford, by reason of the violence of the current. It is, indeed, too rapid ever to be navigated by boats; and the country through which it flows offers little to invite settlers, except its sheep pastures.

The white colour of its water is said to be derived from one of the lakes,* named Pukaki,

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* The names of the other lakes, according to Huruhuru, are Takapo, Te Kapuaruru, Ohou, Otetoto, Otauawhiti, and Whaka рара.

in which it has its source. The natives call this water "he wai-para-hoanga" (literally, water of grinding-stone dirt); as it is similar to that caused by rubbing the pounamu on sandstone.

We arrived in the afternoon at Te Puna-amaru, where we found a small party of natives, seven in number. The chief person, Huruhuru, was a man of singularly pleasing manners and address-qualities which I was the more surprised to meet with in this wild desert-looking place. As Pukurakau was very anxious to return home, he willingly undertook to ferry us across Waitaki. I afterwards discovered that he and all his party had intended, when the flood subsided, to remove from their present residence to the river Waihao, a short day's journey to the northward, which they visited at this season of the year, for the purpose of catching eels-a fish esteemed one of the chief delicacies of the land, and preserved in great quantities for future use, by partly roasting and drying them in the sun.

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CHAPTER XI.

ENCAMPMENT ON THE BANK OF WAITAKI-MODE OF PREPARING FERN ROOT-MOKIHI-HURUHURU'S DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR OF THE ISLAND-TE PUEHO'S WAR PARTY-TE RAKI'S ESCAPE-THE RIVER MATAU-WANDERINGS AND FATE OF THE WAR PARTY-SANDALS USED BY NATIVES-DANGERS OF WAITAKI-RESIDENT POPULATION-RAKITAUNEKE'S OVEN-WAIHAO -LAND AND SEA BREEZES.

JAN. 11.-Our new acquaintance began to prepare for the journey at an early hour, packing up nets and whatever other moveables they required. They seemed to think nothing of leaving their houses without any one in charge, although they might not, perhaps, return for a month.

When all was ready, we took the path along the banks of the river, by which I had come the day before, and kept it till we arrived at a spot where there was plenty of "raupo," the

material with which our canoes

were to be

constructed. Here some of the natives commenced building huts, and digging fern root, while others set to work, like reapers in a field, cutting the "raupo" with tomahawks instead of sickles, and laying it out on the ground to dry.

It must not be supposed, as some have believed, that the fern root, wherever it grows, is fit for food. On the contrary, it is only that found in rich loose soils, which contains fecula in sufficient quantity for this purpose: in poorer ground the root contains proportionally more fibre. We were now encamped on an alluvial flat in the valley of the river, thirty or forty feet below the general level of the plain; and I observed that, even in this favourable spot, a great deal of discrimination was used in selecting the best roots, which were discoverable by their being crisp enough to break easily. when bent: those which would not stand this test

being thrown aside. Here a quantity sufficient for several days was procured, and was packed in baskets, to last till another spot equally favourable could be reached.

The process of cooking fern root is very simple;

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