When the storm had spent its force, a gleam of sunshine dispelled the mists, and just for a time the summit of Ruapehu shone white and clear beneath the rolling clouds. We had carefully marked our intended course upon the map, and had resolved as soon as the weather should break to make direct for the southern side of Tongariro, and ascend the tapued mountain as quickly as we could, in order to give the natives, if they fell across our tracks, as short a time as possible to run us to earth. With the hope, if not altogether the prospect, of a fine day, we made another start, but not before we had been compelled, owing to the weak condition of our horses, to abandon half our provisions, and reduce our whole commissariat to the lowest proportions. Before we had journeyed a mile the bright sun disappeared; the "black, cloudy sky" of the Rangipo again gathered around us; the winds swept across the wide plains in terrific gusts; the rain poured down heavier than before; the white snow-clad summit of Ruapehu disappeared from view with the quickness of a phantom, and again the vapouring mists obscured the great mountains towards which we were travelling. We had to cross no less than five large creeks, besides smaller streams, in about four miles. The tracts down to the creeks, which had a steep fall of 200 to 300 feet below the plains, were broken about and washed away into big holes and dangerous and slippery places, and the horses were as chary of facing these treacherous inclines as they were of going into the flooded waters of the creeks themselves. The amount of water poured out by these creeks into the Waikato from the Tongariro Mountains during a flood must be seen to be fully realized. At all times the natural springs of the mountains keep them well supplied, but when heavy rains descend, the whole watershed comes down with tremendous force and volume. Wherever we crossed these rugged, boulder-strewn streams, the banks were clothed with a splendid and varied vegetation, which got denser and denser as their deep gorges led up the steep mountain sides. I noticed in these creeks that the boulders were mostly of trachytic formation, with smaller drift composed of the various volcanic rocks peculiar to the district, while embedded in their steep pumice sides might often be seen the charred remains of enormous trees, which must have lived ages ago, when some volcanic eruption swept over them. We pitched our camp at Pangarara, a deserted Maori _pa_, situated some distance off the plains, and at the edge of a secluded bush about two miles from the south-eastern foot of Tongariro. The rain still poured down as heavily as usual, and although the country was entirely open between us and the big mountain that was to be the next scene of our operations, not a vestige of it could we see.