Page:Progress of Discovery in the Middle Island of the New Zealand Group (IA jstor-1798157).pdf/4

 The plain, including the mud-flats, has a frontage of 25 miles. The river is navigable 10 miles into the interior. Its mouth is about the middle of the 25 miles coast line. After reaching the shore Mr. Cotterell proceeded 2 miles along the beach in the direction of E.S.E.; and then striking inland in the direction of S. by E., reached the river Kipari-te-Hau (where he crossed and encamped), after walking 4 miles. The land on the Kipari-te-Hau is described as a beautiful undulating plain, richly covered with grass, and free from fern and bushes, and the terminus of a valley extending far into the interior.

"21th. Walked 20 miles: 10 miles E. by S.; 6 miles S.E.; and 4 miles of which the direction is not mentioned. The route for the first 10 miles lay across low undulating hills, bearing grass, to a lagoon. A fine valley was then ascended for 6 miles, at the end of which the sea on the S.E. coast was seen from the top of a high hill. A valley was then descended for 4 miles to a place where an encampment was formed at a distance of a mile from the coast. The high hills are thickly covered with grass and milk-thistle.

"28th. A walk of a mile in a S.E. direction brought the party to the sea-shore; they then proceeded 18 miles along the beach. The hills (white clay and sandstone) came close up to the coast-line.

"29th. Proceeded 15 miles further along the coast, at the foot of hills of the same character as those past on the previous day. Ascended the range at night and encamped.

"30th. Regained the shore after having ascertained that the interior, like the coast, was an uninterrupted succession of impracticable hills. Walked along the shore 10 miles to the bank of a deep and rapid river which was not fordable. This river Mr. Cotterell was informed is called the Waipopu: its mouth is said to be 20 miles N. of Lookers-on. This was Mr. Cotterell's farthest. To this point he had travelled by estimate in all 198 miles, in the course of 13j days.

"On the 30th of November Mr. Cotterell returned 10 miles to the point where he struck the shore in the morning. On the 1st of December he continued his backward route along the shore, accomplishing that day 22 miles. On the 2nd he passed the point at which he struck the shore on the 2Sth, and afterwards turned Cape Campbell: the distance travelled this day is not given. On the 3rd he crossed the Kipari-te-Hau and encamped on the Wairau. On the 4th (Sunday) he returned to Kipari-te-Hau; whence he sailed in a whale-boat on the 6th to Cloudy Bay. On the 7th he left Cloudy Bay in the same boat, and arrived at Nelson on the 11th. The distances travelled and the appearance of the country are not noted after the 1st of December."

2.—Report of an Expedition to Explore to the South-west of the Nelson Settlement

"According to the testimony of the natives of the Motuaka, and others who had formerly inhabited the interior of this island, there exist