REPORT of an ATTEMPTED JOURNEY to the WAlßA.U.—December 1843.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 92, 9 December 1843, Page 368

REPORT of an ATTEMPTED JOURNEY to the WAlßA.U.— December 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 bf 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 north-west 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 farther 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 3. 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 ths 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 j 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 admixture, as far as we have penetrated the forest, of what would afford sustenance for cattle on the journey. 3. The river is absolutely unavailable as a means of transport upwards, even to a flat bottomed boat ; it is liable to frequent and sudden floods ; the drift wood is deposited on its banks at a height of twelve feet above its usual level. 4. The available land on either side is of very limited extent : it would be difficult to select as much as twelve miles by half a mile, or less than four thousand acres ; and this cannot be approached by the river, and by a road only at a cost in construction which the value of such district a» an appendage to this settlement is too inconsiderable to justify.

The available land does not slope away to the water's edge, but terminates generally abruptly with a steep face to the river, presenting an elevated terrace of land, varying from a quarter to half a mile in breadth, and backed by a mountainous elevation. Birch is the prevailing timber of tha foreat ; but pine is also abundant, •spatially the. variety called remo. The soil is, for the most part, a sandy loam, very similar to that<vh^h occurs on tbo western side of the Waiiti valley, but of a redder hue, and lew

stony. We discovered no minerals ; the rocks consist chiefly of laminated strata of soft micaceous stone, sometimes approaching to the character of slate, and of a hard formation, brittle in fracture, and sharp in its edge as flint, but possessing no degree of transparency. (Signed) Frederick Tuckbtt. Nelson, December 5.