Page:Banking Under Difficulties- Or Life On The Goldfields Of Victoria, New South Wales And New Zealand (1888).pdf/146

Rh took him two hours to light a fire; on another, being footsore, his boots all in pieces, he strapped Maori shoes on for soles. Often he had to make a meal of Maori hen. On one trip, which lasted fourteen days, he was carrying 30lbs. of flour, besides blankets, tent gear, &c. On the 8th of April an old Maori chief died (by name Tarapui); he was a good friend to the “pakeha” (white man.) He would share his last morsel with him without payment, while others would refuse.

On the 9th of April the remains of C. Townsend and Peter Michelmore were removed by Revell and party to the new cemetery, and on the 11th Tarapui was buried in an old cave a short distance from the Maori encampment, together with his clothes, blankets, stick, and in short, everything he had in his possession. The first horses on the Grey were brought down by Simon the Maori on the 11th April, 1864.

On the 15th, Revell, Kennedy, and Hughes went to the Teremakau to disinter the remains of the late John Whitcombe, who was drowned in May 1863 whilst endeavouring to cross the Teremakau River in two small canoes tied together. They returned next day with his remains, which they interred in the cemetery at the Grey. The three graves are side by side. On the north side lies Whitcombe; in the centre Townsend, and on the south Mitchelmore. A monument has since been erected to their memory at Hokitika, the only one in that town.

On the 22nd May, Smart and French returned from a prospecting tour about the Teremakau and Hohuna Rivers, having found gold in payable quantities; A. Hunt, one of a party of four miners, having been at work there for some time and getting payable gold. On the 20th June he reported to John Revell that during the last two months he had obtained about 15 ozs. of gold, samples of which he showed him, some of the pieces weighing close upon 2 dwts. He applied for a prospecting claim, which was granted. He was the first person on the West Coast who found gold in payable quantities.

19th July.—W. H. Revell and J. Hammond (gaol messenger) started overland for Christchurch to report the discovery of a goldfield, and to obtain a supply of clothes, boots, &c.

21st July—A fire was observed burning on the north beach this afternoon. Six men en route for the diggings arrived under the leadership of John French, who reported the charter of the schooner Mary to bring Mr. Blake’s store from the Buller.

22nd July.—S.S. Nelson, of Nelson, arrived during the night, and entered the river this morning at twelve o’clock, it being then about three-quarters flood. Reuben Waite was a passenger by her. This was the first steamer that crossed the Grey bar.

29th July.—Mr. Rochfort returned to-day from a trip southward, having been as far as Jackson’s Bay. He left the Grey on the 2nd May.