ROUND ABOUT NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 113, 13 May 1872, Page 2

ROUND ABOUT NEW ZEALAND.

(Concluded.) " For peculiar charm of diversity of foliages, for lights and shadows " athwart tbe path " full of poetic and beautiful re* miniscences of English rural life, the drive to Richmond from Nelson seems vividly impressed on my memory. It is not at all unusual or strange to hear a nonlooker upon an oil painting of our loca Von Guerard, or Buvel6t exclaim as he views the light and unnatural-looking blue-tint pervading their wild mountain sketches, " the coloring is too light — who ever saw such a light blue color on the mountains ? " Yet, in Nelson particularly, it fell to my lot to view these charming and striking light-blue tints resting o'er grove and gorge, o'er cleft and ridge, these everlasting conformations of tbe artistic embodiments of the painter. It also seems impressed upon memory the affability of barmaids and barmen in Nelson. I had occasion to allay a somewhat oppressive thirst at the bar of probably the leading hotel in the hilly town, and in asking for bottled ale felt that I had comfortably overcome the taste for the " thing " colonial. The waiter shook the bottle furiously, and with such earnestness ih his futile efforts to unscrew the wire that I felt compelled sarcastically to ask the gentle youth to " shake it well " (the bottle) ; in fact, that "I preferred my English ale shook up to extremes." I little dreamt that my shakisfc would have obliged me in the manner he did. He shook and shook, and probably would have gone on shaking for hours, had I not mentioned sot to voce that I thought (( we might manage with it now."

The man's luck seemed dead out, he failed to draw the cork, and as he left me alone in the bar in search of another bottle I ventured to assure the landlady that I would risk the next bottle " uushtjok," She promised a ready acquiescence in my request, but I. had seen the last bottle that family possessed, and I took refuge iv the homely colonial, impressed with tho general sociability of the place. The quietude of domestic life in Nelson must be as healthy as it is somniferous ; people apparently live on the wharves in eternal fishing solemnities, and Maori women, armed with short pipes and earpierced greenstone fixings, waylay the tourist, "on" sales of flax, woven bags and New Zealand artifices, specially prepared for " extraction " of coin and for barter in filthy lucre. There is a coldbloodedness apparent in the Nelsonian way of shopkeeping, a sense of " knowing something " appearing to pervade every vendor of trifles. They equal the mother (American) whose son rushed at her as she sat knitting, and in whose maternal lap the excited boy placed a bleeding head. " What's this, my son ?" " That, mother !" exclaimed the flushed youth, " is the head of father— just tuk off by the reapin' machine, way down in the paddock." " My son," replied the ice-blooded woman, " have I not repeatedly told you never to move things you don't understand ? Jest take this head back agin and lay it beside the trunk of father, then go for the Coro — ncr, and we'll inquire into this matter." The peculiarities of the harbor of Nelson necessitate a pilot on the bridge, and the lessons in circular-sailing, appareut even to a land-lubber, are prominent features in leaving the wharf and sailing again over the land ridges, visible plainly enough a few hours before. Leaving Nelson, the tourist may conFor remainder of news see fourth page.

eider, unless in possession of heaps of leisure tinfe, that he has done the pleasantest part of his trip, for in the vicinities of Greyrnoutb, or upon the sandy levels of Hokitika, I failed to observe any of those novel and pleasing associations possessed by the rest of the New Zealand places visited. The bar at Hokitika is familiar now-a-days to numbers of Victorians. There is a misery of feeling in the circular-sailing business as you wait for the appearance of the Hokitika steamer, bringing the last shipment of human beings ere you turn " her head " round for Australia and home, and captain and passenger alike watch anxiously for the signal from shore denoting enough water o'er the sand ridge, said intimation being conveyed to the mariner's eye by balls swung on the arms of a post fixed on the beach. To do the New Zealand trip in anything like completeness, the tourist ought undoubtedly to leave Christchurch by coach and "do" the glaciers and mountains, snow clad in that grand wildness, native to this overland track. Then, no doubt, if time permits, situations may be enjoyed in the trip further on to Auckland, returning home to Victoria by way of Sydney. Advantages of laying out considerable sums of money occur in Auckland, singularly effective to the man in want of the cheerful " Tookeys," and although most of us have revelled in Victoria, in these anxieties to be in good dividendpaying mines, yet we Victorians can rarely lay our mining moneys out upon claims pegged out of sight at high tide, and where mountains must be pierced ere you reach the " metal " famous in Auckland localities as " Caledonian," the name serving the double purpose of "gold galore " and the instinct to keep it, the latter being peculiar to tbe inhabitants of the other Caledonia, stern and wild, &c. ; to that land unlike Shakspeare's "bourne," to which no traveller (Scotchman) returns. " The fair breezs blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free." We feasted, we herringed, we potstoed in the jacket, and enjoyed all the incidental life of a journey home with "ye gentle John " of the Albion, feeling that the winds, cold and bracing, which we had revelled in, had been productive of renewed healths and appetites, of a visible bloom upon our cheeks, and of a total disregard to the assumption of business habits again. It is highly probable that next summer when hot winds and mosquitoes revel in one's bedroom in Victoria, the New Zealand tour will become common as the Tasmanian one; that the sun-dried, hardbaked colonist will bind on his armour for roughing it in New Zealand ; but he need not put himself or bis wardrobe under much trouble, seeing that throughout the land of the moa all the necessary comforts which form part of a tourist's weakness can be had at reasonable rates and in profusion. To the Victorian New Zealand will, at any time of the year, present gratifying contrasts of scenic display, of bright bracing air, and of a comfortable slowness peculiarly refreshing after tbe fitful fever which hangs upon all habits, business or pleasurable, in Victoria. Whether any of ray readers would revel in the dryness of Scottish life, as I did, so apparent in the actions and customs. of the I) unedinites, I can hardly surmise, but the fact is worth noting, and if fate, gentle reader, should ever drop you for a week amid the clang, and clash, and roar of the dialects peculiar to Aberdeen and Glasgow, now firmly acclimatised in Dunedin, I am fain to believe you will see much that is uncommon, and much that is dry, canny, and old-fashioned in that town of pretentions beer and unfinished cathedrals, where, it is said to their honor, their best building is their University, their highest ambition being apparently confined to good mackintoshes, and their most winning smiles obtained from the affirmation that "you yersel air frae Glasgie as weel." In the charms of Christchurch, the Victorian tourist will revel, Christchurch alone being worth the outlay of all the incidental expenses or agonies of a sea voyage, and my advice would be to stay here a fortnight, passing on coastwards by steamers, which run regularly. There are men mad enough to do the New Zealand trip, staying with tbe same steamer all the way around ; but this is convictlabor, and no one can realise half the delights of a New Zealand tour, doing it in this fashion. It is not for me to issue. a New. Zealand Guide, but this much I would suggest to tbe tourist, viz., leave Victoria in midsummer to thus thoroughly appreciate tbe delightful changes of atmosphere, do the journey from Bluff onwards, thus gaining the alvantages of improving sceneries through your journey, and, if pbss_ble,pro,vide yourself with say two pleasant Companions— males, of course — and see that one of them is a Scotchman. His value is immense in some of the places you will visit j his language will procure

you free access to all the excitements incidental lo Presbyterian tea- meetings and revellings, and if his hair can be arranged with a slight auburn tint pervading the locks, you may count upon a warmth of welcome in those " islands of the south," positively delightful to undergo, sayiug nothing of the successful pecuniary results to be obtained by making your auburn-tinted friend cashier and paymaster, for in this important office there is room for much ihrift, and herein do I offer homage "on thrift " to his countrymen, here or abroad, at sea or on land. However, " Homai tow ringaringa " (give me your hand), a man's a man for a'tbat. In conclusion, I can only add that in spite of the hatred I have for sea voyages, that hour would for me be a happy one which found me alongside Underwood or M'Lean, cap a-pie with sou-wester and mackintosh, and my hat-box and bag branded, Round About New Zealand.