GLEANINGS FROM A JOURNAL OF AN EXCURSION IN SEARCH OF A ROUTE TO THE WAIROO VALLEY.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 78, 28 April 1843, Page 3

GLEANINGS FROM A JOURNAL OF AN EXCURSION IN SEARCH OF A ROUTE TO THE WAIROO VALLEY.

(From the Nelson Examiner .) In consequence of the report of Mr. Tuckett and Captain England, as to the difficulty of forming a road from the great Wairoo plain to Nelson, and the distance necessary to be traversed which such a line of connexion would ensure, a party determined to start from the Waimea, and, proceeding along the course of the Wairoa river through the mountain ranges, endeavour to discover a pass round the northern extremity of the great blue range, and thence, along some of the minor gorges, to enter the Wairoo valley from the northwest. Accordingly, on the 12th of March last, Messrs. Thomson, Macdonald, Cautley, and Empson, together with Panter, Coster, Nodin, and Carter, drove from Nelson to Mr. Duppa’s house, Waimea East, where they were joined by Mr. Tytler and myself, from whence we set out on foot, at two, p.m., carrying, as we conceived, ten days’ provisions with us; but, owing to one of the party having unfortunately forgotten his bag on ascending the vehicle which bore him from Nelson, and to a scarcity of game, which we had calculated on supporting us for at least a week longer, it subsequently turned out that we had grievously miscalculated our resources.

We started, "however, m high spirits—some of the party feeling already as if repaid for the labors they were about to undergo, by the glory which they anticipated would descend upon their foreheads, in common with other adventurous spirits who have discovered and explored a hitherto unknown country; deeming themselves second, it might be, to Columbus and Cooke, but about to cast any other names than these into the extreme background. We proceeded up the left bank of the Wairoa for about a mile, when, owing to the increasing steepness of the ground on that side, we crossed to the right. About another mile higher up, the river separated into two branches of about equal magnitude; the right branch running south by east, and apparently deriving its support from the confluence of several minor streams descending from the blue range opposite that part of the Waiiti valley emphatically termed the “ Spout.” On the right bank of this branch is a wood of very superior pine, covering an extent of about 200 acres. The left branch, as far as was visible from its junction, bore east north-east, which, it being almost in accordance with our proposed course, we followed. The walking here became most fatiguing, from the denseness of the fern ; and owing to the delay consequent upon it, and the late hour at which we had set out, we encamped for the night at a distance of not more than four miles from our place of starting. The course of the river here was north-east. After having prepared “ break winds” and beds of fern for the night, we proceeded to supper, with appetites which would have done justice to Spartan broth, which supper was qualified by sundry libations to the gods, after having most loyally drunk “ The Queen,” and at an early hour some of the party retired to what, by courtesy, were termed their bed rooms, whilst the others amused themselves in fishing for eels, which were most abundant, attracted by the reflection of our fire on the water; in the process of which amusement, one of the party, in his endeavour to prevent the escape of a large fish which he had hooked at the dead of night, actually followed it into the river, from whence having emerged wet over the head and shoulders, and without the fish, which had beaten him on or in its. own dunghill, he presented an appearance serai-ludicrous, semi-mournful, which set the others into convulsions, and on being questioned whether this exploit had been voluntary on His part, or not, he preserved on this and every other occasion a mysterious silence. His constitution, however, guarded either by the shade of Isaac Walton, or (as was most generally supposed) fortified by the brandy he had previously imbibed; suffered no injury from the immersion. 13th.—Owing to the height of the hills opposite our camp, the sun did not surmount the neighbouring ridges till twenty minutes past seven. At a quarter past eight, we set,out again along the course .of the river. About half a mile above our camp, another separation of the river took place, the left branch appearing to run north half west, the right or middle branch (which we followed) N.N.E., afterwards

due cast. A short distance higher up,„\ve ascended with Some difficulty to the top of a tolerably high hill, from which the white bluffs opposite the Haven (seen in the distance) bore N.N'.'W. We descended on the other side of the hill, and again joined the middle branch of the Wairoa, which here turned due south, which direction it appeared to hold for about three miles, after which we were unable to trace its course through the different mountain ranges. We crossed it at this point, and, leaving it at right angles, ascended a long gorge running nearly due east, clothed with prickly thorns and manuka, crossed the top of the range at the end, and, descending on the other side, camped beside a small rivulet. From the almost impenetrable nature of the country we had gone over, the distance traversed this day was not more than eight miles.

14th. —Set out in a direction about E.N.E., towards the top of a high range running nearly north and south. After having walked for about half an hour through a dense brushwood, in Indian file, we discovered that we had lost one of our party, who had hitherto brought up our “ rear rank.” We sat down and cooi-ec for some time, but without effect; but after hsving proceeded a short way further, stil. cooi-ing at intervals, we heard him shouting in a parallel direction to our course, higher up the range, and, on replying, he presently joined us, when he informed us that, having sat down for a few minutes, and afterwards having missec. our tracks and wandered by himself for some time, he had conceived that he had totally lost us, and had begun seriously to reflect on the prospect of finding his way home, without any thing more substantial to live upon than a kinc. of tent, formed by a pair of sheets which he carried, and a little dog, the mode of compassing whose death (not having a knife with him) had given him considerable uneasiness, and he had just commenced to canvass the respective merits of throttling or dashing its head against a stone, when he was relieved by hearing our shouts beneath him, and for the present, at least, the little dog’s life was spared. After three hours’ severe scrambling, we got to the top of the range, descended on the other side, and followed the course of a rivulet running north and which we afterwards found joined the left branch of the Wairoa. After having proceeded about three miles down this stream, we were obliged to encamp for the night, as some of the party were knocked up, and refused to .proceed any further that day. The length of journey this day about seven miles.

15th. Commenced by ascending a high range east by north from where we camped. On arriving at the top, saw the northern extremity of the blue range, bearing east half north, about seven miles off. On looking towards the north, we saw the left branch of the Wairoa, which we had left on our second day’s journey, and which, having run in the shape of a horse-shoe, first north, and then east, was now running in a south-easterly direction. We descended about a mile to the bottom of this range, and commenced ascending a tributary of this branch, which (from its rapid ascent) we named Ascension Rivulet. The bed of this stream was covered with many varieties of porphyry tod quartz, and the banks on both sides were clothed to the water’s edge with dense masses of wood—totara, black birch, with here and there some remu, with an underwood of manuka and supplejack, and many beautiful varieties of laurel, interspersed with myrtle trees in full bloom, bearing the most magnificent scarlet flower. We held our course along the centre of the bed of the stream, which much resembled an interminable flight of stairs. After a slow progress of about three miles and ahalf, we camped for the night on a heap of shingle on the edge of the water. Length of journey to-day seven miles. During the course of our progress, some of the party had repeatedly set fire to the masses of wood as well as fern which we encountered, without indeed any visible reason for so doing, beyond the making manifest their powers of destroying the very great natural beauty which many of the glens and mountain passes presented. These fires, owing to the quantities of dry and decayed brushwood and fallen timber, spread rapidly, and we had, on two or three occasions, to make considerable efforts to prevent the trees and grass in the vicinity of our different respective places for the night from being ignited ; but, to-day, it really seemed as if the Genius of the Mountains, as last enraged at having the fair face of his wide-spreading domains devastated so frequently, had roused him from his slumber, and girt himself for a fearful retribution uppn the invaders of his hitherto unpolluted wilds ; for no Sooner had we well finished our supper, when masses of smoke, ringed to a deep bloodred by the flames beneath them, which had followed our course sluggishly, all the day, began, faster and yet faster, to close up the bottom of the glen we had just been ascending, and as a strong breeze had sprung up at sunset from the south-west, the fires had, in the course of a few hours, spread themselves over an immense tract of mountain ranges. The stream, on the edge of which we rested/was not, more than eight or t6n yards across, and the timber was more than ordinarily thick in

our iihmetiiaie vicinity. Retreat down the stream was impossible ; as from thence the flames were advancing. On either side, or up the stream, even had we daylight to aid our steps, escape was equally shut odt, from the steepness of the mountaihs which rose on all sides, had they been clothed even with the smoothest turf, instead of an almost impervious brushwood. The fleetest and strongest horse that ever lived must have failed to equal in speed the fire, which, driven before a wind that seemed as if stirred up by the very roar of the flames, it served to fan, raced along the ridges with uncontrollable and rapidly-increasing fury. As the roar sounded nearer and nearer, anc. one mass of flame after another burst over the surrounding heights, a visible anxiety broke out amongst the party. We had for some time convinced ourselves that, if we remained where we were, we should be much safer than by any possibility we could be higher up, where the stream was narrower. Going down woulc only have been advancing towards the flames we wished to avoid. We had also had the sense to perceive that, if the fire on one side of the stream reached us before that on the other, we could escape both by alternately crossing to the side opposite the fire ; but all these cooler perceptions vanished from the brain of the majority of the party, when, amidst the increasing roar and volumes of stifling smoke which now began to reach us, we suddenly perceived, from a bend of the stream, the flames on both sides steadily keeping pace with each other, anc burning in one vast extended line from the water’s edge to the summit of the ranges. Then most discordant and contradictory exclamations and commands were heard on all sides, amidst visions of a choice only between being consumed ali\e by fire, or drowning in the stream before us, of “ Throw the baggage into the river,” * f Fire the wood on one side anc run to the other,” &c„ &c.; and, whilst one of the party, in a state of desperation, covered his shoulders with a wet blanket, ran down the stream, and plunged into a deep hole, where, with his head under an overhanging rock, he lay submerged for many hours after the fire had passed, two others actually anticipated what we so much dreaded, and each ignorant of the other’s intentions, ran some distance to windward on different sides of the stream, anc. at one and the same time fired the wood on both sides. When the remainder saw what had taken place, they for a moment stooc aghast, whilst serious thoughts of immolating the offenders were agitated; but, at last, seizing upon the blankets, they threw themselves upon the stones by the water’s edge, and, with their faces close to the ground and their heads covered with blankets, they warded off the smoke and shielded themselves from the scorching in a tolerably successful manner. Owing to the fire whilst opposite us having not yet had time to spread far from the place of its recent ignition before it passed to leeward, the heat was much less than if the whole burning mass had approached at once: and after the larger fires, at least in our immediate neighbourhood, had ceased, when they arrived at the space just passed over by the lately ignited fires, we, then feeling the danger over, gave ourselves up to admire the awful sublimity of the flames, as they ran along the heights. It was particularly interesting to observe their progress towards any tree which stood more conspicuous than the rest. At first the flames would lick its upper branches, and blow through without doing any harm, but at each subsequent contact more impression was made, until at last a simultaneous burst of flame would spring from all its boughs, which would appear ever and anon as they rose amongst the flames lightened by the loss of their leaves and lighter branches, as if in the act of raising their charred limbs aloft in supplication to the gods, who proving deaf to their entreaties, after a heavy tottering, resembling the last struggles of an athletic wrestler, they would fall to the ground, and where a blazing mass had stood but a moment before, remained nothing but a dark blank. Well might we have exclaimed from the iEneid:—

“ Intonuere poli, et crebris micat ignibus aether, Prsesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem.”

Whilst we intently regarded this spectacle, 10, with a cry of horror, all eyes were turned towards the middle of the stream, where behold, perched on an isolated rock, an apparition, white, cold, and immoveable! Was it the “ Spirit of the River/’ agitated with astonishment and indignation, come to offer his fraternal condolence to his colleague of the mountain, at the sacrilegious devastation oftheir domains ? or was it a giant petrifaction (many of Which we had just passed by) ? If so, from a “ short clay,” at regular intervals, evolved a lohg blue column of not petrified smoke, at sight of which the sympathetic souls of us mere mortals were joyfully stirred up,'but Still more so when, from beneath the ample folds of its integuments, there emerged a most suspicibus-lookingflagon;which ; upon a nearer acquaintance, disclosed' a comjound of toddy, devised after the well-khown and most approved principle of that most rampant royalist, Philo-toddy-des, who. nightly toasts' “ the Queen.” Having satisfied ourselves that no unearthly genius had entered our circle,

and looked on for some time longer in admiration, whilst, “ proximus ardet Ucaligon,” we gradually rolled ourselves up in our blankets, and sought from all our toils a genial repose, taking as nightcap a dram which might with some justice be termed the essence of the " River Spirit,” it having been produced from a bottle of brandy found in-the bottom of the stream, having been drbpped there unknowingly, in the quondam flurry of the party to secure their effects from the flames. Whether the individual having so done had conduced towards its preservation or not, was left an “ open question,”

16th.—Woke from our slumbers, to behold a mournful picture of blackened, branchless stumps and still smoking logs, melancholy brooding around. After breakfasting, pursued our journey up the watercourse, the ascent waxing more arduous at each step; blocks of rock, as if cut into the most fantastic shapes, strewn over the bed of the stream; masses of sienite and quartz, beautifully variegated, serving . as stepping, or rather clambering stones. After about four miles severe travelling, we arrived at the top of a piece of flat table land, forming a - kind of shoulder to the northern extremity of the blue range, from which various spurs diverged on all sides. Here, to our chagrin, we discovered, instead of beholding the Wairoo valley, as we anticipated, that another chain of mountains, as high and more abrupt than the blue range, and running nearly parallel to it, rose opposite us, at a direct distance of about eight miles; hut, as there were several minor ranges, which appeared of as impervious a nature as those we had just passed, with, at the end, nothing more than a bare possibility of there being a gorge through which we might descend into the Wairoo valley, in the event of not finding which we should be obliged to return, we held a council of war, or “ korero,” as the natives would term it, as to the feasibility of our proceeding, when it was made manifest, that having hitherto procured but little game, and having been delayed by the ruggedness of the ground, our provisions had sustained a pressure not calculated upon, and, on being brought into a joint stock, it was clearly evident that we were at least six days short of what was absolutely necessary to the furtherance of our journey in the proposed direction. We had, however, satisfied ourselves as to one of the principal objects ef our journey, viz., having ascertained that although, with some difficulty, a foot-path might be established by the route we had just traversed, it would be quite impossible to form a road. Having carried these propositions without a division, we surrendered ourselves to admire the prospect before us, and well did that alone repay our toil. Towards the north, the red tops of various ranges, broken by deep patches of green, fell away all at once into the Straits, appearing from our height above five, but really fifteen miles off, which were in a state of the calmest repose, with now and then a momentary “ cat’s-paw” flitting fretfully across their bosom. In the extreme distance, bearing north by west, lay Separation Point; whilst Adele Island and the other islets along the coast slept like turtles basking in the noon-day sun. Before us lay range over range in twisted and distorted shapes, each o’erlapping each, till, stern, gloomy, and impassible, rose the rugged chain bounding on the west the long-sought Wairoo, from the lowest gorges of which a number t>f minor streams and watercourses (forming, as some of the party conjectured, the source of the Pelorus) ran towards the north and east. Behind us lay the Waimea valley, and beyond that the Moutere and Motuaka, the ranges separating which resembled, in the distance, from the heights on which we stood, a gently undulating country. To the south, looking along behind the ridge of the blue range, the utmost possible variety of mountain scenery was visible, from the snow and cloud-topped rugged boldness of the higher to the more gently-swelling, beautifully-rounded, wood-covered outlines of the lower ranges; the latter presenting, in the rich exuberance of their tints and ever-changing variety of beautiful feature, such another appearance as burst upon the admiring eyes of our forefather Adam, when, rousing himself from sleep, he found that * • fairest of her daughters, Eve,” standing by his side, in newly-developed, blushing loveliness, with grace-breathing rotundity of limb. And might not * the scene before ns, with its rocks, its valleys, rivulets, trees, and shrubs, in all. their bloom of foliage and flowers, over alVwhich the sun now sending its brilliant rays into the most remote corners, now dancing fitfully from tree to tree, from summit to summit,‘be well likened to another Eden ? With what rapture ’did we, -actuated by the innate selfishness of man, picture To ourselves a bevy of Eve’s fairest J daughters 'descending from their swan-drawn chariots ! ! Even a balloon, freighted with a similar Cargo, would have; been looked upon as! Heaven-sent. 'Nay, to descend lower and lower' still, the most lyay-worn, travel-stained,;' dusti covered vehicle which ever bore a laughing bad of loveliness,” 'would have beem greeted with delight, ’Such a 'want does - man ever feel offiemale sympathy, -of that sweet communion of spirit, Without which the most -sublime -and leart-engrossing natural scene flank, my lord, a blank.”