3.—Report of an attempted Journey to the Wairau, Dec. 1843.
"On Tuesday, the 28th of November, we left Nelson, proceeding up the Maitai valley and crossing the mountain range at its head. Descended to the bank of the river Oyerri, thence following its course towards the coast, with the intention of gaining the mouth of the river Kaituni, and, by the course of the valley through which it flows, arriving at the Wairau: this route having been recommended as eligible and available for the construction of a line of road from hence to the Wairau district, and a portion of it (as far as the Oyerri) already explored by Messrs. Parkinson and Drake, who on this occasion were my guides, they having been recently conducted thither by two Maories, residents at the Kaituni.
"We were accompanied on this journey of exploration by Messrs. M'Donald, Newcombe, G. Tytler, and Kerr. Impeded by the usual difficulties which attend the traverse of a mountainous and forest country, and yet more by the inability of some of the party to sustain the fatigue of such an expedition, as well as by the casual occurrence of heavy rain on Thursday night, which, rapidly raising the waters of the Oyerri, rendered it difficult and somewhat hazardous to cross and recross that river, and disappointed in not being met as we had anticipated by Maories from the Kaituni to conduct us by their route, ours was necessarily devious, and our progress through an uninterrupted forest so slow that on arriving, on Friday morning, unexpectedly at the bank of a river flowing from the N.W. and uniting with the Oyerri, and as large or larger than the latter, we were compelled, by fear of continued rain and our diminished stock of provisions, to abandon the further prosecution of our contemplated journey. I have no doubt but that we were then within a distance of half a day's journey from the valley of the Kaituni, and that, had we kept on the eastern side of the Oyerri, from which we had recently crossed through the river to avoid the steep land which then occurred, we should have accomplished our design.
"Returning reluctantly, with lightened burdens and increased confidence, we easily walked in two days a distance which, in going forward, had occupied three; and from the river Oyerri over the mountain to Nelson we returned in one day, Sunday, December 3rd.
"No doubt but that, on a second attempt, and especially if assisted by Maori guides, it would be practicable to walk from hence to the Kaituni in three days, and thence to the Wairau on the fourth day; and that, if a pathway were cut through the forest, the journey would then be easily accomplished in two days. I cannot, however, concur with Messrs. Parkinson and Drake in their opinion already expressed, that such is an eligible and available route for the construction of a line of road for cattle, for the following reasons:—
"1. The country is mountainous; the ridges not parallel with the course of the river, but intersected by it in their lower dips, and these so frequent that two ravines per mile probably occur on an average; and the sides of some of these are so steep and stony that a cattle-road could only be opened by constructing bridges across them.
"2. It is an uninterrupted growth of forest-trees, without any admix-
