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Old Westland

fast, but found we could not get along the beach owing to it being high tide. We came across an old whare in which I lay down, but not to sleep—that was impossible—sandflies (a little black fly which bites hard and raises a lump like a mosquito) being here in thousands. Walmsley and Revell went on, driving a packhorse before them, on which they had a tent, provisions, etc. When the tide was about half out I started in company with two or three others; we soon met seven or eight Maoris on horseback returning from the Totara. They said there were five hundred men on the ground, and that they were returning to the Greenstone; my own impression was to take up some of the claims left by the pakeha, and this eventually turned out to be the case. We jogged along until we came to the Arahura, where we camped. We were informed that to catch the low tide we must turn out early. This we certainly did, arising at 0.30 a.m. We found when on the tramp that Morey, the driver of the waggon, had mistaken the time, thinking it was 4.30 a.m, It turned out just as well he did so as, by starting at that hour, we had a splendid beach to travel over. We arrived at the Okatika River at five o'clock (November 13th). Here we found a calico store and another building close to it, built of brushwood, flax, etc., the only two buildings on the north side of the river. The store was kept by Messrs. Hudson and Price. The other building