ng
impracticable.

My visit being ended and the weather favourable, I proceeded to
Christchurch preparatory to resuming work. I was accompanied by a young
man named Evans, a stockrider from one of the Ashburton stations, and on
arriving at the Rakaia, being in a hurry, we foolishly tried to ford the
river without a guide, as I had frequently done at other times. The
river was quite fordable, but the streams were fairly deep, taking the
horses some way above the girths. We had nearly crossed the largest when
my horse suddenly went down, and in an instant we were swimming in a
swift current nearly to the waist. Evans's horse followed the other's
example. They were both good swimmers, and took us out safely on the
side from which we entered, some 300 yards down stream. Another try
under the forder's guidance was successful, but the accident detained us
at the north bank accommodation house for the night.

In addition to the completion of the Ashburton gorge road, I obtained a
contract from a wealthy runholder in the neighbourhood to put up many
miles of wire fencing, then just coming into use for dividing the runs,
and also for the erection of several outstation buildings, all of which
I had completed before the middle of the summer season, and I was in
treaty for further work when I received an offer from Mr. T. Moorhouse,
at whose station I had been so ill, to accompany him on an exploring
trip to the head of the Wanaka Lake, in Otago Province. He had taken up
(or imagined he had done so) some sheep country there, and the
expedition was for the purpose of inspecting his newly acquired
possessions. Nobody had yet seen this country, or at any rate, been on
it.

The journey would be about 300 miles, in addition to the voyage up the
lake by boat, about twenty miles. It would be a new experience for me,
and I was delighted with the offer, the more so that I would receive a
good return for my time with all expenses paid, and I was glad to have
an opportunity of again visiting the Lindis and the country far beyond
my late travels, during the summer, when all would look its best and
camping out be a real pleasure.

As we were not to start for ten days, I went to Christchurch to receive
payment for work, and I was anxious to purchase a good saddle horse in
place of my big mare, which was too clumsy and heavy for our proposed
ride to Otago. On the day on which I purchased the animal there was an
auction sale of walers in the