OUR UNKNOWN WONDERS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 4, 16 November 1906, Page 3

OUR UNKNOWN WONDERS.

The Caves of Mangapu.

[by " Kahikatea."]

Spring, glorious Spring ! What can we say in praise of thee? To. Thee we owe the new life we feel coursing through us this early morn, as we make our way out to explore, as' well as our limited time will allow us, the cave system of the Mangapu We left Te Kuiti early, intending to breakfast at the surveyors' camps, some eight miles out, and as we crossed the low saddle on Tapu Wahine, bringing Oparure into view, our thoughts flew onwards, and we pictured ourselves as the discoverers of many caves. Anyway.l did, but the fresh morning air may perhaps be held responsible for that. What a lovely ride one can have from Te Kuiti to Oparure—only about four miles, but beauty all the way. The Spring is on, and all life,; animal and vegetable, responding to it. The lambs bound out of our way as we pass along; fine fat fellows they will be later on. All innocent of the fate that awaits them, they nibble the grass and draw their mothers' milk, and become fat, to be slaughtered and sent to the mart of our Empire. As we pass along, too, we np.tice the shrubs and bush growing by the wayside, and inquire l : of each other their names. The mangaio and tarata are showing their spring tints, and up the hill sides and in the bush, , the ake rautangi loaded with its multitude of blossoms, makes the scene beautiful. The titoki, too, is bounding into new life, while the long peculiar notes of pipiwharauroa is heard telling us winter has passed, and that he is back again, the herald of spring. Thoughts of long ago fill my mind, and in fancy I go back to ; the days when I, too, was young, and life's spring was on me. In fancy, I see those long departed, parade before me, and for awile I straighten up. The dropping head and rounded shoulders of age leave me, and for a time I am young again, but my horse tripped over some hard clay, on the track, and the wrench he gave me, brought me back to present time, and the gnawing pain that began to make itself felt in mj 7 inside, reminds me that a ride before breakfast may be a good thing when acting under doctor's orders, but breakfast before a ride is the better thing for me. So calling to my companion, we make haste along, and soon reach the survey camp, where we indulge in a good square meal, and forget all about my age and its infirmities. • We then discuss the programme for the day, and finally decide we will try and explore two "tomo" that Messrs Pavett and Thornton tell us of. They, equally eager as ourselves, go. with us first to show us. the " tomo " arid : then . to, explore the Mangapu. Soon we come to the first '' tomo," many hundred feet deep. We threw stones down to try and find the depth, but could only roughly guess, as the final sounds were lost in the distance. We then cleared away a small part of the fern and scrub which surround it, and make our way down to a ledge of rocks' that overhang the main cave. Mr Pavett was first down and his' calls' of delight we thought were only a hoax, but one after" the other we decended, and as each of us came to the brink of the . chasm, we fairly shouted with delight and astonishment. We had fallen, upon "wonderland." The sight that met our view was enchanting. Fairyland was before us. Away down, near what appeared to be its very depths, was a large plateau of moss and ferns, but so far away they appeared only small topped matter, showing all the varied tints of green, d They were also blended into each otftr in such a way as though the master hand of the scene painter had been atworkand drawn a picture on an enormous scale. As we looked, we more than half expected to see the: pixies come dancing out. This is no imagination, it was fairyland without the fairies. The sunlight streaming in from another " tomo," some 70 or 80 yards away, sent rays of lovely light, which changing their hues as the clouds passed over the sun, added beauty to the scene. That which I have described as the chasm, was of rather oblong shape, and as far as we could judge, about 30 feet or more wide. Down through this, the chasm opened out, and ledges 6f fern-coated limestone rock which succeeded each other down to the lowest terrace 1 have already made mention of, but so far away, and shaded with the blue-coloured haze that hung over all, made a scene such as I, or-any of the others, have never witnessed on or off the stage." From what appeared to us to be the dome of this most wonderful cave, the water dripped in large and fine drops, as it percolated no doubt through the roof, which we judged to be not less than 100 feet high, from what we took to be the last terrace. We threw in stones, and counting time by seconds, we made it out to be from 6 to 7 seconds before the stone struck the waters of what we think is the Mangapu river. But to show the immensity of this cave, the sunlight streamed into its bottom depths from the other tomo about 80 yards away. As we saw it, it was one of the most'enchanting things, possible to see, and will never fade from my memory. We could find no way down, except by rope, of which we had only a short length. We tried the other tomo without any more success. Pavett, however, ventured near the brink, and said that it was larger than the first, and that he could see the waters flowing through it. We were loth to. leave, but time was pressing, and we made our way to where the Mangapu enters into the bowels of Mother Earth, and loses itself for two or more miles, except in such places as I have tried to describe above. When we reached the place where the Mangapu rushes into the caverns under the hills, Messrs Pavett, Sommerville and Thornton decided to enter in taking with them the rope and candles. They had a great experience. They made their way down the stream in total darkness, except when lighted by the faint light of the candle?; onward they times wading, then again swimming, holding their candles in one hand above the water, aiiicl so, oflward they passed, not knowing what was before

them. The cold of the water was intense. They found the walls of the passages close in to about six feet in places, and again to open out to ,twenty or more feet, the roof coming down in places to about ten feet, and again opening up to.. 100 feet or more, the river all the while rushing along at headlong speed. In this way they explored about three-quarters of a jnile. The cold began to tell on them, and their candles burning short, they decided to return. In doing so they had to breast the rushing water, which made their outward march hard and slow. Their object was to try and reach the fairy cave I hive mentioned at the first,, and they cannot have been far from it. When they returned to daylight, they were so nearly exhausted as to warrant them not venturing farther than they did. Cold and wet, they came to where I was awaiting them, and we returned to the camp, to have a change of clothes, and a hearty meal. They were soon themselves again, and satisfied with what they had done, at the same time vowing, all well, when the summer sets in, to go in again, and see how far they can traverse its mighty cave system, with better preparation than their first visit. True grit, these three men's. Before concluding, I might mention that Mr Sommerville's dog, " Nigger," accompanied them all the way, requiring little assistance either going or returning. So ended our first attempt to explore the caves of the Mangapu. [The Mangapu stream, alluded to in the above, comes down through the limestone country between Kinohakau and Pakeho, joining the Waipa near Otorohanga. For some two miles it runs underground, and further exploration will no doubt lead to the discovery of a cave system of considerable size.—Editor, K.C.C.]