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and I got as high as thirty dollars each for some of them. Drinking rum and working in wet clothes brought on a bad touch of low fever, and for three weeks I was in bed. As a last resource, my wife, who was a powerful big woman, carried me over the hills as far as Wairewa (Little River), where there was a Native doctor supposed to be very clever. Anyhow he cured me with native herbs, so as soon as I got better I left my wife and family for a bit, and went up as far as Kaiapoi, taking a couple of the Maoris with me as guides. There were several large pas in that district also, one up where Riccarton now is. I spent a month or two going about from one to the other, and then I returned and stayed a few years on the Peninsula again. During this period I lost my wife, so I made up my mind to go round and live on the Plains. I left my two girls with their friends, and took my three boys round in the boat, with the assistance of a couple of Maoris. I went right up the river Avon, and can say that my boat was the first ever taken up that river by a white man. We stopped at a small pa near the mouth of the river for a couple of days, and then proceeded right up as far as Riccarton, which took three days, as the boat was heavy and the river ran with great force. Shortly after this I met Mr. John Deans, who had come to settle on the Plains, and took him up the river to the place where he is now living, and afterwards conveyed his family and goods the same way.^[1] I worked for him for a bit, helping him to put up his whâre, and afterwards engaged with him as shepherd.”

But he found this sort of life too dull and solitary, so left, and went north, where he engaged with Mr. Darby Caverhill, and managed his run for a bit.