at that period working the Aorere Goldfields. It is necessary to note here that although Messrs. Brunner and Heaphy had pronounced the rivers of Westland “for the most part unfit for vessels to enter,” Mackay by actual soundings proved this to be incorrect, with the result that from this date small ships were always used when food supplies were needed.
The same year is marked by the fact that for the first time white men crossed the Southern Alps from the Canterbury side, and after a terrible journey duly reached their objective, the Mawhera Pa. These men were Messrs. Harper and Locke, who travelled by way of the Hurunui River. This was the pass most generally used by the Maoris, and had been known to them centuries before the coming of the pakeha.
Leonard Harper, the leader of the party, was the son of the first Bishop of Christchurch, and he persuaded Tainui, the Maori Chief, who was on a visit to Kaiapoi, to guide Locke and himself across the Alps. He started from Kaiapoi on October 30th, 1857, and overtook the Maoris who had gone on in advance near the station now known as “Horsley Down.” All their equipment and provisions were carried on pack horses and they made excellent progress until they came to the south bank of the Hurunui. There they came across an old canoe and packing all their equipment into it, they towed
