the mules, they decided to turn them loose, the track being blocked so that the animals would be found on the return of the party; but to their great disappointment when they did return they found that the mules had broken through and crossed the Fish Stream, being later found at the head of Lake Wanaka.
So broken was the country through which the party had now to pass, that it was necessary to ford the Haast fourteen times in one day. After leaving their tenth camp they were unable to find sufficient level ground on which to pitch the tents. As a result of being thus exposed to the weather the leader caught a chill through lying in a pool of water that had collected during the night, the consequence being that he suffered for three days from an acute attack of gout and could only travel with great difficulty. Fording the Haast to the right bank above its junction with the Burke, the party came on an old camp, and found carved on a tree, “Nugget Prospecting Party, Sep. 3, 1863.” The river now ran nearly eight miles between wide flats, some of which were grassed. From its junction with the Clarke the Haast riverbed widened in places to almost two miles, and the going was consequently much better. They reached the coast on October 2nd, thirty-five days after leaving the Dunstan.
