Commercial.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3517, 22 May 1890, Page 2

Commercial.

Messrs Lowes and lorns report at their stock Halo yesterday all classes of sheep were well represented with the exception of heavy fat wethers, and all lines selling under the hammer at prices slightly in advance of last Bale. In cattle, some good forward stores, and a few lines in beef shuwed much improvement in price, The following are the figures obtained : Fat ewes 10s 4d; medium, 9s; forward ewes, 8b 8d to by lUil; light store wethers, 9.*; breeding ewes in lamb, ' good 9s; medium qidity, 7s 3d to 8s; lainbs,strong.6s 3d; ordinary Ss fid, Beef, light bullocks, £i 2s; cows, heavy 765; medium 60s; store bullocks in good condition Gas to 70s; small 50s; store cows, 40s to 503; dairy stock at last sales quotations, No pigs were penned, *

AnAutumiißamble. (ByKoiiAßi.) , At 0.30 on the morning of the 18th May, Mr Schwartz, of the Egmont Claim, and myself, left Cullensville to ascend the mountain at the head of tho right hand branch, Mahakipawa Creek, For the first three miles, the track runs along, the hillside on the right hand side of (he oreek; it averages about three feet in width, is well formed, and although a very good grade, rises rapidly. In many places it is out along the face of solid rook, the upper portions of

which haug over one's head, and you can look down a perpendicular descent of a hundred ieet or so, to the tents of the miners, perched in apparently inaccessible positions on the sides of the oreek below. As we proceed, small streams (which during the winter must be regular torrents)

comedown the mountain side and Horosa the road, Above, below, and all around is dense bush, consisting principally of riuiu and the different varieties of birob,' while frequently gigantic tree ferns rear their Leads out of precipitous gullies. This is a wonderful place for'ferns, I have seen more during tho Bhort time I have been here than I ever saw before. At

1 10.16 we reached Levy's upper store, and a few hundred yards beyond this the formed track ends. Our way for the nest mile and a half led through the bush still along a steep hillside, where the only track is that formed by the feet of the miners. One public spirited man some time spent a.few days in cutting down the Karawas,and einoe then when men have been coming or going with axes, they have still further; improved it by cutting out saplings fa. eo that the track is pretty well defined, although numerous roots make it rather rough travelling. lii several places one has to scramble down or along'banks,: holding on to roots or perhaps a piepe of projecting r00k,,, and in one place you; liavo to feet with only a hanging Karawa to hold on to, and stop yon from going too far. The provious evening after dark a miner had gone too far, and gone over, but escaped with a contused oheek and a' swollen wrist!-.' Still I was assured that this was ft good road for a diggings. How the miners manage as they frequently do with fifty or sixty pounds jjeigjit of, a swag and provisions on their backs I cati't'taagine. I had diftlculty.onougli to gotmysolf along'. At IJ<SO W> W tfaohejj

tliß'Eginont Claim, 1210 ft above se, level, Last winter Soliwartz and hi raatewere' in n tent and tbey ha rate experience with tb snow,:btit as old resideuts'say it wa the severest season known for twelv years, and they now have a comfort ible wbare, thoy look forward t setter times during the comin; vinter. We went down the Egmou haft, which is absut fiftoen'feet, am hep into the substantially timberei Jain drive, with just room for a mai o stand upright. From this ther re several other drives running toth ight andlelt, all of which lexplored )n returning to the upper world, w Dund Mr Collins of the ndjoinini laim, the "Hen and Chicken,' raiting for us. He kindly invitei ae to inspect that, but as the'shaf m thirty feet deep, and the ladder o my unpractised eye, did not appea uite safe, I declined, Hearing tha w were going to the "P.eef,' tolliiis offered to accompany us, am t about 12.15 p.m., we were agaii ravelling uphill. Saoh a 'gottinj .psiairs as you never did seo. I eqnired tho united efforts of hand nd feet, but as we'had plenty o trong roots to hang on to, there wa io danger. At 12,80 wo had reaohei he "Carbine" claim, in Maori Gully levation 1820 feet. The proprioto lad the billy boiling, and requests is to partake of some tea, whioh t me of the party, at any rate, wa 'ery acceptable. After a few ; min ites rest.'.we again started skywards dr Corby accompanying us, Look ng behind, we could see little cls< nit forest-clad mountains,' am icoasionally could get a glimpse, o 'elorus Sound, but tho bush arouni is was too dense to permit of ai xtendedview. At about'l,Bo w eaohed "The daddle," 2800 feel nd could see the Wairau Plains descended about 300 faet oi he other side to tho " Kapai" quart; nino. The drive extends into th ace of the hill about 600 feet, am fa duly explored it, I was not a iworably impressed ivith this min ,b I was with the "Golden Bar", a yakamarina, whioh I visited abou , month ago. There are half a dozei ither mines in the neighborhood o 'Kapai," but as our time wa imited, we did not visit thorn, M: lorby left U3 bore going on to Wai :akahb, and wo retraced our stepi o the saddle; On the southern faci f the mountain were great numberi if the Prince of Wales' fern. I pos essed myself. of two roots, .am egretted I could ■ not, without in onvenienco, carry more, On tin addle were some handsome shrubs learing a strong resemblance tothi hododendron, the flowers were done rat I prooured agood supply of seeds [here was another shrub that tool ny 'fancy, with light green leave aid scarlet marks on them, resem jling bloodstains, the under surfaci jeing white. There.were no seeds oi )lut. We now proceeded up tin ridge to the North until we came ti the trig station No. 1, 2,600 feet from whioh there is a very good view but as it is ■ something similar to though not so good as that from No 2, I will not describe it. Were turned to the saddle and kept alonj the ridge in a southerly direotioi until we reached trig station No, 2 It seems strange to me that this mountain should have nonamo, : hul no one around here knows of any name for it, and on the map of the province of Marlborough it is merely shown as a small circle with the figures 2832 (you will find it on the map near the centre of an'otherwise vacant space, situated about five miles to the soatli of-the kid of Queen Charlotte's Sound.)' My aneroid showed the elevation as 2,900 feet, audi don't think it was 70 feet out. The view from the summit was the most extended I have seen, there was no haze whatever, everything being beautifully distinct. To the E.S.E-, was Blenheim, a town about the size of Masterton I should say, and stretching away inland was the broad expanse of the Wairau valley, witl three rivers winding through it, am uniting at their mouths. So far as.' could see the valley was. entirol; treeless, with the exception ot a fe\ plantations. The farms, had the; been of the same size, would hav' looked likethe squares on a chess board, but the different areas pro vented that, Many of them wer bounded by straight lines of green but whether it was rows of poplars or gorso hedges, I could not say Beyond were sterile ranges with th snow clad peaks of the Kaikora glistening in the sunlight, and awa, to the south east could be seen th entrance to the Clarence rivet Stretching away out into the Soutl Pacific further north, and consider ably nearer was Cape Campbell, th lighthouse on it appearing as a whit spec, Then still .nearer, Cloudy Bay with the White Bluff? at its 60uthen end, and tho boulder bank runnin in a north-westerly direotion fror their base, enclosing what appeare to be an immense lagoon. At .th entrance to the Wairau river, was remarkably minute object which was told was a beacon. Tlie summit of some mountains a little higho than the one we were on, hid lor Underwood from our gaze, - bu between us awl them wasjhe Waitob valley with a straight white road run mng through it and numerous farm on both sides, while at right angles t the main road and, coming in ou direction was'another road, that . am told leads to the Koromiko valley Pioton we could not see as a higl hill intervened. Then to the north east Queen Charlotte Sound—- " In all its length, far wlndinp lay, With promontory, oreok, and bay." We could see the whole of the Tor' Channel, with the exception of iti entrance, Arapawa Island, • Lonj Island and (Jape fioamoru. My com rades fancied they could see Capi Jackson, but it may have been sorm other cape or point, Pelorus Sound unfortunately,was hidden by the higl trees. Were these felled, 1 have n< doubt bub that the whole of tha sound would also be visible. The mos interesting sight to me wastheNortl Island, although the distance, ] must confess, made it look dark ant gloomyincomparisonwiththebrightlj illuminated South Island, I could no help feeling a dssire to be again oi its hospitable shores, The eastermos visible point was Cape Palliser. W< could see a good portion of Pallisei Bay and Cape Turakina. The hilli before mentioned that prevented us seeing fort ÜB&rwoqd.alsD hid Pen. carrow and Terawhjti.v Somewhert at the back oi Pqiirua there was verj highland visible, and Kapiti pre. vented us seeing any further north ir that direotion.. Over the Wesi Coast and extending about half aorom the island, was a dense bank of cloudi the upper surface of them:beinj beautifully white, though I don' suppose the inhabitants below ha< any knowledge of that interestini faofc 11 omitted to mention previousl that the day was an unusally lovel; one, wit!)'a light north: westerl' 'Ab J looted oi

the lovely panorama|around' Hlfti thoughts those beautiful line's;' by New Zealand's only: poet,. R? ; V> Whiteworth, ; and as I don't think they are very widely/known I will quote them for the benefit of .your readers.. ■ ' ' ' Oh land of ico crowned mountains, Ob land of purple hills! Oh land of rushing riven, ■ And of gently rippling rills • Of thundering ocean breakers, And of sleeping sapphire lakes, Of breezy swelling uplands, . Foroata den bo and tangled brakes Of fertile plains and sloomy gorges, Savage, deep, and dark, Of pleasant valleys, and of rooky,,' Rampart hoar and stark 1 'Oh laiM of storm aud sunshine, : Oh land of light and shade, Oh land that art the loveliest '• :.-.■ Tho Lord's. command hath ; ihade.

By this time it was 8 p m, and at our altitude, the nor-west breeze was every minute becoming more cool than pleasant. We began to descend, but by a different track, that of Specimon Creek. The trees all along the ridge,wero" bearded with moss" Owiiig to tho frequent mists which hang around the mountain tops. We passed several miners camps en route, arid "although the road was rugged end steep," we accomplished tho downward journey to the Egmont claim in about half the time that the upward one had occupied. The fire was alight,.and Mr Schwartz soon had tlie billy boiling and the frying pan discoursing sweet music. We reached Cullensville at 7 20 p m, having spent a most enjoyable day.