NARRATIVE OF A WALKING TOUR TO LAKE WAIRARAPA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5345, 15 May 1878, Page 3

NARRATIVE OF A WALKING TOUR TO LAKE WAIRARAPA.

(Continued.) We rose next morning tolerably stiff from our heavy work of the previous day, and having made a good breakfast started off to inspect a Maori pa in the neighborhood, which we reached just as some Maoris—one of them as good-looking and strapping a fellow as I have ever seen—were unloading their canoe of a creel of gigantic dimensions, literally crammed with eels of all sizes. They handled these creatures quite unconcernedly, and chucked them into a deep pit they had dug in the sand. There must have been nearly a thousand of them, large and small, wriggling and squirming about at the bottom of this pit, presenting to an imaginative mind a scene not unlike one described by Dante in his Inferno,” and ilustrated by Dore. We did not stay long in this locality, as it was not a savoury one, and we had come out of'Wellington as much for change of air as anything else, so with difficulty dragging Heliodorus from the contemplation of a fascinating Waihena, we recommenced onr onward journey. . Owing to the silting up of the lake, which has already been referred to, it had considerably overflowed its accustomed limits, and several thousand acres were under wa'er, to the considerable annoyance of the neighboring ranholders • nor would the Maoris (so wo were told), who have or pretend to have certain lights in connection with it, permit the harrier to be cut through until they had finished their fishing. There are no other sorts of fish but eels and small native trout indigenous to its waters; but when the entrance is open large quantities of flounders and schdapper may be caught at the mouth. Onr way 1 ly for a mile or two near the margin, over a level carpet of soft green sward, sparkling all over with glittering dowdrops ; but we were soon obliged, for the avoidance of swamps and wildernesses of flax, to turn off to the right, and get upon the main road to IVatherston. The road took us past a very picturesque Maori settlement, where pigs, poultry, and piccaninnies combined to create a lively scene of noise and bustle. Seeing a pig by the roadside, in close proximity to the remains of a pack of cards, Heliodorus suggested that we should teach that pig euchre, like Copt. Burnaby; but the attendant circumstances were not favorable, so the idea was abandoned. We trudged aiongsome fifteen miles under a blazing sun, and occasionally had good views of the surrounding country. Un our left lay the upper and lower lakes, now merged in one large sheet of water, skirted on its farther side by wooded hills, and on the right were terraces covered with tussock, indicating by this, and by the steely blue of the sky above them, their proximity to the sea. We passed over numerous watercourses, but very little w iter in them ; dry river beds in fact were a striking feature in the country; and as we vainly looked up and down them, seeking for traces of water, enough to cool onr parched lips, we thought of Burke and Wills, and wished we were camels. At last we came in sight of Otaraia, where we intended to halt and rest, having been bidden to do so whenever we might be in the neighborhood ; and here my stupidity in not acting on the advice of the old proverb, “Look before you leap,” went far to mar the enjoyment of the whole expedition. My punishment was a sprained ankle, which of course quite upset our original intention to complete our walk round to Wellington ; so after resting awhile at Otaraia, and being hospitably entertained, we determined to push on that evening to Waihenga. Accordingly at about six o’clock we set out, having obtained the loan of a mare and foal and a large slipper. Heliodorus went first, leading the mare by the bridle, who carried myself and the large slipper, and the foal brought up the rear, having occasionally to be “ chiveyed” up by Heliodorus when it dropped too far behind The journey at this slow rate of progression was necessarily very long, but we enlivened the route by snatches of song, and by finding out jokes where even Democritus of Abdera might have pardonablyfailed. Wo reached the bridge over the Kuamabunga at about 9 p.m., and were soon comfortably housed in Schwartz’s Hotel, an inn provided by Government, very well furnished, and leased to the present occupant for twenty-one years. Though the hotel was crowded we obtained a very comfortable bedroom. Here we found a friend who had walked over to meet us from Featheraton ; but having given us up had gone to bed, from which place of repose he was soon turned out. The next day I devoted to the sofa, while Heliodorus and our friend wont to knock over soma rabbits—a kind of cattle which are doing a great deal of harm in the district. At one time it used to be famous for wild pigs, all the land right away up to the coast being infested with them; but extermination by contract has considerably lessened their numbers, and though frequently to be met with, they are no longer the nuisance they used to be.

The Ruamabunga and its tributaries are liable to sudden and excessive floo Is ; and though the main channel of the numerous watercourses we had come over was never greater than one could jump across, still we conld see the drift marks of the overflow in some places three or four chains wide, all this wasted land being of course nearly worthless. Another indication of the violence and extent of the floods was given us by the fact of the fences for long dis’ances on each these creeks being constructed on the principle, so that while the posts were firm in the ground a minimum of resistance was offered by the intermediate parts. Next morning early we Set out for Featberston, I getting a lift in a baggy and my companions doing it on foot, and thence we somewhat ignominiously proceeded to Wellington by coach and rail, feeling, perhaps, rather small at not having carried our contemplated walk into effect, but yet on the whole well satisfied with the amount of pleasure we had extracted from it. And so comes the “ finis chart® que vi®(juo.”