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till they got near a reef that runs out near Waikerakikari shore. Here the sea was breaking furiously over the reef, and they had to wait for over two hours before Miller gave the word to pull across. When he did he said “Pull, and pull like h—l, boys!” and so they did pull, and just as the boat cleared the reef the rowers saw the bare rocks staring up abaft. It was a marvellous escape; another moment and the boat must have been dashed to pieces, and all on board drowned, for no one could have swum in such a sea; and had it not been for the iron nerve and quick eye of Miller, none would have lived to tell the tale.

There is a very picturesque bay on Lake Forsyth named after the subject of this memoir, who was well known all over the Peninsula as a dealer in stock. He was a man of a great variety of trades, up to anything, and was much liked by many in the early days. He once kept the Canterbury Hotel, in Lyttelton, and afterwards (in conjunction with D. Taylor) purchased a run near Tamutu, at the head of Lake Ellesmere. It is said he was born in Smithfield, close to the celebrated market, and he used to boast that he had been connected with stock since his birth, for that reason. He went to Sydney in 1849, and came to Canterbury in ’53. It was about 1860 that he purchased the run previously mentioned, and entered extensively into cattle dealing, a pursuit which made him known in every corner of the Peninsula, from which he drew no small portion of his supplies.

The great event in his life happened later. He