A STORY OF THE WEST COAST.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1154, 11 April 1884, Page 3

A STORY OF THE WEST COAST.

' V" (Lyiteitnn -Times ) We are indebted to Mr Michael Hart for the following story of privalio i and endurance ! Yes, Mr Hart, my.name is Alexander Whitehead. I am srgdldminer, and at present, as you see, a patient in No. 6 ward of the Christchurch Hospital, an institution which, for attention, treatment, and kin 1tiers. I can scarcely anffirjien'ly praise. By birth T am a -Scotch non, hailing from Stirling, 46 years of age, sfr. llin in height, an I, previous to my last trying expo ieiica (which, os y.ni can evn now perm: ve, has rdu-ed me alums to skin and bone). 1 wci.hed I3sv. 71 I hj ive been for upwards of 2d years in this co my and mv mining expriece nting t at period has n it been a ln.il'’, 1 can assure veu ; and t may arid that that portion of itwhieli relates to bush life and travelling has been more than gen rally falls t'the lot of most god miners. You may hen-fore believe me, I little imagined that 1 should ever be lost in the bash, ami this is how it fell out. Ab.utthe beginning of.last month (Feb ruory) my mate and I were beach-coin rang at Bruce Bay," about 70 miles south of the township of Okarito, on the West Coast. We were wo'king the black beach sand, and making about 15s per man a day. Bruce Bay. I may toll you, is not a thicklynhabited spot, as you may gather from the fact that the whole population then con sisted ot five Europeans (gol.‘-miners) and about a dozen Maoris, some of whom fpl lowed the same occupation. The gold we obtained was very fi re, and of come we had to use qnioksdver. In order to give those interim ed some idea of our mode of working the sand, I should like to say that we had two dry 'races, and the boxes were flume) out, to .thu. front of the beach; on tire average I should say there were about 20 l-oxes to each flame. Extending between" the flumes, nrj ru ming. along the front of i he beach, wo had abnur 250 ft of hosi', ■livded into h-nghs of 50ft. Each, .’•{ course, we worked with p u-h to catch the g dd. As I was in Somewhat, ill health ihrmigh.working so much in water. 1 de erniined to make a shi'l, proceed to Okatiro, ami thence to R t-s or Hokitika, and accordi 'g’y on the 10th February last, 1 sol out my share to my mate an packe I my swag (which had. ally tinned with ba-k, so as to make it nearly waterproof), with mv blankets, new clothing, papers gold (both in amalgim and clean), and £2O in notes. I • fid not think ot raking ami provisions, nor of providing mys If with ex r en a t illy or pannikin, as in i he ordinary course of events I short d have I een able, at least every day of my journey, to fall in with a place where I could obtain provisions. My mate having accompani d me about six miles on the road, wished m« Go 1-speed, and returned to his c aim. and 1. having spent some days in passing Gillespie's Beach, Ginns', arid i tkarito, on February 16 reached the river WatO'iia, and at a out half past 4 in the afternoon made the little Wanganui River, and crossed it. I here expected to find the mail trick, but instead of this found that the successive floods during the previous season had caused the river to cut a fresh channel into the bush, and thus swallow up the track. F xing my sw.ig high up in a tree, 1 searched both up and down from the place I landed, out without finding any trace of the track. Tho busii through which the river now ran was very dees , and almost impracticable, varying from 10ft to 20ft. in height, and cunsiatii.g'of lawyers and supplejacks combined, and growing to gether so as to form a sort of thick jungle. Of course witu a billhook or knife you might make -011)0 progress, but even with : these aids I think you could s -arcely m 'ke more than the eightn part of a mile in a I dav. I then determined to I down the river, and picking up my swag followed the ri>er down f >r about two mibs ; Camped there, made a fire, and so supperless to sleep. Next morning retraced my steps to where 1 had crosse I the previous day, an 1 male ray wiy throu hj the same soi t of bush for some distance above the crossing nlace. but without s rilling the track. Here, I think, I first began to be lost; and evenin’coming on, and no sue c si. 1 again conned. Next day continued up the river, and on in a lino through a swamp close to the ruigcs, thinking bv this way to meet with the big Wangau i River. I got, I should think, about a mile or so of it when I was compelled by the nature of the country to angle down to what is known as Pe'cr Hendy’s crossing. Here I met the river, and having swum across, I hj mled ray swag over from the other side with a fl ix line I had made while there. Having hid my swag, I toiled on till I came to anot ler part of the nver. which I was unable to swim, as the banka were so steep that if ever I got in I sho .Id not be able to vet out again. Camped here for the night, and still without food. Next day went on ihe back track to where my swig was. On arriving there it commenced to rain in torrents, coming down in a manner I have seldom seen. I pitched the fly of n v swi >, wh cli formed but lir.fc.e shuttle- as you may im igioe, and hi I to lie down in the water for f.ntyei ht hou still the ram ceas -d It was in vai t that I tried to keep my things dry by putting them un dec my bo i y, as the water i an clean it n ir mean ''he i n-. As >i fact, the wrioing ink was di ouar.ei from in. bmk no es, bn- the bvak s i 'S qu-u ly re ignis • i thu nu übirs. On the rain c-.a-.ing. I m* e another start, but her-, to my so- ow, I 1 ha I to abandon my swag wi.h ad my cl(>tu<>a, bl.nkets, e t-„ as I cmll l n r, ci ry ir. any fir her. I'akiug only my mm y, gold, an 1 amalgim 1 managed to reauh the little Wanganui Riv-r. having tiswirn inor; than a iioz n swo le , c eehs o i the way he e. I a am c nip , and ou the following day reached the oo eh at camping tiro". Here I obtaine 1 the first foo I 1 na 1 for about six oseven days, it c-muste l of a small spi cies ofshellfidi, of veiy inferior quality, and veiy few in nnmbei, which I succeeded in del.-C ling from the neks, high up above r.he wu er. I was unable to get at any othai fish, or any mnsse a. owing to the very rough weather at sea, which erased all the lower part of the rocks to be covered hy the breakers. 1 afterwards bea. about the beach tid I came to themoutn of the little W.mganui River, and by following this river to thu lagoon I made the Waitaroa River, a distance altogether ot about 26 miles. I should thin a, and there camued ou the beacn Si ill pressing on, the next day 1 arrived at a deserted hut belonging to Mr Diedrich, .a g»ntlerain well known on the Coast. In this, to my great joy, I found about half a poun I of sngir. This [ divided into three portions, and made it last me 2t hours, and found it relieved me very much. 1 slept iu the hut that night, and on the following day, keeping the beach, I crossed the little Wanganui and reached tho 1-ig Wanganui. Camped here, and next morning, through dense bush and wti.'u g,-cit, labour, up the latter river about a mi o c.n I a half, spending all day in accomplishing tire di tance. At this sta e I got so weak an i exhausted that 1 ha I to lift my levs with my hj inds over the fallen trees an I lo;s, my toenails linin' blanked in the cffirts I nude. In all tbi«, I kept as close to the river as tho country would allow, as I knew it was a guide to me, and though often I could nut see it, L never let it out of my heating. That night I camped in the hnah, and on. the next morning, having come to an old crosstag, I afterwards struck an old bush track.

. I stuck to this, in the Jiope . -that 'it would lead me to some-habitation, but, my dear sir, you cun imagine niy . disappointment wh-avat about 4m 6 iff,the evening Ifun I it brought be buck; to the little, Wanganui. 1 then followed up the river for about ■* mile.till darkness compelled me to camp for the night, Whi a here 1 poudere I deeply whut the track I ha I follows I c mid be, and after deep thought I cam) to the conclusion that this track must <>e the One for the old crossing over the big Wanganui, and_ that if 1 'allowed the track right up I should yet be save Acting upon this resolution, about noon on the day following 1 reached an empty house abandoned by its owner, and belonging I believe, to Mr P. Handy. Here, to my great comfort, I round raapl er ies'io tfcegard' n somewhat Spoilt by the iou hj wea her, it is rue, hut mill like •mmna to me. 1 then continued on up the river for about opr milts, and there camped till morning, then on again, till towards afrer noon I came across a i old rush grown track leading to the range. This I followed till, by God’s providence.- it brought me on to the proper mdl track, hy following which 1 reached a house of Mr Uiedrish’s, and there was supplied carefully, and sparingly at first, with food, and received kind attention and sympathy. You can conceive what rnv feelings were when I first saw' the men near the house. From .here I subsequent y arranged with the mailoisn to pack me to Ross. I was thus, as you see, lost, for a - period of about 16 days, during which time—though, of course I had plenty of wattw—J bad no other sustenance save what I have mentioned and some gighi, (a species of native fruit tree), which sometimes I found; aim although its time for fruit was past, yet underneath where the fruit grows is a portion of the sfenror pi hj something like a ■turnip in taste, and this 1 ate. During all ihis long time I fully preserved my reason, and I never failed night and morn ng to offer up my fervent prayers to God for deliverance. Strange as it may appear to yon for me to say so, I can truly say that T never doubted that 1 should be restored through His providence ; nay, when I retched Died mb’s house, and saw the men, I w.s nearly as cool ami collected' as I am now.