THE DESCENT INTO ROTOMAHANA. AN EARLY START.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 161, 17 July 1886, Page 6

THE DESCENT INTO ROTOMAHANA . AN EARLY START.

All things ha\e an end, and so had that tenible night. At the •iv-.t pign of dawn w e a\ ci c a^tir and found the gi onnd perfectly white with hoar fio^t. A spare coat belonging to one of thenathes we found to bo tio/.cn, and so was the -\\atei in the bottles \\ c had bi ought w ith us. To our gi eat dismay we found th.it seseial of the lattei had been bioken by the cold during the night, and anothei was =.üb«eqnently broken u hilu Toko was thaw ing it before the fire. This, left us baiely suiiicient water for half a pint of tea per man. We. however, had a good supply of Johnny 'Walker, and oiu' Maoiie« had some stout, so we deteimined to risk thii&t rather than waste an hour or so going back on our track for a\ ater. Concealing our blankets, {•addle.-, and other impediments in the bush, for, sad to suy, the Maoris of this district, though endow od \\ ith &oine of the good qvialitiesot the inhabitants of ancient Sparta.have also an ultia-Spartan disiegard for the law relating to meum and (num. We started fiom camp about 7.30 It was still bitterly cold, and a hea\y wet mi&t, wliich congealed in tiny icicles on our clothing, and even on our ear tip?, kept alive the unpleasant memories of tho night, and urged us to adopt a pace which soon rendered one of the paity, Captain Way, unable to proceed further. The mud on the ground was covered w ith little beads of ire, and an houi auv us on the hill overlooking tho lake.