November 1st. At Okaritu. Showery.

2nd. Day finer. I went with the natives spearing eels on the mud flat.

3rd Made another start and reached our shed and burdens again.          .

4th. Proceeded about four miles along a rocky and shingly beach, and came to a large mountain rapid running over a large granite bed. The place is called Waihau (Waiho), and I found it so flooded as to defy my crossing, and there being no means of ascending, or any shelter to await its falling, I was obliged, though very reluctantly, to return to our shed at Totara

5th and 6th. At Totara.

7th. Made a resolute start to cross, if possible, over the Waihau, which, with great difficulty and at the risk of our lives, we accomplished. It was at this place that the wekas had been caught I had feasted on at Taramakau : they resort here, dogs being unable to cross the river after them. Slept at a native wari here. Fine.

8th. At Waihau.

9th. Again making southing, and reached a stream called Waikukupa, deep and not fordable, but of no other note. Passed on to another stream called Miroroa, where we camped for the night, having spent much of the day constructing a raft to cross the Waikukupa. About eight miles of travelling over sand and rocks.

10th. Proceeded onwards, and rounded a headland named Kohaihai (Waikohai Bluff), a low rocky point; and managed, after difficult walking, to reach a river called Wai­weka (Cook river), where we constructed a raft ready for crossing in the morning.

11th Crossed the river, which is a very dangerous stream flowing from the mountains over a rocky bed, and proceeded to another small stream, which we crossed, when the rain compelled us to erect a shelter.

I2th. Rain.

13th. The weather permitting us to proceed, we came along the base of a low range of cliffs called the Parapara, and on to the U tumoa, a small headland, the terminus of the cliffs, when a short sandy beach brought us to the mouth of a small stream called Matukituki, where we stopped for the night. From Kohaihai headland to this point is about sixteen miles. Bearing, S.W.

14th. After proceeding about three miles along a rocky beach we came to a small point called Maka­wiho (Makawhio Point) on rounding which we crossed the Waitaki (Mahitahi river), a mountain stream, and proceeded onwards to a small potato garden at Porangirangi (near Bruce Bay), where we put up for the night and the morrow. Distance about nine miles.

Sunday, 15th. Natives read service.

16th. Proceeded about six miles, and arrived at Parika (Paringa), the residence of Tuarope. We passed a small stream called Hunuakura, of no note or value. At Parika we received the welcome of strangers in a bountiful supply of fern-root, preserved wekas, and fish. There is nothing remarkable here, it being only a summer residence on account of the eels in the river.

The natives attach a great value to their greenstone meriss (Meres), or battle-axes of former times, so much so, that they are buried with their owners. After remain­ing in the ground some five or six years they are dug up, and given to the nearest relation of the deceased. The natives have also .safe hiding-places for them, in order that, if surprised and conquered, as in former times, their enemies might not find them among their spoil. I saw one belonging to Te Raipo, which has descended from time unknown, and which they say---­Enihu made war on their tribe to obtain, but could not find it, the meri being hidden at the bottom of a deep pool of water.

There are only 97 natives, adults and children, living on the. West Coast north of lat. 440, all of whom profess some form of Christianity: 29 of them are members of the Church, and 68 Wesleyans.

17th. At Parika, eel catching for our onward progress.

18th. A shower of rain formed, in our united opinions, a sufficient excuse for remaining here another day. We managed to dry enough eels to last a week. There are no provisions to be found here saving the kakote.

19th. After travelling about three miles we came to a headland called Titihaia 1, where I slipped, or was rather washed from a rock by the sea, which crushed my foot between the rocks, and severely strained my right anele. I was also hurt in several places by the sharp edges of the granite, which gave me much pain. Finding I could not clamber the rocks among which I fell, I was obliged to suffer myself to be led towards Parika, which my lameness and the tide prevented us reaching that evening.

20th. With much pain I crawled to Parika, where I bound up my leg, and repeatedly bathed it in cold water, which served to deaden the pain, and dressed the other scratches with weka oil.

21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. Continual rain.

25th. Day somewhat better, but my ankle still refused to support my frame.

26th. Paeturi and Tipiha requested leave to return to Taramakau, leaving Te Raipo with me, to which proposition I was compelled to agree.

After another week's rest I thought myself suffi­ciently recovered to proceed, though my anele _as still far from strong; but ten days followed of almost continual rain. Our provisions were getting short, the country to the southward was of the wildest, most barren and forbidding description, so I at last made up my mind to return, having made my way about eighty miles further along the coast than on my former expedition with Mr Heaphy.

I was induced to make Parika, or rather Titihara, the terminus of my southing for many reasons. My lameness had made me anxious to return to Nelson, the summer season was fast drawing to a close, and I dreaded the idea of another long winter. The country I was traversing was quite worthless in my opinion, and most certainly so as respected Nelson. I wished to return by a fresh route, and see something more of the interior of the country, and I had resolved to try the Mawera, if I abandoned the idea of crossing the island from Taramakau to Port Levi. If I had urged the natives to proceed with me to the south­ward I could not have had their services to assist me with their canoes up the Mawera, and being here without resources I was much at their mercy. Ekehu also had a runaway wife from Wakapuaka, and dared not return coastways, which would have been our shortest route.

When I told Te Raipo of my intention he was much pleased. He told me that having only one white man on his hands was too great a responsibility: if there had been two, he said, he would not have cared-­one might live to tell the fate of the other if an accident happened to him, but if I died it would likely be said that he had killed me for the sake of eating or plundering.

So on Friday, December 11, I turned my face homewards; first to rejoin my own natives, and then endeavour once more to see the face of a white man, and hear my native tongue. A few days brought us back among the natives, although my lameness made walking rather, difficult. We passed in succession Okaritu, Wanganui, Waita, Paiere, and Okitika, reaching Arahura on December 22nd. The next day we slept at Taramakau, and arrived at Mawera on Christmas Day. This was well kept by the natives, followers of both the Church and Wesleyan body. There were four services in the day, and feasting filled up the intervals between them.

December is a glorious month of dietary amongst the natives on the coast, as fresh fruit and vegetables are then coming into season. The rivers, large or small, abound in eels, hawera, upukuroro, haparu, patiki, and parauki; the fruit of the ekiakia is then ripe, called by the natives tawara, and is very luscious, more like a conserve than a fruit; the honey of the flax blossom is also in season, called korari, and, when mixed with fern-root, also makes a species of confectionary ; the natives also commence on the young potatoes and turnips, and make taro ov_ns of the mamakou, and of a species of the ti, the stem of which is the eatable part, and is called koari ; it is very sweet and pleasant to the taste.

This month also the sandflies are most numerous, driving the natives to all sorts of expedients to get rid of them. Fire is the best protection; and you see all the houses with a fire inside and outside; placed so that the smoke protects the entrance or doorway. You partake of your meals under the shelter of the smoke of a circle of fires, the natives objecting to eat in their houses on account of the large meat-fly.

The 15th of December was the anniversary of my leaving Fraser, the last white person I saw, on the

banks of the Rotuiti river.

Conclusion of the year 1847, the whole of which I have spent among the natives, and chiefly on the banks of the Buller or Kawatiri, during which time I have lived on the produce of the country, and the few potatoes 1- have had on the coast, which are now, from want of proper cultivation, almost uneatable. I have never heard a word of English the whole year.

While I was at Okitika, one of the native children, the son of Tipia, of about seven years of age, took such a fancy to me that it was with difficulty I could get away from him. When I came away, he clung round my legs, crying, and I was obliged to remove him by force. His father wished me to take him with me, but his mother refused, which I was glad of, as he would have been much in our way in difficulties, and unable to bear the hardships of the bush.

At this place, also, an incident occurred by which I gained great repute amongst the natives. A party of us had paddled to Kunaere (Kanieri) one morning eel fishing; and on returning in the evening, at every good situa­tion we took a draught with our kupenga for upuko­roro, when at one place the canoe was left with two children in it, who, by playing with the oars, brought the canoe into the current, and as it was making rapid headway for a very awkward shoal, I jumped into another canoe, paddled across the river to the eddy, and, towing the canoe up the other bank; regained a sufficient length to enable me to recross to our proper station, when a cry amongst the natives at the restora­tion of their children put an end to a pleasant day's fishing.

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