A TRIP TO THE INANGAHUA.
(from a correspondent.) Potterby, Jan. 23,
Rosstown or Potterby, under which names the infant settlement on the picturesque banks of the Inangahua is known, is about 1-i- miles distant from the nearest; reef. For the sake of distinction, and to avoid the confusion likely to arise in using a name under which a populous and flourishing settlement is already known on tho coast, 1 think the latter title should be adopted. Potterby then let it be, of which I shall say more anon. My descriptive powers fall far short of furnishing you with an adequate conception of the magnificent scenery that greets the eye at every turning of the Inangahua river ; to do it justice would require the pen of a Scott or a Byron ; and, as your humble servant is very far from being either one or the other, you must even be content with a prosaic and simple description of the district as it is, and I also propose to offer an opinion us to what it might be capable of.
I left Westport on the morning of January 7th, at the hour of seven (according to tradition an unlucky clay and hour). I ascended the Buller river in Watty's boat, proceeding as far as Thiel's store. The heat of the morning, after the heavy rainfall of the preceding night, was almost insupportable, and I would fain have indulged in a sound nap, had not Watty spun a yarn, describing how somebody once killed a Cnicaman, and how and why the neck of the hero of the incident was in no way jeopardised thereby. The measured cadence of the oars, the dreamy repose engendered by the situation, and the enjoyment of an excellent 'figaro,' were fatal, however, to Watty's narrative, which I am consequently unable to detail for the benefit of your readers. We arrived in due course at Thiol's, partook of some milk which was excellent, and I then set out on my journey. I found that the Government were repaii'iug the road, so I will not criticize. To the Nine Mile the track is moderate, but gets worse as you approach French's Alpine Hotel. Here I stopped to refresh. Crossing the Uwiki, where a bridge is much needed, and more especially in floods, you come to the foot of Owiki Hill, and here it is that you hear curses both loud and deep recklessly hurled at the Nelson Government. The track is terrible for foot passengers, and how the poor horses manage to plough their way through the quagmii e is to me an inexplicable mystery. The next noticeable object is Hawk's Crag, around which a road has been cut, which I think is first-class, and infinitely preferable to the rough track tramped by your humble correspondent some five or six years ago. An inconsiderable outlay would furnish a light iron railing, and this would be a great protection. The road from here is undoubtedly bad, but, as I said before, Mr Dobson is having repairs effected, and so far as the money will go the existing state of things will be remedied.
Exhausted, faint, and hungry I arrived at Christy's Junction Hotel, and in spite of weariness, I could not fail to admire the picturesqueness of the scenery, .Alpine in every sense, even to the Alpine smell of cheese and butterm.lk, which, however, beautiful and romantic the mountain huts may appear externally, renders them anything but agreeable to the traveller on a close acquaintance. After a night's battle with the mosquitos, we started shortly after day break for the Landing, a few miles up the Inangahua, and the suiferings and inconveuience arising out of the bad state of the previous portion of the route sink into comparative insignificance beside the traveller's troubles during the few hours' journey from the Junction to the-Landing. The road, in some parts, is positively frightful, but time may, and I trust will, work wonders. We arrived at the Landing and remained for the night, sleep we certainly did not, and this particular spot must, 1 think, be the home par excellence and hunting grounds of the mosquito. I pity, indeed, the unfortunate, were he my worst enemy,-whose confiding ignorance should lead him to camp between there and Fern Flat. I have been stung by mosquitos on many occasions, and believed them insupportable, but they were innocuous beside the insatiate destroyers of my rest this night. All through the weary hours ■until we struck our camp, the humming and stinging was incessant, without even the ten minutes' grace which the most relentless bore, under the guise of entertaining the public, extends to his audience. It could not but strike me that if this restless legion were but available to the French, neither Von Moltko nor Otto Von Bismarck would linger long before Paris. I was informed that the senior member, of the bar in
Westport, who, if bold as ohilles, does not possess the patience of the patriarch Job, had to succumb to this formidable and relentless enemy. We had to do likewise, and decamped about one o'clock in the morning, leaving the field in the possession of our assailants, and reached Potterby about noon. In my next I will give you something about the township and the reefs.
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Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 768, 26 January 1871, Page 2
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883A TRIP TO THE INANGAHUA. Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 768, 26 January 1871, Page 2
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