The First Paddle-Wheel Boat in New Zealand

An early traveller in New Zealand speaks of the amazement of the natives on the Wai-hou River when they saw the first paddle-wheel vessel on those waters: "The projector of the excursion con-structed a pair of paddle-wheels to attach to his whaleboat by an iron crank fixed to the axles… Two of us sat… facing each other, and worked the crank… We contrived to propel her along as fast as four men with oars could have done… We excited the utmost astonishment all along as we went, the natives crowding down to the beach to gaze at us… They spread a report of some white men having visited their place in a boat propelled by two grind-stones." This misconception hinges upon the word huri, which means "to revolve," but is used as a noun to denote a grindstone that revolves.