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there is a cluster of small wooded islands; on one of which I also observed a few houses.

We entered the Inlet at 4 p.m., but owing to the absence of wind and a slight tide against us, it was after sunset before we reached the anchorage in Glory Cove. No one on board had ever been in the place before; but we groped our way, even after dark, without difficulty, by the aid of the Admiralty Chart.

As the sky, on the morning of the 16th, at last gave promise of an easterly wind, I landed early to examine the shores of the beautiful little harbour in which we lay, and which, according to the New Zealand Pilot, is the most snug and accessible of the many five harbors contained within Paterson’s Inlet.

It is completely land-locked, and on one side has a sandy beach, with deep water and fine mud bottom a short distance from the shore; while on the opposite side, low rocky banks overhang 16 to 20 feet depth of water, forming almost a natural wharf. The rock is everywhere a coarse grained red granite, which decomposes easily and forms a rough sandy clay or laterite.

This granite is singular for containing nodules of a compact fine grained variety of granite, so that at a distance it resembles a mechanically-formed rock.

I observed no traces of the greenstone and hornblendic dykes which so abounded at Port William, so that the line of these volcanic rocks is probably limited to the chain of islands that run from that place towards Ruapuke Island.

The hills surrounding the harbour appear, from the water, to be steep and lofty, but this appearance is deceptive, owing to the low scrub which grows next the shore, passing gradually back into the forest growth containing trees of good height. Generally, on scrambling through the first belt of scrub, a sharp rise of 60 feet, brings one on to a comparatively level tract of open forest land. Although I should have liked to examine more of Paterson’s Inlet, I was constrained to take advantage of the fine easterly breeze which sprung up early in the afternoon, so that we weighed anchor and sailed for Preservation Inlet. Before leaving the harbour, a boat visited us from the Saw Mills, which are situated about five miles up Paterson’s Inlet. There are two different establishments, and altogether a little community, comprising nearly a hundred persons. Besides these there are several fishing stations at various parts of the Inlet; and on the Peninsula, that closes it from the eastward there are 16 to 20 houses and a good deal of tilled land, so that there may be altogether a population of about 200 persons in this district.

There is said to be abundance of fine timber, but of the woods I have seen, the greater part consists of red pine and iron wood, the birch or Fagus appear to be altogether absent, which is a very remarkable circumstance, as this genus forms the bulk of all the primitive forest on the south and western part of the Middle Island.

As we cleared the harbour we sighted the schooner “Wild Wave,” from Invercargill, which greatly delighted our visitors, as the population in the Mills had been anxiously expecting her arrival with provisions for a long time, and, indeed, for many days past been reduced to a diet of cockles and wood-hens. When outside we had a fresh breeze from the S.E., before which we sailed along the coast at a great rate, logging eight and a-half knots. On coming abreast of Saddle Point at 3 p.m., the skipper put over the patent log, and took his course for Windsor Point, which is the headland eastward from Preservation Inlet. Before dark we passed the rugged rocks which form the north-west cape of Stewart’s Island. These pinnacles of granite rock, rising abruptly from the sea, afford most striking evidences of the tremendous energy with which the waves of the South Seas expend their force on the shore line, levelling mountains and strewing the debris over a large submarine area.

As we gradually lost sight of Stewart’s Island, it became wreathed in dark tempestuous clouds; while before us, over the valley of the Waiau River, the twilight was clear but lurid. The breeze was rapidly increasing to a gale, and the sea which it raised against the S.W. rollers getting rather too heavy for us. The water was brilliantly illuminated by phosphorescent masses, but we were going too rapidly through the water to attempt to capture any with the tow net in order to examine their nature. At 8 p.m. we had made 42 miles from Saddle Point, and as this left only 26 miles further to run to Windsor Point, at 10:30 the schooner was “hove to” with her head in shore under close reefed mainsail, being then, the skipper considered, about 4 miles S.E. of Windsor Point. At dawn on the 17th, after a terrible night of pitching and tossing, the Skipper called me with the disagreeable news that we had drifted during the night further than was anticipated, and that he fancied we were now to the leeward of Preservation Inlet. Moreover, as there was a tremendous sea running, he doubted if we were able to recover the distance we had lost by beating. When daylight came in, this proved to be correct, and we found that we were 11 miles S.W. of the point of land between Chalky and Preservation Inlets. As it would never do to be blown out into the South Seas, the yacht was steered under close reefed canvas as near to the proper course as possible. She behaved well, and rose so lightly on the high waves, that it seemed almost as if they would overwhelm her; the Skipper hauled her closer and closer to