Fox is here too rapid to ford, or we might have ascended this river. Its banks are extremely mountainous; and, from native report, the land around the large lake is worthless. Distance 10 miles.
"18th.—Continued our progress down the river Fox, which here (increased by the junction of the river before mentioned and other tributaries) forms the largest mountain river which we have seen in New Zealand. As we descended the gorge the sides became steeper, and the river occupied the whole of the breadth of the ravine, obliging us to keep to the hill sides, which were thickly covered with wood, and occasionally almost perpendicular.
"At noon, despairing of the ravine widening, we ascended a mountain of considerable elevation, and from a tree discerned the river widening to S.W. for about 12 miles, bounded with rugged mountains, the most remote of which might be about 25 miles distant. Being assured that this defile could lead us to no level land for the distance above named, and that any good land which might surround the Fox at the coast would be quite out of reach from Nelson, we thought it unnecessary to proceed farther.
"We might have followed the river to the coast, but were prevented by want of provisions. In the commencement of the expedition we had been much retarded by unfavourable weather. In crossing a swollen stream one man had lost his footing, and the provisions which he carried were damaged; and another man had to be left behind at the lake on account of serious lameness. Our stock of provisions was thus so diminished that, for our return, we had to depend almost entirely upon a few charges of powder and shot.
"During the 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, returning over the same ground to Nelson.
"The river which we found flowing to the westward is evidently the Kawatiri of the natives. It flows from the lake, and passes through some grass- land, which, in an exaggerated sense, they term a plain. In the valley we found some remains of Maori huts; and in one place a path, which we endeavoured to follow.
"The valley of the Fox is about 11 miles in length, and averages 1½ mile in breadth. In it there may be about 11,000 acres of pasture land. It offers a fair locality for a stock station, within three or four days' walk of Nelson, and would depasture about 1 5,000 sheep at present. In the event of stock being put upon it, the pasture would rapidly improve; and were the seed of artificial grasses scattered about, it would become soon an excellent piece of pasture land.
"The land generally which we have seen is quite unfit for agriculture; and where the soil is of a better description it is at too great a distance from the town for profitable cultivation.
"Beyond the southern ranges which we saw there may be some level land, but it will be in the neighbourhood of Banks' Peninsula, and quite divided from the Nelson settlement; and the only way in which it is possible to reach it easily from Nelson must be through one of the southern openings from the Wairau, and thence by the eastern coast to the southward.
"November 29, 1843.
"J. Swinton Spooner."
