Sir,— My letter to you of the 3rd of July last will have acquainted the Court of Directors with my intention to proceed to Otago, to complete the purchase of the lands selected by Mr. Tuckett for the New Edinburgh Settlement, which had been obstructed by the bad understanding between Mr. Symonds, the officer appointed by his Excellency Governor Fitzroy to superintend and assist the purchase on the part of the Government, and the Company's Agent.

Mr. Commissioner Spain having consented to accompany him on his way to Nelson, taking with him Mr. George Clarke, the Sub-Protector of Aborigines, his secretary and his attendants, and Mr. Symonds being instructed by Major Richmond, the Superintendent of the Southern Division, to return to Otago, upon the understanding that he would, in the future progress of the purchase, communicate with me instead of Mr. Tuckett, I chartered the schooner Deborah of 120 tons, which would convey the whole party, and the master of which, Captain Wing, is perfectly competent, from his nautical skill, his general knowledge of the coasts of New Zealand, and particularly from his experience of that part of the Southern Island selected by Mr. Tuckett, to ensure a speedy voyage.

We sailed from Port Nicholson on the 7th of July, and I have now the honour to report to you, for the information of the Court of Directors, my proceedings since that date. The fair wind with which we left Cook's Strait ceased on our reaching over to the Southern Island, and we were employed from the 8th to the 15th of that month in the usual pastimes of a coasting voyage (varied only by lying-to for two days in a south-east gale off the Lookers-on), when we anchored in Otago Harbour. The schooner was boarded outside the Heads by Mr. Davison, one of the Company's assistant-surveyors, in a small boat.

The first impressions created by a sight of the harbour are extremely favourable. Lying open to the north, it is entered with a fair wind from the other settlements of New Zealand and from Australia.

This also prevents any delay at the Heads on leaving the port. A fair wind out of harbour takes a vessel soon free of the land, and, if seized at the commencement, may carry a ship of average sailing qualities to Cook's Strait in forty-eight hours.

The distance between Port Nicholson and Otago is 320 miles. There is no lee-shore except in the bays along this coast, with the winds that usually blow with any violence. That from the north-east is known for its mild character. Its northern aspect, moreover, page 265renders Otago much more agreeable than if it opened to the south, as do Akaroa, Port Underwood, and Port Nicholson. The morning sun enlivens every part of the harbour, which is protected from the cold wind by an amphitheatre of hills. The wind prevails from the S.W., which draws right down and out of the harbour, but this need not prevent a vessel bound to the place, and unable to enter the port in consequence of its strength, from anchoring in perfect safety at about a quarter of a mile from the eastern head (called Taiaroa's head) in smooth water of about 8 fathoms depth, with good holding ground. Ample sea-room presents itself to strange vessels unable to fetch into the anchorage before nightfall. The sandbanks which lie immediately within the Heads are of inconsiderable extent, and have, according to Captain Wing, who sounded carefully all over the entrance, three fathoms and a half of water on them at dead low water, spring tides. The accompanying tracing of a chart, however, made by an officer of the Astrolabe, under the celebrated Dumont D'Urville (the soundings on which have been reduced to French fathoms of 5½ feet English), gives less water in those parts which are encircled with lines, and it will be part of my first instructions to Mr. Tuckett to immediately verify that chart by fresh soundings, and to place buoys on the shoal places, and on the points of the sand-spits—both at the entrance and along the course of the channel of the harbour, up to the anchorage in front of the site determined on for the seaport town of the settlement. Inside the Heads the channel narrows, and the soundings must be carefully attended to by navigators, to prevent their vessels running aground, until the points of the sandbanks shall be marked by buoys or stakes. The Deborah stayed half an hour on the tail of a sand-spit as we worked up the harbour, till the rising tide, with the assistance of a kedge-anchor, took her off. The tide runs about three miles an hour, and may be made good use of in working a vessel up or down the harbour; as the port is land-locked on three sides, the sea seldom rises on the banks, and the sandy nature of the bottom prevents damage to small vessels touching it. Pilots and buoys will hereafter render the channel extremely easy to navigate vessels not exceeding five hundred tons burthen up to the islands, but larger vessels will find safe anchorage a mile inside the Heads, abreast of the village which has sprung up there from its having been the site of a whaling-station, and the residence of the Natives visiting the harbour on their voyages from Banks' Peninsula to Foveaux's Strait. An American whaler of 600 tons was lying there lately to refresh. A great advantage presents itself at Otago over Port Cooper, in the abundance of timber and firewood that grows on its shores.

At Port Cooper, half the labourers' time would be consumed in bringing fuel from a distance from any suitable site for a Settlement, and it may be safely asserted that a section of fifty acres there would not pay the cost of fencing and building on it in course of the owner's life. The neighbourhood of Otago is, on the contrary, essentially, as was observed to me by a labouring man from Nelson, a poor man's country—vicinity of Banks' Peninsula would be more appropriately colonised under a system of division of the land into sections of not less than a square mile each, with facilities to flock-holders and capitalists to acquire a contiguous property to an extent to meet their means and wishes. Happily, the block of land purchased by the Company for the Settlement of New Edinburgh, out of which we are at liberty to select 150,000 acres to meet the engagements made with purchasers, contains, in the immediate neighbourhood of the good land that will be surveyed as properties, extensive tracts of excellent page 266pasture grounds, which will be open to all under the sanction of the Government, and outside the boundary of the block, to the westward there is an extent of land of the same nature—boundless to the view, untrodden by the foot of man, and affording abundant food for sheep and cattle during the whole year, with the exception of a few weeks in the winter, when the uplands are covered with snow, during which time the plains and valleys yield a more abundant herbage than in the heats of summer.

Upon my arrival at Otago I found that Mr. Tuckett had left but little to be done beyond completing the purchase of the land, by distributing the payments to the natives. My previous letters, covering his reports, will have acquainted you with the size of the block, its position, and the stipulated price. It remained only to verify the boundaries in the presence of some of the principal vendors, and of the reserves made by them for themselves and families, in order to prevent, as far as possible, any future question.

For this purpose Mr. Symonds proposed that we should perambulate the boundaries of the block, or so much of them as would enable us to see the principal natural limits of it. That officer, Mr. G. Clarke, Sub-Protector of Aborigines, and I accordingly commenced our journey for that purpose on the 18th of July, accompanied by six natives deputed by the assembled natives of the district, to point out the boundaries of the block described in the traced plan, which I have already forwarded to you, and to give the names of the great natural landmarks of the district, to be recorded in the deed of conveyance.

Before leaving Hoputai, which you will observe by the chart is a small bay near the islands, and about midway between the entrance of the harbour and its head, I examined with Mr. Tuckett the capabilities it affords for the site of a seaport town. The land available for building around and contiguous to the bay consists of about 150 acres. The face towards two sides of the bay is steep, but on the top there is table land, and at the base sufficient level to afford room for a road. Warehouses might be also built almost even with the water, by excavating back into the hill. The great advantages of the site are, its being perfectly sheltered both from wind and swell of the sea, and, having four and five fathoms of water close to a sufficient part of its shores, for the construction of ample wharfs and quays.

Bearing in mind Mr. Rennie's proposition to the Court of Directors, based on the description of Port Cooper and its neighbourhood, that we should be instructed to avail ourselves of any such site for a seaport town, independently of the town of New Edinburgh, which should be in connection with the agricultural and pastoral district, I confirmed Mr. Tuckett's intention of allotting a portion of the town sections at Hoputai, reserving the larger portion of them for the principal town. The shores of the harbour of Otago are, as I have already said, densely wooded. The hills are not so steep as around Port Nicholson, and the soil is, generally speaking, better adapted for husbandry. The distance from the head of the port to its termination is about 14 miles. A channel runs throughout its whole length, but it has not yet been precisely ascertained what depth of water there is to the south of the islands, or in the upper harbour, as it may be called. Near the islands there are 15 fathoms, and a small vessel that took some of the surveyors and stores carried three fathoms all the way up the harbour. When the channel is marked with stakes on the sand banks, similarly to the upper part of Portsmouth harbour, and with two or three buoys near the entrance, no harbour that I have seen will be more convenient; but in order to make it the most safe and commodious harbour of New page 267Zealand, it requires a small steam tug, which, when not engaged in towing vessels in or out, might be advantageously employed in plying between the port and the town. The Directors are so well aware of my opinion that steam navigation between the Settlements of these islands would not be an advantageous enterprise in the present state of their colonisation, that I have less hesitation in impressing on them the expediency of encouraging by some bounty, to be defrayed out of the fund for general preparations and improvement of the Settlement, and by any other means in their power, the introduction of steam power in the harbour of Otago. Supposing the machinery to be brought from England, there is abundant material for building vessels for the purpose on the spot.

On the whole, I consider Otago as an excellent harbour. It has hitherto been thought to have a bar at its entrance, which is not the case; but the soundings are exceedingly irregular; and I am inclined to think that they vary after a strong northerly gale, by which the sand may be shifted, which circumstance would account for the difference between the computations of D'Urville and those of others.

For picturesque beauty Otago only yields to Akaroa amongst the harbours of these islands. The latter in this respect is unrivalled and indeed possesses but one fault, viz.: that of the height of its heads, which frequently causes vessels to be becalmed between them, when, without ready precautions, she may drift ashore. An American whale-ship was thus lost a few years ago; but I am assured that with proper care she might have been saved by her boats. The loss of the cutter Brothers, recorded by Capt. Smith, is solely attributable to keeping fast the main-sheet during a squall of wind.

To pursue the narrative of our perambulation of the boundaries. On arriving at the head of the upper harbour, an unexceptionable site for a town presents itself to the view. The character of the country here entirely changes. The land lies in long slopes or downs, upon which grows good grass mixed with shrubs, indicative of a strong soil. The aspect of the town will be northerly (facing the meridian sun), and fronting the harbour. To the west of it, some undulating slopes, covered to the water's edge with beautiful timber and copse-wood, offer space for several hundred ten-acre sections, semicircling a cove almost dry at low water. To the south, the uplands which separate the large promontory in which the harbour is found from the level pastoral country of the main, rise gradually as a protection from the cold winds. To the eastward is an opening in the chain of hills that belt the coast between the eastern head of Otago and Cape Saunders, across which extends a barrier of recent sandy formation, shutting out the sea, which in former times evidently flowed through what is now the harbour of Otago. The site of the town thus fixed at the head of the navigation of the port, and at the commencement of the rural lands of the Settlement in their whole length, abounds in wood and fresh water. The waters of the harbour teem with fish of the best sorts. The habouka is taken in great quantities near the shipping town; flat fish and oysters in all the bays.

Beyond the first ridge of down, which forms the southern horizon from the harbour, lies an undulating country covered with grass. This is more or less good, according to position and aspect, and has been much deteriorated in places by extensive and repeated burnings, which impoverish the land. The worst of it, however, affords abundant food for sheep.

The anise plant, so valuable as pasture for sheep and cattle, abounds over all the land we traversed. It is this plant which renders the plain page 268of the Waimea, near Nelson, so propitious to the fattening of stock. I have never tasted such well-flavoured meat as that fattened on the natural pastures near Nelson. The plant is also found in abundance near Port Cooper, and in the Wairarapa valley, near Port Nicholson. I have not seen it further north, or in any district where fern abounds. Its chief property seems to be a warming tonic. As such I believe some preparation of its seed is given in racing stables in England, as a condition ball. It arrives at its full growth during the summer, but in many places during our journey, I found it at this season of the year 18 inches in length, and scarcely a foot square of ground without a root of it. In the uplands we found snow in some places knee deep, and the ground frozen to the depth of an inch, but on our return these indications of a severe climate had disappeared before some days as warm as those of summer. The vicinity of snowy eminences is highly estimated by flock-owners, particularly where the downs are round-topped and in long slopes, so that the gradual tricklings from the melting snows go to nourish the roots of the grasses. After traversing these downs for five miles from Otago, we overlooked the plain of the Taieri, which contains about 40,000 acres of land, and is intersected by the river of the same name, navigable for large boats 12 miles from the sea, which it reaches at about 25 miles from Otago. About two-thirds of the plain are now available. The remainder is subject to inundations, but may be reclaimed and rendered more valuable than the higher parts.

One considerable forest of useful timber trees and two smaller ones are seen on the plain in evidence of the lapse of time since it was covered with water. The river will be very useful as a means of communication between the lands I have mentioned and the sea; and as connected with the Waihola Lake, from whence the plain of the Tokomairiro is usually reached. The Taieri plain is enclosed on three sides with mountains; that to the westward, being one thousand feet high, and thickly covered with snow at this season, is called Maungatua, or God's Hill. This range forms the inland or western boundary of the block for between thirty and forty miles to the south of Otago. Having verified the limits of the block thus far, we found it advisable to descend to the sea coast, to pursue our journey to the south. We struck the beach abreast of St. Michael's Mount, at the mouth of the little river, the Kaikarai. Our route lay along the seashore to the mouth of the Taieri River. From thence we proceeded by water up the Taieri River to the head of the Waihola Lake, and on foot to a high hill called Owiti, which overlooks the plains of the Tokomairiro. This spot is about in the centre of the block, and from it we discovered the course of the Matao or Molineux River, the range of mountains forming the western boundary as far as the Matao, and the range which bounds the block on the south. We thus satisfied ourselves and the Natives who accompanied us as to the precise extent of the intended purchase, and received from them, as in the other purchases for the company, the native names of the various natural land-marks that we pointed out, for the purpose of recording them in the Deed of Conveyance.

The land at the head of the Waihola Lake consists of undulating downs, round topped, and covered with herbage, grass of various descriptions, and anise of larger growth than any I had previously seen. Quails are plentiful over all these downs, and in the plains adjoining, and would be more so but for the hawks and kites.

Hereafter it will become the business of the Scotch sportsmen to give rewards for their destruction. The view from Owiti is very page 269extensive. At its base to the S.W. lies the plain of the Tokomairiro, containing about 14,000 acres. To the cast, hills, to the breadth of seven miles, extend to the coast. To the north lies the portage of six miles between it and the Waihola; and to the west, undulating prairies of boundless extent, available for cattle and sheep three parts of the year. It would be a most advantageous and attractive thing for the Settlement if some Scotch proprietors would send some red deer to be turned out here. In the course of a few years there is no doubt they would increase largely. The sport of hunting them would be highly attractive, and would conduce to the improvement of the breed of horses, and afford a manly amusement to the young colonists, fitting them for the more serious occupations of stock-keeping and wool-growing. The communication with this country from Otago is extremely easy. Water carriage can be made use of down the Taieri to the head of Waihola Lake. A good road may be made without much expense from thence to Rakitoto. A short portage thence to Kaitangata Lake, and to the Molineux River and district.

For a detailed description of the Molineux plain, which we had not time to visit, I have great pleasure in referring the Court of Directors to the accounts contained in the accompanying numbers of the Nelson Examiner, written by Dr. Monro. Indeed, these reports are so copious respecting the exploring expedition, and the capabilities of the several localities visited by it, that I cannot usefully enlarge upon them further than to bear testimony to their fidelity, and to recommend them strongly to the perusal of all who are interested in New Zealand.

We returned to Otago on the 26th July. The proposed site of the town pleased me more on a closer inspection, and the next day I had my good opinion of it confirmed by Mr. Commissioner Spain, with whom I again visited it, and who pronounced it an admirable position for the purpose. In this particular I differ from Dr. Monro, who may possibly not have been struck with the advantages I have had to seek for the location of towns. The only objection that I can name is the distance from the shipping-town and port, viz.: 7 miles; but this is greatly palliated by the excellent water communication of the upper harbour.

Upon returning to Hoputai, we found the Carbon schooner with Messrs. Nicholson and Allom, surveying cadets, with seven working men, which I had dispatched from Wellington, before the arrival of the Deborah there had informed me of the necessity of my proceeding to the south.

The Carbon had been thirty days on her voyage, having encountered three southerly gales, which obliged her to seek shelter in Admiralty Bay, Port Gore, and subsequently at Akaroa, where she remained nine days. On leaving this last mentioned place she fell in with twelve whale ships in sight at one time. The stores from the Carbon were landed at Hoputai, the Leith of the future New Edinburgh. The day after our return we marked out the Government reserve at Taiaroa's head for a pilot and signal station—also the district reserved by the natives and not included in the purchase. It embraces about four miles frontage on the eastern side of the harbour, the boundary line running across to the sea to the north of Cape Saunders, and comprises, at a rough calculation, ten thousand acres of land of various descriptions, well wooded, but broken by ranges of high hills. It contains the residences and cultivations of all the natives of the district of Otago, amounting to not more than forty or fifty souls.

The principal men who claim rights in this district are John Tuawaiki, formerly known as Bloody Jack, of which name he is now page 270ashamed, Taiaroa and Karitai. The last of these resides at Otago; the other two shift their abodes between Robuke Island in Foveaux's Strait and Port Levy. They differ much in their habits from the Natives of the Northern parts of the Islands; dressing as European sailors or fishermen, possessing and using with great skill and boldness fine sealing and whale boats, and deriving large profits from the collection of stranded whales, the bone of which they sell at the European stations, at which they have running accounts. They are all addicted to the copious use of raw spirits, under which Taiaroa and Karitai are fast sinking. John Tuawaiki alone deserves notice as a shrewd, straightforward, and highly intelligent chief. He entered into all the details of the sale, described the boundaries exactly by name and designs on paper, and conducted the transactions on the part of the Natives with the tact and readiness of an accomplished man of business. He repeatedly expressed his determination to abstain from spirits for the future, and to take his place amongst the intending settlers as an English gentleman. The population of the Southern Island has decreased with extraordinary rapidity since the establishment of whaling stations on its shores, and the visits of whaling ships to its fine harbours and bays; but previously the slaughters by the northern tribes had materially diminished its numbers. Since the commencement of this century, it is known that 2000 Natives were settled on Taiaroa's head in Otago. Now not more than fifty reside permanently in the whole district. At Molineux, where now are only to be found twelve Natives, there was within the same period a population of 2000; and at Akaroa it is well authenticated that a tribe of 1500 inhabitants, who resided in a pah on an island in the harbour, were exterminated at one time by Rauperaha and his people, with the exception of two individuals who saved themselves by swimming to the mainland.

Since the visits of whaling crews and shore parties, the mortality has continued more gradually, and can only be accounted for by the introduction of new habits, and formerly unknown diseases. At one place near Molineux, of 300 people who lived in a small bay, none but two or three escaped death by the measles, and it is asserted by some of the white residents that the parents when dying, buried their children alive rather than leave them to linger through the disease. The adoption of new kinds of animal food, such as mutton birds, which are covered with a thick coating of fat, the blubber of whales, unmixed with vegetable diet, and the use of raw spirits, together with that of blankets, varied at times for insufficient European rags, and the venereal disease in all its horrors, are also assigned as past and present causes of the rapid disappearance of the Native race. Since Mr. Tuckett's first visit to Foveaux's Strait three months ago, he has learned of the death of many of the men and women who were then apparently in strong health, and the Native chiefs, in parting with their unoccupied lands, gave as their chief motive for so doing, and as an inducement to us to take possession of them, the conviction they labour under, that in a few years they and their tribe will be no more.

The Deed, of Conveyance, a copy of which accompanies this, was prepared by Mr. Symonds and Mr. Clarke. When the Natives were assembled at Hoputai from all parts of the coast, whether in the block or not, to the number of one hundred and fifty men, women, and children, the boundaries of the land to be purchased were explained to them, and time was allowed them to talk the matter over, according to their custom in such transactions, before receiving the payment.

They encamped on the spot waiting the event.

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At Mr. Symonds's request I gave him an undertaking to consent to select for the Company, one hundred and fifty thousand acres out of the block purchased from the Natives.

Although the deed does not contain such full provision as I could have desired for the prevention of the Natives disposing of the land exempted from the sale, to the prejudice of the purchasers from the Company, yet I acceded to it in the full reliance of the Government not taking advantage of these reserves to allow of a competition with the Company. Already some claimants of small patches of land in the portion excepted by the Natives have applied to be allowed to retain them under a grant from the Crown, although they did not bring forward their claims when Mr. Commissioner Godfrey was at Otago for the purpose of examining such claims, and they received, from Mr. Symonds, in accordance with his instructions from Governor Fitzroy, assurances that their demands would be treated with indulgence and consideration.

Two other points there are of special application to the Governor; the one respecting the future disposal of the residue of the block beyond the 150,000 acres to be selected by the Company; the other as to the special Native Reserves as in the other settlements, not contemplated in the Company's New Edinburgh scheme, which cannot be made until the surveys are completed and selections made.

It will be for the directors to determine whether the payment of the £2,400 for the New Edinburgh block, and of the other sums in compensation to Natives in other districts, in conformity with Mr. Commissioner Spain's direction, will entitle the Company to further awards of land by Mr. Pennington.

The purchase money of the block at Otago may appear large; but it must be borne in mind that the block contains about 400,000 acres, with 150,000 only of which the Company will be charged—the remaining portion being available for depasturing the flocks and herds of the settlers. It is probable that the Natives would have consented to receive something less; but the sum having been fixed upon by Mr. Tuckett before my arrival at Otago, I thought it better not to disturb his arrangement, and that every security against future dissatisfaction of the Natives should be taken by a compliance with their expectations.

On the 31st of July, Mr. Clarke addressed the Natives to the effect "that they had now only to receive the payment to complete the transaction for which they had assembled, that they were about to part with the land described in the deed which he would read to them, with all growing on it or under it—that it would be gone from them and their children for ever—that they must respect the white man's land, and that the white man would not touch that reserved by the natives."

Karitai spoke to the same effect, strongly insisting on each respecting the other's rights in order to avoid disputes.

The Deed was then read in Maori, and the Natives agreed to the boundaries and terms mentioned in it. John Tuawaiki then signed it, and was followed by all the other Chiefs and their sons, and other owners of land.

The distribution of the payment then began. Taiaroa, the oldest Chief, was presented with £300 in notes and specie. Karitai the same. They were perfectly satisfied. The remainder of the Otago people received £600 amongst them in notes, gold, and silver. John Tuawaiki arranged many petty disputes in the subdivision of the money, and put down any clamour that arose, but there seemed little necessity for his page 272interference. The Natives of the south are well acquainted with dealings of various kinds. John afterwards received £200 for distribution among the Taieri Natives, and £1000 for those of Molineux—his share is to be the largest as the principal owner of that extensive district, and he undertook to satisfy all claimants. He behaved throughout the business with great temper and want of selfishness. The affair was concluded during the forenoon without any disagreeable occurrence, and I have never seen a more satisfactory termination of any New Zealand bargain. I have troubled you with the above details, less on account of any novelty they may possess, than to show that the conduct of the late negotiation by the Police Magistrate and the Sub-Protector of Aborigines differs but little from that pursued by myself in purchases of land for the Company, and as an answer to objections to the manner in which I conducted those transactions.

When the payment was complete, and possession of the place had been given by the Chiefs, which was clone by their taking off the taboo (that had existed at Hoputai for some years in consequence of the body of a Chief, who had been slain by another in a quarrel respecting some boats, being interred there) and hoisting the Union Jack, the Natives dispersed in their boats for their respective residences. The custom of tabooing is nearly extinct where there has been much intercourse between the white people and the Natives. John Tuawaiki easily disposed of the matter in question, saying, in answer to my inquiry how the taboo would be removed, "Why we will take up the bones and bury them at our place, your people may burn the house, and my people shall burn the boats."

We returned on board the schooner, and got under weigh as soon as the meeting dispersed, but by some blundering ran on the tail, of a sand-spit in the harbour, where we remained all night and all the next day. Karitai came on board to say he had only received £280 instead of £300. As we knew this to be incorrect, we told him only that his people had made a mistake. Upon getting ashore he found that he had miscounted his share, and that it was all right. His head man was suspected of having purloined £20, and replaced them when the deficiency was discovered. John Tuawaiki reproached Karitai with having told us lies, upon which he scratched John's face, who beat him. Karitai's son going behind him, flourished a tomahawk over Tuawaiki's head, which was wrested from him by Mr. Park. Tuawaiki merely said, "If your boy had struck me I would have taken all your money from you. As it is, I shall remember it."

We left Otago on the 2nd of August with a fair wind and hauled in towards Waikawaite, where resides Mr. John Jones, late of Sydney. It is a small district and has no harbour, but the land is good, with a considerable run for sheep and cattle, and a tolerable roadstead for vessels. At Waikawaite, Moeraki, and Otago there are more than 100 Europeans. Most of the men have native women living with them, and the half-caste children number thirty-five. This rather promiscuous cohabitation may be another reason for the diminution of the native race all along this coast to the south.

At Waikawaite have been found large quantities of the bones of the Moa buried in the sand. I obtained a tarsal bone which I shall send to Mr. Gowen by the first opportunity, and arranged for the collection of more.

There are two whale fisheries at Waikawaite. To the south of Otago there are four. In the neighbourhood of Banks' Peninsula three, and two at Kaikora—make nine on the eastern coast of this island.

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The course from Otago to Banks' Peninsula is N.E. by N. by compass. The current runs to the north at two miles an hour. The Southern Alps, covered with snow to their base, as they appeared to us at the distance we were from them, run at between twenty and thirty miles from the shore at the back of the ninety miles beach. We fell in with three whaling ships off the Peninsula. On the 7th of August, finding the wind adverse and increasing, we bore up for Pigeon Bay, which lies a few miles to the eastward of the mouth of Port Cooper. Pigeon Bay is a good harbour of refuge, being extremely easy of access, and already is frequented by vessels on the voyage to the south meeting a foul wind. In this light it may be considered a most useful port in connection with Port Nicholson and Otago. Being quite open and straight, a heavy swell rolls into it with a northerly wind. The same is the case with Ports Levi and Cooper. There is a narrow wooded valley, swarming with pigeons, from whence the bay has been named, in the direction of Akaroa, but there is no other available land in the bay which is separated from Port Levi by bare precipitous mountains.

The wind continuing contrary, we walked over to Akaroa. It occupies three hours to walk from one harbour to the other. They are separated by a wooded range of about 1500 feet high. On descending towards Akaroa, an opening in the wood made by the French gives a fine view of the harbour and Settlement. The French corvette Le Rhin was lying at anchor abreast of the site of the town, to reach which we had a walk of three hours round numerous bays, each containing a considerable portion of fine land covered with the best sorts of timber of very large growth. I have nowhere seen finer specimens of totara and red and white pine. One of the last, seventy feet in length, has been used as a main-yard to the Corvette, and is found to answer perfectly.

A road, made under the directions of Captain Lavaud and Captain Bérard, forms an excellent communication round the harbour. A great deal of labour has been bestowed on it, and considerable judgment and taste are displayed in its execution, and in the care with which the fine trees have been preserved along its sides. On our way to the town we called on Mr. Beligny, the agent of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, who resides in a beautiful bay about two miles and a half from the anchorage. He has a very comfortable establishment, and an extensive garden well stocked with fruit trees, flowers, and vegetables. A few German families are located near him; they have made themselves independent by their industry and frugality.

The site of the town encircles three small bays, and consists of about 300 acres. The dwellings of the French settlers are few and scattered. The residence of the English Magistrate, Mr. Robinson, the Company's store, and other buildings, with some houses of entertainment both French and English, fill up the frontage to the anchorage. We were most cordially welcomed by Mr. Robinson, who, during four years, has fulfilled the duties of his office in a most delicate and difficult position to the entire satisfaction of his Government, and in perfect amity with the French authorities and settlers. A Sub-Collector of Customs has also been sent there lately from Auckland—his duties appear to be nominal, for he has no power to enforce the customs regulations on board the numerous French and American whale ships which frequent the harbour to refresh after the fishing season. If something like order is maintained, it is owing to the good understanding existing between Mr. Robinson and the French Commandant, who is ready at all times to afford assistance to the former for the page 274preservation of the peace and support of the British authority, which Mr. Robinson admits he could not maintain without such support.

Sixty French, twenty German, forty British settlers, and ninety-seven Aborigines compose the resident population of Akaroa. There are forty or fifty acres of land in cultivation by the French and Germans, who with its produce, and that of numerous cows and poultry (a large portion of which they barter on board the ships visiting the harbour), maintain themselves in comfort.

I was much gratified at having the opportunity of renewing an acquaintance with Captain Bérard, formed during his visit to Wellington last year in the Corvette. I cannot but bespeak the regard of the Directors, and of every friend of New Zealand, for this enlightened advocate and supporter of its interests. His efforts to develop its resources, and to place its advantages in a true light, are unceasing, and are directed to every section of the islands, and to every object worthy of attention in each of them. I had to thank him for the handsome letter that be sent me by the pilot after his departure from Wellington, in which he gave me the results of his observations there; for a plan for improving the anchorage of Wairarapa and other open bays, and for many useful suggestions and remarks contained in his letters to me. He has added to these obligations by giving me copies of charts of Otago, and by advice as to precautions for rendering that harbour accessible and safe. Captain Bérard was an officer of La Coquille during the scientific voyage made in that ship by Dumont d'Urville in the year 1824, when he visited the Bay of Islands and other parts of New Zealand, in which he has never ceased to feel an interest. He commanded the finest frigate in the French navy, L'Uranie, before he was especially selected for the mission which he now fills.

I was much struck with the varied character of his employments. His time is admirably divided, and his officers render him their service as much from personal regard as a sense of duty.

He has caused roads to be constructed around the harbour by detachments of the crew of the Corvette, whom he rewards by allowing them powder and shot, and time, to shoot the pigeons that abound in the woods. They have sometimes brought on board four hundred in a day.

Medical care is given to all the settlers, without distinction, gratuitously by the Surgeon of the Corvette, and assistance is afforded to vessels visiting the port in any way that can be useful. Captain Bérard's scientific labours also occupy a stated portion of his time. Observations on the weather, experiments in flax-dressing and on the native woods, with reference to ship-building, cask-making, and furniture, and the cultivation of six acres of garden are also objects of interest to the Commandant. He is likewise engaged in directing the building of a capacious church, and the preparation of the skeleton of a whale and a seal for the museum of natural history at Paris.

His attention and hospitality are extended to visitors of all nations, and his anomalous position, which virtually places the whole power of the Government of the Settlement in his hands, leads to the most extraordinary demands on him. On other occasions he is subject to the jealousies of some of our countrymen. But M. Bérard's life having been devoted to science and the good of the human race, he is a thorough cosmopolite, and maintains by his impartiality the good-will of all. He is conversant with the history of New Zealand affairs, and reads all the journals published here and in Europe that notice them. I hope he will be induced at a future period to give the results of his page 275experience to the world. On the whole, considering the paternal protection afforded by their Government to "the small number of French subjects" settled in this distant corner of the world, the liberal instructions upon which M. Bérard acts, and the enlarged views he entertains of the subject of his mission, our visit to Akaroa impressed our party with sincere respect for his great nation, and her most worthy representative.

It is a matter of great regret that the negotiations between the French and English Cabinets delayed the settlement of the French claims to land in Banks' Peninsula. It is now, however, understood that the Nanto-Bordelaise Company is entitled to a certain portion of territory by the award of Mr. Commissioner Godfrey; but it is a subject of just complaint that the terms of their proprietorship of land having been adjusted by the two Governments in Europe, the local Government of New Zealand has not determined the limits of their allowed claim, and given them a title to the land which would enable them to extend their operations. Mr. Beligny, the Company's agent, could, if the title and boundaries of their claim were assured, dispose of land to actual settlers, and induce a considerable immigration to the place from France and Germany; but his repeated applications are unattended with any results, further than an intimation that they have been once more referred to the public offices of London or Paris.

I must hasten to the conclusion of this summary of my journal whilst in the south.

We sailed from Pigeon Bay on the 14th of August, with the first fair wind that had blown during ten days. The course from that port to Kaikora is N. by E. to Cape Campbell. Running along shore we saw the fires of the tryworks during the night at Kaikora, indicating the successful operations at the whale stations there.

We were abreast of Cloudy Bay on the morning of the 15th, and without touching at Port Nicholson came on here, where the schooner anchored on the 16th.

Separate dispatches will acquaint the Directors with the proceedings of the Commissioner's Court, in reference to the Nelson lands, and of, the steps I have adopted in consequence of the intelligence I have received here of the state of the Company's affairs on the 18th of April last.

(Enclosure in No. 36.)
Translation of Deed of Sale.

Know all men by this Document, We, the Chiefs and Men of the Ngaitahu Tribe in New Zealand, whose names are undersigned, consent on this thirty-first clay of July, in the year of our Lord 1844, to give up, sell, and abandon altogether to William Wakefield, Principal agent to the New Zealand Company of London, on behalf of the Directors of the said Company, all our claims and title to the lands comprised within the undermentioned boundaries; the names of the said lands are Otakou, Kaikarae, Taieri, Mataau, and Te Karoro; these are the boundaries, the northern boundary line commences at Purehurehu, runs along the sea shore, crossing the entrance of Otakou (Harbour), to Otupa, thence along the coast to Poatiri; the page 276eastern boundary is the ocean from Poatiri to Tokata; thence the southern boundary runs along the summit of Taukoku to Pohuaroa; it then runs along the summit of the Kaihiku Range, and crosses the Mataau River, thence along the summit of the Maunga Atua Range to Wakari, along the summit of Wakari to Mihiwaka and Otuwararoa, then descends to Purehurehu on the coast. We also give up all the Islands, Kamautaurua, Rakriri, Okaiha, Moturata, Paparoa, Matokétoké, Hakinikini, and Aonui: excepting the following places, which we have reserved for ourselves and our children, that is to say, a certain portion of land on the eastern side of Otakou, called Omate, the boundary line commences at Moepuku, crosses over to Poatiri, and thence along the coast to Waiwakaneke, then crosses to Pukekura, and runs along the side of the harbour to Moepuku. Also a certain portion of land at Pukekura, the boundaries of which are marked by posts, containing one acre more or less; also, a portion of land at Taieri, the boundary of which commences at Onumia, and runs across in a straight line to Maitapapa, the Taieri River forms the other boundary; also, a portion of land at the Karoro, bounded on the south by the Karoro River, on the east by the ocean; the northern boundary includes the Kainga of that place, and extends inland about one mile; which said Reserved Places we agree neither to sell or let to any party whatsoever, without the sanction of His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand. We have received as payment for the above first-mentioned lands the sum of two thousand four hundred pounds in money, on this day.