William Fox was the New Zealand Company agent in Nelson when, in early 1846, with Charles Heaphy, Thomas Brunner and Kehu, a Māori guide, he explored the Buller River. This watercolour was one of the views from this voyage of exploration. Fox was not a professional painter, but a well-educated gentleman who later became a prominent New Zealand politician. His painting skills were a useful attribute; in such works he was attempting to record the country the four men had discovered on their three-week journey. However, in these works he also recognised painterly conventions, such as the figures in the foreground and the device of the curving shore which leads the eye to bluish mountains in the distance.