THE BIRTH OF NEW ZEALAND.

Kumara Times, Issue 2801, 12 September 1885, Page 3

THE BIRTH OF NEW ZEALAND.

THE BIRTH OF NEW ZEALAND. Prelude. A trackless ocean, seen awhile a wide expanse, Where old Boreas pip'd the splashing waves did dance, The sweeping clouds their copious showers swept, And in the cleep recess the saline monsters crept. Each day brought gleaniings from Aurora s light, The moon in turn dissolved the shades of night; No stately ship, or bark,- or boat, equipp d. Had ventured forth where stormy petrels dip d ; All now is calm, the waves in deep repose, The porpoise shows its fin, the whale its fountain blows ; The albatross hath cleansed each wing and tiny feather, In silence watching evermore the changing weather. Birth. A subterraneous noise awakes the slumbering deep, Each fowl its pinions stretch, the fish with terror leap ; Anon a soaring cloud of startled birds assemble, And watch the tnrb’lent deep in wild confusion tremble. Then Vulcan lifts and splits the hard and heated crust, The boiling waters part, the smoke is upward thrust, And livid tongues of fire force up resistless steam, Discolouring, repel Aurora’s struggling beam ; Darkness prevails throughout the swelling sultiy haze, And hides dame Nature’s work from life s polluting gaze ; Old Neptune foams with rage, and gathers up his might, Invokes Boreas’ blast to aid him in the fight ; Two elements at war—their vast unmeasured length, Provoked by wind and fires of great unbounded strength, In deadly combat each giant frowns and mocks, Each vents its spleen in turn on sea and rocks. Vulcan conquers Neptune. Two bristling hills appear with slimy banks, Old Neptune now directs his swelling ranks, His flying column dares the rocks impede, Until his shatter’d ranks in froth recede. Now Egniont does from its hot depths invoke A dark, terrific, and luminous smoke ; Like dragons bursting from a pent-up cage, Reproach the billows in their furious rage. Mount Cook, though once a nameless hidden form By strenuous efforts pierce the battle storm ; A lumcli-back’d monster, from its watery grave, With granite helmet starts above the wave ; The Southern Alps protrude their jutting towers, Cemented fast, hurl back the briny showers ; Old Neptune now doth clearly see his fate, Retreats from off the battlements of slate. A Period of Tranquility. Aurora, tired and weary of the scene, Dispels the haze, and quells their venting spleen, Shines forth as day’s-man twixt the sea and earth, And crowns each infant hill-top in its birth. As each aspiring mount its heights increase The lengthening shadows herald forth in peace, Then with the waves, like feigning monarchs tipple, They blend in haste with every silver ripple ; In measured lines the sea gives forth its shells Embedded in the rocks to beautify the hills. O’er Nature’s handiwork the flowing waters steal, And cleanse each rising rock, e’er man lifts off the veil. Introducing Verdure. The youthful hills unite each crag and barren place, Solicit verdure to adorn its naked face ; The network chasms now sift the western breeze. For some stray waif from off the distant trees ; The circling winds take one prevailing course, And sweep some distant shore with their full force. Strip the seedling then, to compensate the theft, The ruffled mothers have but sighs and murmurs left ; The winds sweep through the thickly-burdened air, Waft forth each seedling with hidden beauty rare, The newborn rocks attract the Hying host, And with old isles can now in verdure boast. The leading winds guide home the balmy rain, The pearly drops have moistened every plain ; Then, with a mother’s care, each sheltered nook Looks down and fawns upon its tender root, Embedded loosely in particles of sand, Until their arching limbs with giant strength expand. With filial gratitude they now embrace, And veil in’ turn their benefactors’ face. Old Time hath wrought a change, the trickling tears In furrowed lines each aged rock besmears, Still carving out their course until a headlong leap Dissolve their pearly cascades in the briny deep. Birds. Still there’s a want —the solitary trees _ Invite the warbling birds, and noculating bees, Spread forth their cups on each inviting limb, With honey laden to the very brim. The setting sun’s revolving light performs His signals of the fast approaching storms, Show forth the clouds around the angry west, Then disappears —withdraws his tinted crest, - Some older isles far in the distant west, Where warbling songsters’ tired pinions rest ; The raging storms the forest growth apprise, And bend o their boughs obedient to the skies, The raging winds the songsters can’t withstand, Poor shivering exiles, driven from the land, Caught in the vortex of the angry clouds, Whoso blinding mist their native island shrouds, Enveloped in the gloomy shades of night, Forced by the wind, like some frail stringless kite, On weary pinions supplicate tbe storm, For some stray hush to rest their weary form. Their prayer is heard, Aurora still revolves, Her well trimm’d lamp the eastern gloom dissolves ; Invitingly she tints the mountains sides, And lends the fugitives her radiant guides ; The warbling hosts with half-closed wings descends, Descry the trees, then hasten to their friends, Whose is;■ sireici'-'d arm 1 ho ".iconic guest receives, Then shades idle si rangers neavh ! nun- ru-aiing leaves. The hills, and vale--, and shaded brumss, in rote, Re-echo to the warbling songsters note ; la fervent praise they chant, ineloinous air, Then hasten to feast on virgin honey rare. Nvrrur. Chances. Old 'Time and Nature worketu hand in hand ; 'dime workelh out what nature doth eoiumanu ; When Nature Intis, each creature then transforms, And never erring- Time rite wo.a: pen'Nnns. Then, creeping forth, the creatures eome to light— Fish, beast and fowl, and so the smallest nute, Widi i.lu-e- peculiar siriiie to suit eaeh laced dime, Audeh a it; - m eulour thus out-,’ i A i i-ue

Coal Formation. The hills are mantled with the giant pine, The rata’s crest with bright vermilion shine ; And unassuming ferns in meek attire stood With outstretched leaves to guard each infant brood ; The moss and lichen stretch o’er each barren flat, Untrodden yet they spread their velvet mat. So centuries pass, the aged petals lie Borne clown by age, they bow their heads and die ; From base to top the hills sustain a shock, While fire is bursting from the fissured rock ; And upturned trees descend the mountain pass, Form in some vale their vegetable mass. Old Neptune, wroth, now gathers up the rains, And tidal wave is scouring o’er the plain Where Nature once had spread her mantle green, And then with mud and gravel hides the scene, ’Twixt walls confined the gases all unite, And to escape exhaust their swelling might. The fire-clay now has plastered every crack, And bears Old Neptune on its hardened back ; Baked and compressed ’twixt blacken’d walls, Trees, ferns and moss become the purest coals. Man, No human foot pollutes the virgin soil; No voice is heard nor weary seedsmen toil; Each spreading delta, lengthened to a plain, Spreads forth each year its virgin soil in vain, Aurora sinks behind the distant isles, Where savage man dame Nature’s work defiles. The night is left to spread its gloomy screen, O’er gloating warriors and their bloody scene ; Through bush and dale a savage guards each path, Two fugitives escape their thirsting wrath ; A stripling puts to sea, with stolen bride, To face the billows and the sweeping tide ; With well-skilled stroke, darts forth the rude-built shell, And they with blades the well-trimmed bark propel. She looked with pi’ide upon her lover’s face, Then scowls at her pursuing friends apace. They have no compass ; except love’s deceptive chart, With its aerial castles graven in each heart, Borne forth in silence, trusting to the tide, To bear them on as their nocturnal guide, Fatigue and hunger join with boding fears, Now dimmed their sight and hasten forth the tears ; With outstretched hands he shades his eagle eyes, And distantly Mount Egmont he espies ; All tears are dried, he points the dancing skiff, Each plys the blade and nears the lofty cliff; Now safely landed in some sheltered place, They join in one reciprocal embrace, Man’s footprints now first crush the yielding sand, He leaves his mark for ages on the land, And forward leads in all his savage pride, New Zealand’s Eve, a virgin and a bride ! Cannibal Period. O’er all the land dame Nature’s works advance, Her deltas boast of warriors, clubs, and lance ; And constant fends in savage anger burn, Until life’s spring pollutes the social fern ; Old Vulcan growls at Neptune’s rude approach O’er all the softest parts he dares encroach ; Forming the bays in their peculiar shape, Until outwitted by some rocky cape ; Old Vulcan’s voice proclaims the coming strife, His subterranean growl ’larms the things of life ; The rugged hills receive his warning shake ; He casts their jutting towers into the silent lake ; The swollen lakes through mountain gaps o’erflow, And sweep the rocks into the vales below, Leaving the gold in every rocky seam, Dissolve the mud—keep on the swollen stream ; The sm-f now pulverises all the sand, Extracts the dirt, and leaves the gold at hand ; Each circling wave gives forth its golden beads And pours its treasures into sandy leads ; Deeper each stream still cuts its winding course, And groans beneath each roaring cataract’s force, Until old Time has crumpled back the falls, And worn a breach through all the straightened walls. Each delta now becomes a safe retreat, Where timid kiwi and the moa meet. O’ergrown with foliage and sheltering trees, Each drooping tassel shaken by the breeze, The velvet moss bath hidden Nature’s wealth, Bedecked with green each heavy-laden shelf, By Providence reserved to deck the crowns Of ruling monarchs, and the rising towns. Aurora now hath pierced the sluggish mist, Withdrawn the veil, the passing vapour kiss’d ; Through crag and chasm her shooting sunbeams play, Dissolving shade and spreading forth the day. Captain Cook arrives, and the Consequences. The valleys ring each dusky warrior’s cry, “ To arms, the Taipo comes, ’twixt earth and sky ; ” The mothers snatch their babes, and pierce the scrub, As warriors dance and lift tbe rata club. Against the monster sailing through the bay, Whose heedless prow is scatt’ring forth the spray As the immortal Cook pierces the country’s sod, With Christian banners spread unto his King and God. Like winter roses all the seedlings cling To multiply and scent the coming Spring. Behold from Southland to the Bay of Isles, Once barren plains, and deep and dark defiles Now' boast of towns, whose glittering spires Blond their bell music with vocal choirs. In peaceful harmony the pealing bells Speak Christianity through heathen dells ; Now comes the harvest ; the fertile hills display ’Their wealth, once hidden, near and far away ; The faithful moss, like sentries with their blades, At last arc vanquished by the miners’ spades. The mountains ring, the mother seeks the lambs, Which run in mirth to seek their fawning dams ; The shepherd scales the mount to view his stock, Withdraws his dogs, and counts the panting flock. O er valleys green the lazy cattle browse, With shining pail the milkmaid seeks her cows ; Whilst to each horse the farmer spreads the hay, They thank him kindly with their homely neigh. And now the hills repose in meek attire, And quench’d is Vulcan’s mu’elouting tire ; And Nature rests exalted with a crown, While smiling over each advancing town. Advance ! New Zealand unearth thy gold’n treasure 1 And may thy fruitful corn o’erflow the measure ! And may thy brilliancy throughout the globe !shine forth like diamonds in the studded robe ! J. Ellery. Diilm.iii’s Town, August, IdSo.