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Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 40, 27 March 1863, Page 6 (Supplement)

affords a ; strong pre^ for a great number of locali-; A succesv occupied by.splen-, being the forest to the edge, of the . most which occurs at. the Jackson and Haast rivers. set in we struck the the latter, and, for the first retired to rest supof the primeval the West Coast, must be seen appreciated. Not only and beech attain to gibut the fuschia and very large trees, averaging thickness. on the bank of the Haast in the extreme ; poured down on us in torrents, us in a short time, while the of mosquitoes made a sortie bush, and kept us in a perfect the whole night. With of the following morning, in a tropical like flood of with no breakfast, we were j en.&igh to strike probably ford for some distance at mile above the folks, and by the fiats about four miles valey of the Jackson, Here river sweeps along rapidly base of a densely timbered j and failing in an attempt the stream to a large open channel, we took to the The rain was incessant, and than at early morning, so our steps to where we had the woods, and with the difficulty kindled a fire. We poles, and arranging them as American Indians do in conical wigwams threw our blanronnd them, and thus formed a under which to dry our Not a moment's cessation or occurred throughout the whole in spite of our vigilance over We had bated for eels, none to our share ; so with a little tea a consoling pipe we endeavored to olFappetite, until the next mornsupply the wherewith to make As early as possible we toour lines, but they unfo'fuyielded nothing. Dr Heclor, started with his gun, and with one pigeon. Tin's we in a small quantity of floul' and and with a little tea mad: our meal since leaving the summit of Mountain. The rain had cviset in for a lengthened period, altihonph this was the first lon<: of wet Weather we had .since leaving Dnnedin, was a circumstance greatly f.o be j seeing that we were now | about eight miles from the sea, the rapidly increasing flood of the j river was the greatest- obstacle to ! reaching its mouth. Taking int f > also Uip density of -the and the distance we should to travel before obtaining further Dr Hector thought it advisto abaudoo the project of dethe valley further. The of the journey fo the. briuk of the ocean, under present would have been a risk ; while, on the other hand, sufnci°nt provision* and moderate Peather, the work would have been the ! which had fallen to our share j leaving the central camp on the At noon of the 24th, therefore, not without reluctance, we started return, forded the Hasst, and followup a tributary creek, which joins ■ it just feelow the canon, through which W lha main river rushes, we made nu asI -cent of 1,500 feet before leaviug the I former. We then threaded our wiv through the woods until dark nigbj, having gained the altitude of 3,000 feet in the ieaviest rain I have ever witnessed. The kindling of a fire was " betond the bound? of possibility, and nothing remained for us but to seek f the best place for the night. There was, however, little choice, so wearied t ■ -with our exer i ions in climbing, drenched smd hungry, we huddled together in our wet blankets, our only comfort being to take off our wet clothes and wriug them before doing so, and passed * a. night, the misery of which can only becouceived by those who have experienced its like. The morning of the next day broke as the ni»ht had continued, with the same steady rain, and each of us shivering as in a fit. of ague, wrung our blankets, rolled them up, and resumed our march. In two or three hours, ju>t as we had gained the saddle, about I,UOO feet above where we had slept, the sun shot his warm rays over mountain and valley, which in return sent forth volumes of mist fronn the dense woods that clothe them. The cheering contrast produced by the sun has a wonderful effect on the spirits of even famished men, and they mi»;hf; well exclaim in ecstacy with the poet Milton, "We feel thy Sovereign vital lamp." Taking advantage of the few dry sticks we could collect, we kindled a fire, roasted a Ka-ka, and made some tea. It will be seen that since the morning of the 23rd up to the present date, the 26th, an interval of exactly three days, the only food which we had consumed between the three of us, consisted of one pigeon and a ka-ka. ] merely state the se facts as they appear in : my notes made at the limp, and I roust confess, that in re-writing them here, especially when I recall the hard climbing in Such a continual saturated I state, lamat a loss to account for the L , successful irannerin which we regained '-■;. the summit of the mountain. . -Our,' scanty meal over, we descended into the ■' Valley : of the Haast to the same camp whe?S" we had left the small „ cache of pemican and fiour. The half 'd we instantly.cooked, nnd then formed ?'"■ a shelter of branches beneath which we had a good night's rest. Early next morning "the rain- recommenced, and continued that and the : s following iday,; preventing our crocs-

irrgTthe stream, owing to its being so greatly flooded. We weie now in by no -means an enviable position ; all pur, provisions being exhausted, and no decrease ["in 'the volume of the river. On th;e nidrning. of the Ist of March, therefore, we resolved to make a desperate effort. Lashing ourselves together, as usual in such cases, Rayer walked first, with a heavy log on his shoulder, and with a gallantry deserving of every praise, after being twice swept off his legs, struggled safely to the other bank with the rope. Amidst the torrents of rain we forced our way to our camp at the foot of Haast's Glacier, where* it will be remembered, we bad made a cache, consisting of three small boxes of sardines, and about one and a half pounds of flour. The n r st thought on our arrival was the provisions, but on examination we found the ra s had eaten our flour, and even the sardine boxes lay scattered some 12 or 14 feet the one from the other, as if they had been marked for consumption. Happily, however, instinct does not suggest a method to open soldered tin boxes ! So that we had the pleasure of at once emptying the contents of two of them. By the time we had got to this encampment the rain had abated, and the partially clear sky lent us feeble hopes that the weather would clear ; but on the foIOA-ing morning the heavy black clouds came rolling uo the valley of the Jackson. The dense fog that hung over the glacier above forbade all chance of re-crossing — and the rain on the surface of the ice rendered the task still more impracticable. We were accordingly detained another day, with one small box of sardines between the three. Towards evening we began *o fee! hunger keenly , and the rats having left the small piece of sheep-skin, about G square inches, in which the flour had been rolled, we cut it into small strip?, and with some roots of li toi-toi " grass, made a kettle of soup. This We drank and divided the sheep-skin. We all felt the danger of our position more Or less acutely ; just at the time when strength was most needful, it was rapidly failing, and when fine weather was most useful, a deluge of rain arrested our progress. Besides, either owing to extreme weakness, or huddling over the smoke of the fires to dry our clothes, both Raver find myself became partially blind. The (Vclinjj was very like that of snow blindness, viz, us though the eyes were filmed over and filled by :ingula r particles of sand. that. r;ni?ed a painful pricking sensation. Providentially — for really we could but regard it as such i — the following day turned out. fine, we therefore lost no time in making the best of our way across the glacitr. It was here especial!}- that Dr Hector's characteristic daring and skilful leadership were displayed to their fullest extmt. ]iis high reputation as a traveller, and distinguished position in the scientific world, are too well established to need any eulogium which I might attempt to proffer. Hut nt the Fame time one cannot help rendering j him his due of praise, when by his un--1 erring judgment the intricacies of primaDVel forests, the dangers of rapid rivers, and i lie perils of mountain and glacial travelling, are all equally overcome. As previously we were lashed togcgether. while he took the lead with the axe. Stey by step was cut for a long distance, owing to the smooth and rounded nature of the ice, and in one place in particular, where a narrow ridge divides two awful crevices, Dr Hector balanced himself on one foot to cut a step for the other in a marvellous manner. To up, following in the rear, when we could avail ourselves of the steps the travelling would have been a comparatively easy task had our blindness not been increased by the sunshine on the ice. but to our leader the dangers were frequent and awful. In spite of the bad state of the ice, on which the continuous rain for ten days had made a great alteration since we passed formerly, wo accomplished the whole journey across in a less time than that before occupied. The smaller glacier was al-o passed with fewer difficulties, as Dr Hector preferred taking to the ascent of the mountain lower down than the head of the ice. The climb to the saddle was necessarily severe, but for my choice I preferred it to the descent. By about four or five p.m. we reached the " limit of the woods,'' and c - Camped for the ni^ht. '\ he next dav we rapidly gained the camp, where we had filing our provisions to thp fork of a tree, and luckily found them undisturbed. We devoted a great portion of the day to feasting, probably a not very advisable, though agreeabe, thing to do after so long a fast ; but wj were all so ravenous t hat discretion on this point was entirely out of the question, so we fried and boiled until dark night, which, with its usual hospitality of late, furnished us wicli a drenched bed. The following day, March sth, we returned to the camp where we had left the horses and found our first cache safe. When starting from this place on the 16lh, we had anticipated an absence of only six days, aud took provisions for that period ; after the first two days' march, it will be remembered, twothirds of that quantity- were slung in the forks of a tree to lighten our packs. Now, as we were just seventeen days instead of six, going and coming, a very fair idea can be formed of the smal ratioLS that fell to our share. It is simply this, that for fourteen days (the time elapsed from the first cache to our i return to the same place) we lived upon j two days' rations and the few birds that [ were shot. Altogether the birds shot numbered 5 ka-kas, 4 pigeons, 3 ducks, and 2 wood hens in this interval. Our protracted absence was due to i the weather, and the deloys incident to ! exploring thick - wood country entirely unknown, and where we were often necessarily at fault, for, after all, were the line of route which Dr Hector ultimately chose out as we returned, after an acqi aintanee^with the country, marked put and cleared, it -would be no great feat "for an active man in four Icing

summer da'ya to go from the Wannlia Lake to the mouth of the Jackson Hirer. On the 6th Dr Sector started in seardh of the horses, $nd with the utmost difficu'ty succceied in catuhitig one. Thay had got perfectly wild, and had wandered as far down the valley as the gorge near M'Kerrow's flat. About noon of the next day we got the horses, packed up, and descended the Matukituki to near the forks, where we encamped, and on the following day, the Bth, we arrived at the central camp on the right bank of the main river. With reference to the geological structure of the country, I am by no means able to furnish an accurate scientific; account; for the latter, Dr Hector's report of our journey, there can be no doubt, will furnish the minutest details. I have, however, his authority for stating that the rocks are identically the same throughout the whole distance , as those in the Matukituki valley, and southward to the Wukatip Lake, being the upper members of the auriferous series. He searched for gold, but necessarily in an imperfect manner a:id with- , out success ; but large quantities of . coarse black iron sand mingled with green sand were observed, so that there is little doubt that gold will occur there also. For certain reasons connected with the structure of the country, lie believes that its distribution in the river valleys will be extremely irregular, and prospecting will be the work of chance. On elevated gullies in the high mountains towards the coast, however, more regular auriferous deposits may bo expected, but even on this point he is by no means confident. I may here point out that no such trip as ours can ever settle these matters, provided all the mountains present such serious obstacles as those over which we crossed ; as, from the nature of the difficulties, a man can only carry sufficient provisions to go and to return with the strictest economy of time, and wilh ou<, allowing for the contingency of bad Weather, the chaneea of which, are pretty certain, and which, after all, was the primary cause of all the hardship we endv.red. On the other hand, a leisurely examination from the West Coast as a starting point, would bo comparatively easy, and cannot be too soon undertaken for the interest of the province. It will be seen as one of the results of this trip we have the discovery of an extensive valley, with level, • though densely wooded plain?, stretchfrem the margin of the ocean for a lurrj; distance inland. Ls it not extremely probable that there may be other spot? on this coast, which has hitherto \ ccn en sMered so perfectly iron-bound, equally well adapted for future settlement. The farthest to which miners lusve prospected in the direction we were, is up the Maiukituki nearly to its source. Only one party had penetrated us f.-ir as the camp where we left our horses previous to our passing. Five or six other parties have followed our tracks. As they seem to return quickly, they do not appear to be successful. They all state that they have obtained ge.1,1 and black sand every ay here, but not in payable quantity. The nearest point, to this at which mining is being n-g-;iur.iv prosecuted is somewhere on the Maialapo, and J am about to visit the e.xacl locality. March 15. — Dr Tlcvtor is about to I start to town on business, and I take this opportunity of forwarding the present letter to you. It was written to avail myself of the first chance of comI munication, and I had hoped, ere now. I to have prepared an account that, would have been fuller, and have done more justice to the details of our expedition, some of which, I have no doubt:, would prove of interest; but I am sorrj to say that for the last few days, in common. with Dr Hector and Rarer, I have been j suffering from thy! after effects of the continual wading in the icy cold waters of the river?, and the constant wearing of wet clothes, which, combined with the hunger and fatigue experienced on the journey, had greatly reduced v«, I and which could not fail to produce a I reaction on the stoutest constitutions. 1 have, however, full notes, and can, if desirable, prepare a more sequential narrative. With reference to the notes upon which this and ray previous communications are founded, it is but justice; to Dr Hector to state that their v.ilue, in a great measure, depends upon the sources of information which he placed at my disposal, and that frequently they are the embodiment of instructive conversations round our camp lives.