tent about an hour after; but I began to fear the others had taken a different road, as they did not come up till eight o'clock: they were all dreadfully fatigued, which was not to be wondered at, as they had had nothing to eat from six in the morning, except a few raw potatoes and raw craw- fish, perhaps at the rate of two potatoes and one craw-fish each man. I did not, however, pity them much, as if they had not deceived me about the road they intended to take, they might have arrived at the resting-place long before they did.
March 10th.—We this day employed all our strength to carry potatoes, as we knew that none were growing within two days' journey—the women came with us for the purpose of carrying our first day's meals. We had great difficulty in crossing the Waikato, owing to the smallness of the canoe and the want of paddles; for the people who had left it there for us had, I suppose, hidden them so completely, that we could not find them in half an hour's search, and consequently were obliged to pull her for about five miles against a current like a mill-stream. The road over which we now passed to Roturoa, I have already described.
March 12th.—Last night, at about ten miles' distance, we could plainly smell the hot springs of Roturoa. We got into the great Pa at ten o'clock, but were obliged to remain there all day in consequence of the wind not permitting us to cross over to Mr. Chapman's in a canoe. During my absence, the Waikato people had attacked Muckatoo—a town on the sea-coast east of Tawranga, which belonged to the Roturoa people, who said they thought Mr. Chapman was gone there to try to make peace. This news made me more than ever anxious to get over to the mission-house, and I exerted all my eloquence to persuade the natives to launch a canoe, but to no purpose. When at last they chose to take me over, it was after tea-time at Mr. Chapman's.
