LAKE WANAKA.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 180, 22 April 1873, Page 6

LAKE WANAKA.

(From a Oorrenpon lent.) On a recent journey up the Lake, I had an opportunity of visiting some of the islands, one of which .affords some excellent sport in the shape of rabbit shooting. There is also to be found the diminutive tiger, in the shape of several cats, which were placed .there for the purpose of to some extent destroying the rabbits, with the ultimate object of having tne island stocked with sheep. The rabbits, however, exist in such numbers that I question much whether the means of destruction attempted will attain the desired object. A certain scholastic gentleman, on first hearing what had been done, exclaimed with astonishment and remorse that the sport of the district had been ruined ; but the imagination of some sportsmen helps them a great way, and to such a cat or a stray dog may afford equal sport with the rabbit. Tradition has it that in days gone by a dog was shot by some of the Lake sportsmen : let it be charitably concluded the unfortunate animal bore so strong a resemblance to a rabbit that it was merely a case of mistaken identity. Another island, known as Pigeon Island, which is inhabited by a single individual, (and occasionally by bushmen he employs,) has almost wholly supplied the district with firewood for a considerable time past, but the I best of it has now been cut. This individual, j who is known as the Island squatter, has put j several hundred sheep on the island. After strolling over it for a time, we made for its highest point. Right on the summit, there reposes a small but beautiful lake, with an island or two in the centre. Around this lake is foliage of different sorts, which lends quite a charm to the scene. The still beauty of the spot, mingled with the music of the songsters of the grove, at once recalled to my mind the words of the late Sir Walter Scott, in his delightful lay of the Lady of the Lake— So wondrous wild, the whole might be The scenery of a fairy dream. A good trade seems to be done on the Wanaka Lake by a very handsome craft named the Eureka, and it seems the trade is not by any means on the decline. Another craft, of about fifty tons, is on the stocks at Pigeon Island, which is being built by the resident thereon before alluded to, and which is expected to be launched in six or eight months. It is said, also, to be the intention of the proprietor of the Wanaka Station to place a steamer on the Lake. We are not aware whether the object is the benefit of the residents generally, or the profit and convenience of the proprietor. We have lately heard a good deal of talk on the subject, and it is not improbable that ere long a steam vessel will be plying up and down the Lake. Should this surmise prove correct, the owners of the sailing craft will be startled by the sound of the pipes playing “ The Campbells are coming,” and on looking round them, will observe, “by the moonbeams’ misty light,” the realisation of the “ coming events” that are now “casting their 1 shadows before them.”