nry Williams was carried on two poles by native
bearers who often sank in mud up to their chests. At last they emerged
into a beautiful park-like country, where stood Matamata, the _pa_ of
Waharoa. The old man was very gracious. Though his career had been
almost as bloodstained as was that of Hongi, he made a favourable
impression upon the missionaries, and "asked many significant questions
about religion." He was keenly desirous of a mission settlement in his
_pa_. Williams discussed with him many plans for an extension of the
work. "This conversation," says Carleton, "was the clue to all
subsequent proceedings."

Returning down the river, a site was chosen for a station at Puriri. The
spot lay amongst flax swamps on a tributary of the Thames. It was
somewhat damp and unhealthy, but it was centrally situated as regards
the tribes of the neighbourhood. Before the end of the year it was
occupied by Morgan, Preece, and Wilson, who found raupo houses already
erected for them by the Maoris.

The Thames expedition had proved beyond a doubt that the land lay open
to mission enterprise. But the surprises which it offered were not
always pleasant ones. Early in the year 1836 Brown and Hamlin, with some
Maori converts, started overland to explore the Waikato. The Kaipara and
Tamaki districts were waste and uninhabited, nor were any human beings
seen, till they struck the great river itself. In the absence of canoes
they essayed to cross it on _mokis_ or bundles of flax-stalks. These
rafts were so satisfactory that they paddled down the stream for some
distance, when they were met by a boat containing an Englishman and a
younger brother of Te Wherowhero--afterwards well known as the Maori
King, Potatau. The strangers were friendly, but their remarks were
uncomfortably direct. "Why did you not come before?" they asked. "You
have stayed so long in the Bay of Islands that surely your children are
old enough to be missionaries. If you had come among us some time ago,
the Taranakis would have been alive, but now we have cut them nearly all
off."

The opening thus indicated could no longer be neglected. A few months
later a second expedition was directed towards the same quarter, though
by a different route. It consisted of Messrs. W. Williams, Brown, and
Morgan, and they had with them the speaker of the sharp rebuke above
mentioned. Approaching from the side of the Thames Valley they reached
Ngaruawahia, at the confluence of the Wa