THE LAKES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 404, 14 January 1870, Page 3

THE LAKES.

(feom oub own correspondent.) Queenstown, Jan. 11. The race meeting, t'6 be held on Thursday and Friday next is, of course, the great thereof conversation, and everybody is asking what horses are going to run and wheto they are coming from. Those, in my opinion, too pertinent questions, and

remind me of the r,eply made by a young ster tire other day at the pie-nic. When asked if he would have a piece of cake he looked knowingly round, and seeing none upon the cloth exclaimed, Where is it ? Now, this is just the position of the people of Queenstown and the Lakes district generally. When informed that they are to havd races, and more practically so when they are asked to subscribe their guineas to them, it' is very natural that they should desire to know something about the horses which are to run for their money. The only answer is, they a-e coming up from the Dunstan. There is no other solution of the problem, for we neither possess ahy race horses, nor does there appear to be any racing men to appreciate such property We are badly in want of sporting men in this district.

The weather has been behaving itself much better lately, and for the last fortnight we have had a liberal supply qf moisture, which has cooled the earth and made the green fields rejoice again. The wheat looks famous where it was put in early, but the rain was too late where the sowing was deferred until the spring, Gala promise an abundant yield, hut the acreage sown is not great, and with the exception of a fall in early Spring, present prices will he fully maintained throughout the year. The consumption for this cereal is yearly increasing, and with the opening of the Shotover bridge horse traffic will be considerably extended. Potatoes look well, and promise to yield abundantly, but as this is a very unsaleable crop (the best customers being the pigs), the porcine tribe may give themselves an extra treat and think themselves happy that good times are before them.

Our local industries promise an addition in the shape of a brewery, the building of which is to be at once proceeded with at Queenstown, immediately. That we should brew our own beer has been a long felt want, and as wo can also grow our own malt and hops the district should gain largely by possessing a brewery. As water enters so largely into the composition of beer it seems simply absurd to cart it all the way from Dunedin.

On Friday Last there was an excursion to the head of the Lake hy the steamer Antrim. The weather, unfortunately, was unpropitious. Old boreas blew his hardest, which, as a matter of course, prevented many from going, however a sufficient number went to make things pleasant and agreeable so far as company was concerned, those who were not sick thoroughly enjoyed themselves, whilst those that were, did the same as soon as they recovered from the temporary inconvenience with which they were afflicted. The juveniles seemed to suffer the m-st, probably from the want of caution on the parts of their parents who suffered them to eat too much fruit, adults of the masculine gender partook liberally. (medicinally of course) of sundry libations of pale Hennessy, with wiiioh they fortunately took precautions to provide themselves. The scenery of the M' akatip has been so many times described that there is little new left for me to say about it. Nothing can be more pleasant than to steam along the shore, almost touching the moss-covered rocks,which rise nearly perpendicularly out of the water, offering not sufficient landing room for the feet of a duck, and then passing deep mountain gorges, glorying in the richest hues of a diversified foliage, such as no painter could fail to appreciate ; for here, in these misty depths, amid the splash and snray of waterfalls, vegetable nature revels in rank luxuriance, its solitary and silent grandeur, impressing the beholder with a feeling something akin to reverential awe. Passing that lovely spot, Bob’s Cove, and poor blind Earry the Boatman’s hut, we round Rat Point, and enter the great north Lend of the Wakatip. Here the lake is at its widest, and it was here the win ! blew fiercest, and the waves rose highest, till the nnle waters came on board in such quantities as to drive evervone to the after part of the ship. The Antrim now steamed a-head for two hours, when -we reached Long Island, and entering apretty little sheltered bay, dropped our anchor, and landed the passengers and the heaps of good things they brought with them. Selecting = a sheltered spot among the ferns, the ladies, who had by this time quite recovered from the effects of the voyage, set to work in preparing the feast, which part of the performance your own correspondent was glad to witness, and to which, in company with others, he did ample justice to. Fowls, tongues, hams, beef, pastry, jellies, cus tards, cakes, Ac,, disappeared like magic, as also did .ale, porter, spirits, wines, lemonade, ginger-beer, and other good things which it would take too long to particularise, and which might he provoking for your readers who were not present to read about. To my mind there, is something practical in being at a feast, more so than in reading about it. About half-past four, after a ramble round ’the “tight little island,” we again embarked, and steamed out into the lake. The wind had died away considerably, and the waters being calm, we proceeded on our voyage, and reached Glenorchy shortly after six o’clock, where, with the exception of a few ladies and children, we again went on shore. Glenorchy is by no means a large town. It is situate on a stony flat, in the estuary of the Rees river. The buildings consist of the home station of Messrs. Butement and a couple of stores and shanties combined. How two stores can exist and from whence came customers, was a puzzle to me, and to many others likewise. The head of Lake Wakatip is one great lovtel plain, through which flows its two principal feeders, the Dart and Eees rivers. At some distance from the shore, and rising almost perpendicularly out of the plain; is Mount Alfred ‘ (Severed from base to summit with donsS forest Just behind is thq great dividing' range, i with Mount Earns law towering over all, with its glaciers of eternal snow and ice glittering

in the setting sun. Of forest there is enough in view to supply the whole of the .goldfields for ages. The country looking north was, everywhere below the snow line, densely clkd Avith timber. From where we were Lake Kakapo was, in a straight line, only twenty miles distant, and Martin’s Bay not more than forty miles. By way of the valley of the Dart ib a payable track to Martin’s Bay. Two of Messrs. Butements’ shepherds have lately made the trip, and experienced very little difficulty in doing so. About half-past nine o’clock wo started for Qnoenatov’i’h, what little wind there was being favorable, and arrived at about one o’clock a.m. tired, certainly, but well pleased with our excursion.