The Hobelist.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2153, 27 November 1875, Page 4

The Hobelist.

B* W. M. B.

A TON OF GOLD! 08, ! THE NARRATIVE OF * EDWARD CREWE.

A Tale of Local Interest.

Chapter Vll.— Continued.

Having the advantage of a pilot now that the native was with us, and as it was by far the shortest way, we steered out ot Port Fitzroy through the "little passage, following a sinuous course by many an islat; and after passing Whangaparapara and Blind Bay, at last, towards evening, we arrived at Tryphena. . . Here "we found three schooners windbound, for the breeze that had brought us. along so famously was a " dead muzzier for them. One of these vessels, we were clad to see, whilst we were still a mile from the anchorage, was The Morning Light, we knew her by her painted ports, and the great rate of her.mainmastt . On coming alongside we. found that Captain Beggs was on Ms return voyage to Auckland, with a full cargo of wheat from the Bay of Plenty. He had had, he said, a good run down the coast, having left Drunken Bay the same day that we had. , i. Oapt. Beggs readily agreed to take our gum up to town, but on ray mentioning the subject of freight and requesting him to name his demand, he observed that we should not " fall out about that' —a beguiling figure of speech I have frequently noticed to issue from those who: have every intention of " trying on " an overcharge, and this case was no exception to my former experience. My nautical friend was one of those who being.in the position of a payee was glad to surcharge tne PaKowever, with hospitality and kindly intent, the skipper asked us on board and into his cabin to have a glass of grog—a seasonable offer to such open-boatvoyager? as ourselves. , , A modicum of grog, with an equal quantum of cold water, will do aman good, will warm his heart towards his fellows, will inspire his genius if he has any, and will aid his intellect. # !A vaunt! ye Itechabites, total abstainers and others, disciples of Father Mathew ! is it not notorious that most clever fellows in all ranks of life are partial to some kind of elevating alcoholic drinE I pity the teetotalers, ever since I read thatstory of ■-'♦ the wife of Heber the Kenite,' yrho was mean enough to kill with a;tenfe-peg a poor fellow who tad had the courage to " run away from a fight;" and who sought her shelter and hospitality. Ido not care who he was, or whathe had ever done. I have thought that had she not been a Pre-Kechabite and had shared a bottle of ■wine with Sisera, instead of sour milk, the chances are her heart would have been charitably disposed. The people^f thbso. time's might sing her praises, but what would the world say now in the* nineteenth? century to a young woman playing sueh -f> little game? ■ , . •■ j ?- - i The next morning we obtained a supply, of provisions from Captain Beggs,.,con-^ sisting -of Jour pounds of sugar^of- the 1 dark quality known as Pampagna, one pound of tea, twenty pounds of biscuits, and a small quantity of salt and pepper, besides which he let us have as a favour, for he could spare no more, one- shilling.^ wortj^or'four figs of twist-tobacco of the size and quality $h"at it takes just sixteen of them to weigh a pound. •. ,;,:? Had we been Maories he would, as was customary and proper', only have retailed three figs for a shilling*; 7i; V " ;: 'Jffi Some simple people will wonder why. one man's money is not as good as; another's ; traders, however,think otherwise, more especially do those, who with races of men the texture and colour fOf whose skin is different to our owa dear selves. • ;

As we were not many miles from acer~ tain hapuku fishing-ground, situated off the southernmost point of th,e island, .and the tide also; serving, vre-determined to spend-yet one more day fishing and hunting before finally sailing; for Port Charles. • ' ;

The tide, was nearly run out when under j^a. Kiri ■-Kin's directions, we let go our anchor precisely over ther right spot, "a result he attained by placing the boat at the apex of an angle,'the two straight .1 sides from which weye formed by observ-i ing certain wellrknown bearings on the. \ adjacent shore. '[ ■ .r> Scarcely had we got our lines over the side" when the tide turned and the fish began to bite, Truly, the spot was firstrate, land presently in the botton of the boat lay Hapuku', Tamuri, Tai-ikiki, Rockcod, Yellow tail, young shark, craw-fish, and various other species unknown to me by name, and in quantity enough for a day's stock for a London West-End fishshop during the season, only I doubt whether the omnivorous epicures of May -[Fair would find stomachs fo« some of the?creatures we caught, and that even the Maori threw away with the remark that tliey were ka'kino—bad.; Many of the Hapuku weighed, I judged, fifty pounds, and several of the Tamuri wem fully half that weight;" but big Tamuri or Hohnap- ■ per, by which name it is best known to Europeans, is not very good eating, whereas the smaller ones, weighing about one or two.pounds, and which I am inclined to' think arc another variety, are very good eating indeed. I suppose line-fishing has arrived afc such perfection on the coasts of Great Britain" that /those so employed have nothing more"to learn, only my experience is that the native form of hook is preferable when the -fish. are,, iavge to thos<j of European manufacture,, eminently so, because these are barbicss, and consequently unhook almost of themselves the moment the fish is in the boat. Although I al- ; ways made my own "liapu^u" hooks, at a blacksmith's forge I had, and of course: Jiava a perfect knowledge or their form, yefc I feel that a lengthy written descrip? tion would only, give a f(g,eble ; idea of the appearance of a Maori "Imatika." Our sport was at last cut. short in an unexpected and alarming manner by my companion Seth hooking one of the young of the sea-serpent. He had felt the bite and hauled upon his line, which he afterwards told us came in quite easily, and had got the head and some two feot of the jnonster body over the gunwale before he

or any of us fairly saw what kind of fish, that was coining on board of us. The moment, however, Seth did espy the creature he lot go his line, thinking perhaps the fish or whatever it might be, and which appeared so much' too big for the boat would gladly escape. ]No such thing I assure you! On the sea-serpent came into the boat, a fearful looking monster surely, with expression in his eye. . , The Maori woman loudly screamed ana retreated to the extremest verge at the stern of the boat; indeed, we were all frightened, as well we might bo. The monster seemed to possess the power of elevating and holding its head high in the air, for pausing as two-thirds of its leDgth was out of the sea, it took a survey of us all, when suddenly seeing the fish, it glided bodily into the boat. _ I have, mentioned before that my boat was twenty-nine feet in length, and that five feet at either end was covered m, forming a handy and dry place to stow blankets and provisions. On these elevations we now stood, Se'th and Na Kiri Kin at the bow, whilst the Maori woman and myself were at the stern. Our frightful visitor in the meanwhile had possession of all the space amidships, and the first thing be did was to angrily seize a Schnapper; the fish being a large one, and having chanced to die with its.dorsal tin expanded, he found the sharp: spines disagreeable in his mouth. The. .tamuri is armed like the perch. 1 Dropping the fish, he made a snap at the dog, • but, luckily for poor Brush, only, tore, away a little hair. The creature being under the seats, was to some extent powerless to rise. At this juncture, I, having seized the tomahawk, struck at the : monster s head, but he: dodged the blow, not attacking again in his turn, but Bimply getting out of the way of danger. Again and again I struck at him, but it was no use until I watched my chance as his head was under one of the seats he could not well see upwards. I struck at him and buried the tomahawk up to its handle jjlist behind the creature's head. Upon this his struggles were "dreadful, butl continuedblow; after blow with the tomahawk, not always with effect, for he wriggled* and.flopped about with great rapidity; and force, until Seth getting off his perch at -the bow of the boat, ca'meaft.and/tßrustingmeilopm of an oar down the sea-serpent's throat, so held him whilst I chopped and cut at him, wounding him in fifty places, norditt I leave off until our horrific visitor lay a sickening sight and, dead at jtlieJb'dW^mdf the boat. ..-•'. AJI .f. '• *'• 3 We had had enough of fishing, and were even half afraid that* another; and a larger, monster might arise 'ttjtft *of tne ocean and "fairly gobble us up," so we quickly got the anchor intp* ther boat and pulled ashore, where there" was arlittle sandy bay

sandy bay, , .....> >■ .. T? , ; ; rr n. ffsn-s Here we threw but* all-our-fish and landed our goods and chattels... • I then cut a stout stick .about, eighieen.inches long to which I made fast a piece of rope near to one end whibfc i'hWdtisharpenecU then thrusting the stick into the monster s mouth and partly down his throat, and, fixing the'pbint against vhisupper jaw, I igave the word' to SeW and Na KiriKin iwlgf flreldy h&d ;hdld b£ the^p^to ihapil giving myself at tlje jsame time a list Ito the boat, " Now, then; give way my iboys," I sung out"kuinea" which last 'word was intendednfor;>N»Kin. Eri and Iliis wife's encouragement. '."' """ ' \ \ Pre sently^^A:b^^inrst|e|ched out his I full length on me beach, and then found {him to measure foot 1 paces from head to 'tail, and perhaps hisaverage diameter was ifive inches.! iThelcr^turefrajs of a gam'boge^yeiloW' -colour j^^lfe" Had- a* hiige I cavernous mputh Jtong .though irather^ynderilooidngSieeM; /set ;^ very 'close togetherj and somewhat, hooked iniwards. >f'^:±,-■.;■■-■■ .• -;v ■•■-.'-••;-' \ {'^^^'''(mksTm viii.% rr r V?Hctsast by treaty;snd bj.'trAiiis |.| 'V '■ 5-'" " !l will now, pass,OTer ; .mne r mpn^hs ; during Iwbich p^rroa'lifay i't{me >w'aVftill'|r occupied linr estabEfhiiag ,<~iiiS3<#b u^ft^ -cpuntfj? l :alJdiit''liity-^ve*m'ii^s'fr»m' lA^eilßrid,'ißnd rt the..rejtdej wiirpTe^se;|p,pptuse Mr iE(3Mi^C?r|jfe mill, a store fortraiding purooses-with the natives, SffiXitiu®sKSfo Elir^wentyfive .tons burden,, .with gwhich^ t^^tanspprt. ;tt»p/ sawn.^L^^er^i^t"§,ti >tfi9^lQ^s9, ? iu% : scHp.eA;iffa?^viieatjisßig?» »n4 potjttoeSjr that he acquiiejil iffjfche^tiy<#£ tradißfrOm:; theiMajbriMH i«fir/"&7^TB «i^ I* HSUii.l "■ Perhaps it may be interestingtiossdmßg people to hear how-timber is got out of the bushi cut^pAanHfdispdseUr6FiS JST^WI Zealand, and; having myi.oifirVxpeilierices in "my mind's eye/ I feel it easier tO A ifcalk of the methods I pursued ih"ere}tha;n? to teU:nofcwh>^:ll;hj|veHMenuat(Vtf mills, -itf-if;-.::}^ off 'life? jlOUi'i T?j(>3 The <\ south of the 38th parallel of latitude, and is mostly--to be found-on^the sides and summit of the p high ranges,, often precipitous pla'cesj ';' and at times hundreds of these„trees .springing ; from -the r rich : .allu-, visl bottom bf £^goUy and 'to^rin^ alSft; high above the "others of the Tores fc may" be seen, andjm.ingling with, those", grqteing on the hig]ier?grouna,, are, rpadily-known in the far distarice" as forming "a stand oh "Kauri;" A peculiar.stiff .and upright appearanco of the upper branches and foliage, together with the superior height of these pines, render them quite conspicuous at eigbt'or'"ten rcilcs.distance. : The kauri is the only, cone-bearing pine in New Zealand. • " . ,

The wood is of a yellow colbur, wonderfully free from knots, and harder than the red pine of the Baltic. . . ; - . Beautifully, mottled logs are sometimes met with, and are frequently made up into furniture.

It is a question with bushmen whether this mottled or birdy's-eye appearance is a disease in ihe tree or another variety.

When a kauri forest is cut down, the land becomes a waste, as nothing of much use to tlic settler will grow where the great trees have stood.. The "stand of kWiri" I had acquired lay some ..cj&hi; miles in'and from the mill' and was estimated to contain upwards of a million i'ccfc cf. timber, capable of: being " driven out " by placing a flood-dam in a suifableposition. .. ■ ■" ■■ . ": There' was a creek running up the main gully, the same that after many meanderings reached the mill; but this stream was utterly inadequate to swim huge logs without a natural or an artificial fresh.

The former is not to be depended upon, too great a body of water filling the'creek at puo time for "a drive," whilst at another there would be hardly any flood at all. .■«•- ... ■ ' ,■■■ -" ■ ■■; ' ■'•

But.at.first I must get some logs into the creek anc| build my dani before I can hare a drivo.

A bushman named Charley Wright entered into a contract with me to fall, cross-

cut, and roll handy to the creek s sid 200,000 feet of timber. It would not do to put many logs into the creek at ouce, for in that case " a jam" would be inevitable, and lead to;great expense, if not to the ruin of all concerned. I agreed to advance tools, provisions, and clothes to Charley Wright, and money too, when a certain number of logs were nt the banks; nothing to be considered timber that was under eighteen inches in diameter, and for him not to fall any trees over eight feet, as logs of that size are unwieldy. The principal tools required were Yankee axes, cross-cut saws, and timber (not screw) jacks. I am much amused since my return to England to see "woodmen using such primitive and unserviceable falling-axes. It would be no compliment to the memory of Hiram, King of Tyre, and his era:, to suppose that tools of like manufacture were used by liis fallers at the time when he had a contract with Jtmg David to supply a quantity of Cedar logs from"nis feush at Lebanon. I would-rather conclude that the ancients had a better notion of chopping than those peoples who lived in mediaeval timesj when the Aryan races just wasted their energies in endeavouring to force their neighbours and each other to understand and believe a theology they did not understand;o/believe themselves. Whatever may. have been before times for eighteen centries, it has been notably hard upon improvers and inventors. Do not suppose that those ugly dull wedges, sometimes to be seen in a ; hardware- shop inEn^landy and labelled American axes,,though of British maunfacture, are equal to the Yankee article. Ibey are ho more so than the mis-shapen stick affixed is to an American axehandle. ■ ->-.-■' '■■■. '•■■• . ■■„ : One day, since my return to flns worn? out old country, I happened to meet a friend, who ; some time previous having heard of the superiority of the Yankee axei had bought one of these British imitations,i*nd finding the tool a poor one, had jumped to the 1 conclusion that,'"after all," there was ; np,axe equal to the oldtiashioned one in use in England, and was ril£d^a afa ; my intense derision vanctpscorn,; of: that? conservative weapon^ indeeA,rsp hpt=did(We get in our dispute that I offered to chop against the besJUvoodman he could, produce, his man "armed with the medieval tool, wjbilst I rwa¥t6nse art American which I ia^peiied still to have in my possession. This wonderful choppingjfmatch has not yet come off, but shbuld'it evelr tafce place, you may "safely bet on the modern tool, even though^ I have ; the, disadvantage of ; being^in the^^searjaW,yellow;leafi^and not able, as in years gone by, to take on ichip^inj size resembUijgj a blacksmith s apron. ■I .may .as well, whilst on the subject of tools, say something about cross-cut saws, timber-jacks, &c.\ ; - ,:.- ;v ..^Crdss/cut - sawathaTe - what.,l3 called a peg-tooth and cut both.ways. It is a great improvement td^sliarpen every fifth tooth, counting from the centre to the ends, as a drag tooth, that is, a tooth filed square across and with a considerable hook, this arrangement tends to keep the cut clear of sawdust. The timber-jacks consist of a toothed spear, two pinions, a cogged wheel, all of wrought iron, and properly arranged in a strong piece of -wood. A double handle puts in motion the! gear, and the spear can ■be ground out about two feet with power, one mau being able at the handle to lift a ton easily. \ The advantage these jacks have over those where a screw is. the.mechanical ipowe^ isMurtlhS *]&&* is JnbVe quickily run * down ready-for !a fresh lift, merely" by placing the hand on the upper. eftd^or^fQrJk,,of the spear. They are also muehi lighter/&tia less cumJbersome than a screw-jack. \ But to return to my contractor. Charley jWngiii^a^elgEt mettinHiis^niployr and^. jwhilst he was^ falling and gross-cutting llogs from ten'toTaweniby^Ti-feet in length [I was bu3y with another gang of men (building a> flopd : 4ani v . l^hicii¥ l shall, de,v |scribe'a^enpti^ol-beg"tlr6se who'^re inpt interested } in s.uch, s niatt|i;a tp. ? sfcijj ; ; I In almost all the forest creeks of New fZealand you c^a3li^#f6Maa4i!^C6^^od< irock on one side, whilst on the other it is either earth or porous stone. I will not istop to explain what* I suppose has brought this about, but proceed with building,mv dam. _ , . f I firstaMt3* trerich^iri" right across the bed of the creek, into which j (placed a^gns^&spar. I did the same up ithe good or roclc'side of the stream. -Oh the.other bank I made a " wing" by driving'piles. : ; My dam had to be sixteen feet high, aud mftdet toibpefc m'brder to let the wjiter r~an artificial fresh—go as quickly as possijble^rQPie^jpp^ping^was required to,be fully largo efipugfcto admit of those logs passing through that were rolled into tlie creek above the dam. *' ' \ The stream nt the dam was forty-five jTeet wide and at the centre of the structure I made a " flume " sixteen feet wide, from the floor of whic^to the top was also sixteen feet. It was indeed, an opening through the dam, the sides and floor of which were four-inch planking spiked to a^very-strong frame*wort of heavy timber.

The angle at which the dam- would, re-. sist the 4own-streain pressure and weight of water was thirty degrees. The '•flume," you will perceive,was a clear opening sixteen feet by sixteen feot. The top plate did not extend across the stream Jbufc only from either side to the "flume." : The rafters and other parts of the fabric were massive pieces of timber, suitable to resist the immense strain of water and the chance of bumps from heavy logs. I now come to the most difficult part in the structure, that is, the doors, each of which were eight by sixteen feet and somewhat like the lock-gates common in inland navigation in England, only in my case the dbors just met in the middle of the "flume" or "pit," not forming an I angle to resist the pressure, but freely opening down stream, unless fixed and held in that position. Suppose the dam full of water and the doors fixed straight across the "flume," and meeting with a watertight joint, and with little or no leakage at the hinges. Exactly over the doors and spanning the " flume," was laid and adjusted on firm blocks a heavy piece of timber rounded up to a shoulder at each end, and with bearings made to fit accurately, to this was fixed in the middle and at right angles a squared spar covering the junction, of the doors and reaching nearly to the bottom of the "flume" on the down-stream side of the door. This squared spar was held in position at the bottom of the " flume " by an ingenious arrangement made rery strong

of three-inch bar iron, too complicated in structure to describe without diagrams. Anyway this apparatus held the doors across the " ilurno " with all the side pressure of sixteen feet of water, It was so arranged that two men could open the dam by means of a tackle led to a certain part of the ironwork below, which was, indeed, a trigger. w.. • , i The natural run of water in the creek was only small, and it took on an average ten days to fill the dam. When all was completed I had one hundred logs rolled into the stream below, and thirty above the dam.. I then fixed upon a day and an hour to have a " drive," and mustered all the men I.could.

Thero were twenty of us. To be continued^