OVER THE FALLS AND OUT ON THE OCEAN.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 50, 27 February 1872, Page 2

OVER THE FALLS AND OUT ON THE OCEAN.

Br- F. IS. G, S.

(Continued from the Australasian, February 10.J The cold, chill air, about an hour before dawn, awoke us, and we each took a small " nip " of P.B. to keep the cold out, and smoked a pipe while we packed up the " fly " and 'possum, and' ran our vessels down to the wafer's edge. As we stripped for active service the cold autumn seabreeze, coming iv puffs, chilled us to the bone, so we were glad to warm ourselves with rapid strokes of the paddle. The five miles of the harbor were soon ran down, and then we saw ahead of us the foam on the little bar, that spoke of lowwater, and the sea seemed to moan and dash in' a way often seen before a coming storm. The moou was just sinking below tbe horizon, aud casting a red and lurid glare upon the troubled waters, when we came to the bar that had been so placid yesterday. Above us towered the high granitelooking cliffs that hound Totarauuißay on the one side, and looking out over the open sea on the other, the light was reflected from fhe white caps of a good ground swell that rolled in from Cook's Straits. "Now or never!" thought I, "it won't do to turn back at our first real siart ! " So I thought of M'Gregor and his wonderful feats, as depicted iv the vignettes of the " Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Couoe," and the "Eob Roy in the Baltic," aud went at the bar (which after all didn't turn out to be much, but the moonlight magnified its horrors) ! like a canoeman who meant it. "Dash ! Thump ! Splash iv. the. face, and a whizzing in the ears ! Thump ! " (another wave passing over the deck, and bubbling its spray about our heads) and we were over, and gently rising and falling on tbe ocean swell outside, wiping our faces, blowing our noses, and congratulating each other. On we went for about balf-an-hour, aod then the last light from the sunken moon was gone, and it was pitch dark. No signs of dawn yet, and fearfully cold. Tom said we seemed to be getting too near the cliffs, and indeed I thought we were, for though we could not see them now, the booming and roaring of the water flying up into the deep, hollow seacaves began to sound like distant thunder on our ears j so, fearing unseen reefs aad rocks awash, we hauled oft and waited for daylight. I could only see my mate now by the sparks that occasionally flew from his pipe. Would the dawn never come ? At last a faint streak of dirty grey in the eastward, marking out a gloomy, black, horizon of sea-board, foretold its approach. Thenthe black figure of Tom loomed up between me and it, apparently

-it? iag on the wbter, for the canoe didn't show. ''Then Another streak of grey higher up brought out the cliffs on our right in strong relief, and presently the coming light brought everything out in sepia color, just as the waning moon had painted them all red before. At last, with many a heralding ray and lightning-like flash, up gets the "light which rules the day," and iv an instant he tints and brings out water, cliffs, sands, and ourselves in our true colors. As regards the latter, I may mention, we were both deadly white, as, after looking for a minute or two at an object right ahead of up, we turned to look at each other. Then we silently thanked Providence for our narrow escape, and mentally determined never to paddle again in the dark, if we could help it. And what does the reader think we saw ? A whale ? No ! whales never come so close to barren cliffs. Sharks? Oh no; we saw plenty of them, too, this trip, but were only really alarmed at, one (but I must not forestall). What then ? Why, a halfsunken reef of slippery, mussel-clad, rocks, jutting half a mile out from the cliffs, and which would have been right in our way (had we not ceased to paddle when we did), about 50 yards ahead of us ! The rising water was fast covering them now, but had we gone on without warning, " stem on " to them in the dark, our frail boats .would have boen dashed to pieces in an instant, and in the rise and fall oi the swell, we should in ail probabilily have been smashed to mummies ourselves, and have eventually been washed up on the Totarauui sand, where we had but lately been as living and honored guests T But what was that? Something coming rapidly towards us on the water, with wings outspread like a seabird, and glancing along, throwing the spray off on either side with even and graceful motion. The sun got into our eyes, and we could not see for the dazzle, being ourselves right in the centre of a broad track of liquid gfdd that the luminary, now level with the water, was shedding across it. In a few I minutes we heard a well-known voice say, "Lower away ib.B peak ! down jib ! " aud the great Totaranui cutter glides close to us, and loses way on her, while the cheery faces of the two brothers and the i rough face aud black nose of a pet mastiff appear over the gunwale. I " Thought we should fall in with you somewhere down the coast ! Knew you couldn't have got far ! " said the elder one. " How did you sleep ? Cold morning ! We're off to Nelson ourselves, with produce, as you wouldn't stop ! Come on board and have some grub ? No ? " This we politely, declined, and finding we were firm, a pheasant pie, two bottles of mead, and two loaves of white bread were handed down to us, and then saying laughingly that they would " report us as having beeu ' spoken . with ' at H. M. Customs, Nelson," they made sail, and soon ran rapidly out of our Bight, while we, thankful and amused, cheerfully resumed our paddles, being now refreshed by a draught of mead, and warmed and enlivened by the warm rays of the cheerful autumn sud, while the visions and anticipations of our dark morning's start, had disappeared like chaff before the wind. It was now 7 o'clock a.m., and we were coasting (about half a mile off shore, and keeping a sharp look-out for rocks and reefs awash ahead), past grand old cliffs as high as Dover Cliffs at home, and' perhaps higher, honeycombed at their base hy the constant action of the waves on that storm-washed coast into huge caves, into which the leaping surges boom and crash, making a noise, as I said before, like distant thunder. It reminded one much of the Undercliff of the Isle of Wight, and, as if to add to the illusion, large isolated peaks reared their heights into the air, with the water rushing through great arches in them, carrying out the idea of the "Needles" to perfection. One huge dark island of granite we passed, which, on account of its very peculiar shape., had been given the name of the " Cottage Loaf." The bright glittering waters around us, the swooping, screaming sea birds, astonished at us (as well they might be), the beautiful scenery we were coasting by, combined with tbe healthy, and not too hard, exercise of paddling our canoes swiftly over the dancing waves, at one time rising on the crest of one (from which for a second or so we could see the white mainsail of the fast-disappearing cutter of our friends), and at the next falling down into a valley of water, whose intervening range often prevented us from seeing each other for a moment, was excitement itself, and enjoyable excitement, too. The fresh sea breeze, slightly impregnated with the scent of tbe beautiful Rata blossom, opened our lungs nnd strengthened our nerves. Then the bright happiness- inspiring sunlight — but I am getting too rhapsodical ! Anyway, it made us feel like two schoolboys out for a epree, and we enjoyed it, and were none

the worse company for one another o that account. " ,/> .!-;. Meantime, we were out in the sunshine, and paddling merrily to breakfast on pheasaut pie and hot coffee, at Tonga Bay. G-radually the cliffs get lower aud lower, and finally merge themselves into low-wooded ranges and sandy beaches once more, and right ahead of us is Tonga Island (uninhabited, except by birds and rabbits), and at the rear of it is the bay, with its yellow sand, up which a little ripple is lazily running. Quick! It is 9 o'clock, and our legs are stiff with our long 12 miles' paddle ! We have appetites that aldermen would envy ; so out wo leap, drag up the boats, and have a good tumble on the sand to stretch our limbs, and then, hey ! for a fire, and while if. is boiling—the billy —a bath, aud then for breakfast! ■ I have a distinct and grateful recollection of that breakfast ! Whether it was the total change from everything we had been accustomed to, or the dangers tbat had surrounded our start, or perhaps the novel feeling of entire isolation and freedom, mixed with a healthy and vigorous appetite produced by early rising and hard exercise, I know not. Perhaps they all had their share in it, but I remember well, as I sat there, discussing that game pie, and imbibing hot "coffee-royal," watching the sea birds as they wheeled and swooped above our heads and around up, with the glittering sea on one hand, and a lovelywooded range on the other, that I would not have changed places at that moment wiih his Holiness the Pope, nor the most powerful Sovereign in Europe ! After breakfast (to which, the reader need not be told, we did good justice) we washed up, and prepared for a start ; not that we intended to go off again without a rest, but simply to be ready for it. Then we sauntered about, smokiog the digestive pipe, and examining the footprints of wild pigs and cattle in the sand, all about the little lagoon of fresh water, formed by a t'my cascade that came tumbliug down towards the sea from the wooded heights above. This was evidently, judging by the number of tracks, a favorite waterhole, and perhaps even now we might be keepiug off from his " morning potation " some wiry old boar by our presence. This was not a pleasant reflection (besides I had lately had quite enough of " pigs "), so I load two chambers of the revolver, and lay down under the shade of a tree to stretch my legs. I had just dozed off into a kind of half sleep and half awake state,

■when a sudden shout from Thomas, then distant about a hundred yards, roused me quickly to the alert. He was neither pursued' by wild cattle, nor, rushed by pigs, but was standing quietly but intently studying: something in the sand. Yawning, and wondering, T sauntered towards him, but he walked away towards the hillside, carefully following some track, apparently. I soon came up to where the track commenced from the edge of the pool, and there, in the yellow sand, firmly, and evidently quite recently imprinted, were the footsteps of some gigantic bird. The prints were deeply indented, as if the biped had been very heavy, and were, by measurement, about 18in. from toe to toe, or across the foot. Bearing in recollection the report of two Nelson survepors, not many years back, that near Collingwood district they had come across similar footprints, and supposed them to belong to that wonderful, and thought-to-be-extinct bird, the " moa," I had no doubt but that this must be the track of the same individual, and I gazed in wonder and speculation upon the footmarks of the supposed antediluvian. The " moa " is (or was), I believe, the only indigenous animal or living thing on that volcanic heap of upraised cinders called New Zealand. The Maori rats came over from Malay shores, in the canoes of the ancestors of the present aborigines. The presence of the English rat (now decimating the Maori ditto, iv the same ratio as the one nation is gradually but surely eating up the small handful of the original possessors of the country) is easily accounted for. Captain Cook and other more recent navigator?, calling at the islands for wood and water, left pigs, poultry, and rabbits, but who left the " moa," unknown in any other country but this? The tombs of great Maori chiefs, on being opened, show the egg of this gigantic bird, carefully preserved, placed at their head, as either an insignia or a tailsman. Not many years ago some diggers fossicking up country in Otago came across a portion of the body of the moa, with flesh and feathers adhering, tbat had been preserved in some peculiar sort of clay. True, it might have been there for hundreds of years, or it might have been covered up quite recently, but still there was the indisputable fact. It was never brought to town, for the simple reason that it was about 200 miles off, and the men had enough to do in that wild country to carry their provisions. I believe some feathers, however, were brought down to the colonial museum for tbe savans to judge "ex pede Herculem." When in England recently I had enjoyed the honor of a personal interview and a long conversation with Professor Owen, at the British Museum, and he had distinctly stated that, in bis opinion, it was within tbe bounds of possibility that some few specimens of that very shy bird might still exist. Within 30 miles of where I stood large underground caves existed, near Collingwood, nearly filled with the remains of the skeletons of these huge birds (some of them in life must have stood 15ft. in height), and here was I gazing upon what might be the footprints of perhaps the last of that gigantic race. Carefully did I examine every footmark, from the head of the flittle lagoon lip to the cattle track in the hill, by which my mate had disappeared into the scrub, and each indication was clear, sharp, deeply imprinted, and apparently as recent as that very day. I wondered at Tom's temerity in following up the track. What did we know of the habits or appetite of this gigantic brute ? I looked back at the canoes (our means of escape) ! I looked out on the smooth, unruffled bosom of the hay, and saw a very tidy-sized shark, cruising about leisurely, as if he smelt " something fresh," and I shuddered. I cooeyed to Tom (long since invisible) and received no answer. The stillness began to get uncomfortable, and it was quite a relief when I heard a big " blow-fly " suddenly take wing, and buzz out into the still air. There was a sign of life about it anyhow. - Then I began to wonder what would be a moa's probable conduct in the event of his (or her) being disturbed. Should I see the big brut© rushing out of the bush, with Tom suspended from its gigantic beak by the seat of his pantaloons ? Would a brace of bullets from my " Dean and Adams " prove effectual ? Suppose he (Tom,' not the moa) never came back at all, what should I say to his bereaved relatives ? For, if I suggested that a moa had, in all probability, gobbled him up, my story would never have been believed ; the next shower of rain would obliterate the footprints, and for all I knew I might be looked upon as his murderer. Truly, this was worse than " the pig." Suddenly there arose a loud, hollow-sounding crash and then a roar, multiplied by distaDt echoes a hundred times, and reverberating through, the bush for nearly a mioute^like a whole park of artillery. "The Devil !" thought I, ■>' can the moa fell trees ? " for I knew by the sound, that it was the fall

of a large tree, crashing down others ia its fall, that had caused this sound. Now, Tom had no implement with him \»ith which to fell trees, and the day was still and quiet. I was puzzled, nay more, I was funky — I am not ashamed to say exceedingly funky, — for what with supernatural animals of the porcine race lately, now combined with the footprints of an an antediluvian bird, and large trees falling without human assistance, apparently, and with a breeze even, 1 was fairly puzzled. Nay, if an ichthyosaurus (I hope I've spelt it right) had risen from the bay, swallowed the shark, and said : ' Ha ! ha ! ha ! " to myself, I don't think I should have been much surprised. Under the circumstances, I adopted P. 8., and took a decidedly good " nip." Fortified thus, I set out up the hill path to see what had become of Tom. About half-a-mile from the sands I came upon that very individual sitting composedly smoking his pipe on the roots of a large and recently felled tree, that had grown on the banks of the creek, aud been undermined by the action of the water.. I took it all in at a glance. "Yes!" said Tom, between his puffs, "it was only held back by that one back root, and I sawed that through with the little saw in my pocket-knife, to let the beggar down, hopiug that the row would frighten and unearth our moa ; but it didn't, for I've not set eyes on the brute. I thought it would bring; you up ! " So ! Easily accounted for ! All but the mysterious footmarks. So I joiu him in his smoke, and he grins a sagacious smile as I tell him of my late misgivings. Then we saunter down to the sands again, and take a careful impression on a piece of soft paper, of this puzzling animal's tracks, and many are our cogitations regarding him. Then, about 12 noon we launch our canoes, and are off again along the coast. We looked in at Frenchman's Bay, and afterwards at Bark Bay, but they had evidently been recently visited, for we saw evident traces of a pig-hunter's camp in the former. On again, till near sundown, by which time we had paddled over many a long mile of salt water, and it was time to look out for a camping place ourselves. We were now just opposite a long sand bar, round the corner of which ran a good-sized stream into the sea, and by the lay of the hills that receded from us, inland, we observed that they encircled a large freshwater lagoon, which however, we could see by the seaweed lines on the sand must be brackish at spring tides. Here we decided to enter (if we could) and camp anyhow for one night. So we steered straight for the mouth of the little river, and after a quarter of an hour's hard fight with the tide, succeeded in getting round the corner of the sandspit, and out of the strength of the stream, and found ourselves floating on the glassy surface of a broad and deep lagoon, apparently over a mile long, surrounded by lofty hills crowned with timber several hundreds of feet high (not like the scrubby, ' dwarfed bits of vegetation they call trees in Victoria), while in the far distance we could see a silvery waterfall, glittering in the rays of the setting sun, wending its way from crag to crag, descending from the snowcapped peak of a mountain at the back of all. Owing to the shallowness of the river on the bar, it was evident that no boat had ever succeeded in getting in where we had just done, and the hills were precipitous and unapproachable for pighunters. We had heard of the existence "of this lovely valley and lagoon before, seen from the summitof somedistanthill; but we knew it had never been explored, and that in all probability we were the first men who had ever entered it. But the sun had set, and it we meant to make use of the brief, very brief portion of twilight, to pitch our tent and light a fire, there was no time to be lost j so we paddled on shore, hauled up the canoes, and unloading them, pitched our tent at the end of the sandspit just where it joined the bush. But tent, poles, and pegs take some time to cut and adjust, and it was pitch dark before we had our " bedroom" prepared and our fire lit, with the billy hung from a forked stick. Then we lit our candle and prepared for tea. For a bed we had chopped off young branches and twigs from the Manuka plants, aud a fine springy bed they make. This we covered with the blankets, and put the 'possum for a cover over us. We hung up our little lookingglass, and from the tent pole suspended our powder, shot, and pistol, and lo ! we were as snug and happy as if we were in the finest house ashore; The only sounds were the plaintive, melancholy scream of the sea-gulls, and the " more pork" ejaculations of the owl of that name. The moon was rising above the sandbar, and we were " Monarchs of all we surveyed " and our tea was ready. Hurrah ! We ; were all as jolly as sandboys, though why sandboys should always be so jolly happy has always puzzled me ! The~reraainder oftbe pheasant-pie, a whole loaf of bread, and the billy full of tea, vanished in double quick

time, and then we " washed up " and lit our pipes. I walked up to the top of the sandbank, and looked out over the now moonlit sea. There was a rocky island about a quarter of a mile out, and (it being now low-water) I took careful notice of a long reef, over which we must have passed, coming in. Keeping close to the cliff, I came upon a cave of some size, evidently hollowed out by the waves in stormy winter weather, but it faced the sea and was bleak and cheerless compared with our sheltered tent down by the edge of the bush. Having completed my observations seaward, I turned back to inspect our environs on shore. From the top of the bank our little encampment looked quite picturesque. The dark background of bush, with the red light of the fire shining on the white " fly " of the tent, arid Tom, in strong relief, just throwing a fresh log on the fire, looked very cheerful this fine night ; and there lay the canoes, their painted and varnished sides glittering in the moonlight. It would have made a capital frontispiece to a colonial novel, that picture ! I (hen, in company with Tom, took a stroll along the narrow strip of sand that skirted the bush, till it suddenly ended abruptly, and deep water took its place. The bush we could not explore at night, but I may here Btate that our next morning's explorations showed that it ended suddenly about 20 yards back, in a steep, inaccessible cliff, so that our present " kingdom " (whose right there were none to dispute) resolved itself finally into half a mile of sand, seaweed, and shells, a strip of bush for shelter and firewood, plenty of fresh water, and a reef outside covered with mussels, where there would, probably, be good fishing at low water. Our further explorations in search of the auriferous metal, must be clearly conducted by water, up at the head of the lagoon ; and that waterfall, too, must be explored. In the meantime we had a capital camp to return to, with nothing to molest it in our absence, so we decided to stop where we were for some days, at any rate, and meanwhile, as we had been nearly 16 hours at sea and exploring, we decided to turn in, and turn in we did, side by side on the manuka, with our jackets, under our heads, the 'possum over us, and a good blazing fire just outside, lighting up and : warming the tent beautifully, while through a little strip of our canvas, door, left open for ventilation, shone the autumn moon; so we slept the sleep of the hard- I worked, and enjoyed it. I gave myself J up to it so thoroughly, that I didn't even give myself time to dream of a single moa'!'