Starvation Land.

They struggled on, those hard-travelling five, the women carrying as much as the men. For weeks they followed the great winding river. At last they reached the Coast, six months out from Nelson, after countless adventures and all but starved. They had to kill and eat Brunner's dog. They expected to find Maoris on the Coast, but the settlement was deserted, and all they could get to eat there was seaweed from the rocks.

Later on, when they travelled by slow stages down to the Mawhera—the Grey River—and on to Taramakau and Arahura, where there were some Maoris, they fared better.

(To be continued.)