WITH the coastal plains and the outer ranges in perspective it was natural that a select group of men would traverse long stretches of the country.

Thomas Brunner was a man of determination and purpose. In 1846 he travelled with Charles Heaphy from Nelson down the Buller and the West Coast to Arahura, but ‘ travel’ is inadequate to describe this journey. It was a succession of struggles with forest, rivers and starvation. Heaphy was well known as an artist; lithographs of his work are famous to-day. A civilian turned soldier, he gained a V.C. in the Maori Wars. Brunner made a second journey to Westland in 1847 when he struggled as far south as Paringa. For sixteen months he was away from civilisation. The privations of this journey shortened his life.

In 1855 F. A. Weld discovered a shorter over­land route from Nelson to Canterbury, following the long valley of the Wairau River and the country near Lake Tennyson. His descriptions of Tophouse and Tarndale are most interesting, as are his references to the bird-life — ‘the blue whistling duck,’ ‘ the Paradise goose,’ and ‘ the unsophisticated wood-hen.’

In 1857 Leonard Harper with Locke and Maori guides made the first crossing by Europeans of the Main Divide of the Southern Alps. The party lived on native birds and eels, eked out by a small supply of tea and sugar. The expedition took three months.

James Mackay was another of this band of tough-fibred men. Between 1856 and 1860 he opened up the auriferous country between Golden Bay and Karamea and purchased Westland from the natives for 300 sovereigns.

In the North Island, a young Survey cadet, S. Percy Smith, accomplished a long overland journey in 1858. He went from Taranaki to Mokau, Taupo, Rotomahana, Tarawera, and Rangi-tikei, covering 500 miles on foot, 46 miles in canoes, and 60 miles on horses. He was a worthy contemporary of the giants of energy in the South Island.

The advent of the Maori Wars delayed settle­ment in the interior of the North Island and dangers from ambush were added to the hazards of surveyors and travellers. Military reconnais­sance furthered exploration.