A SCRAMBLE OP TE AROHA MOUNTAIN. (No. 2.) [By our Travelling Reporter.]

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1387, 24 May 1881, Page 3

A SCRAMBLE OP TE AROHA MOUNTAIN. (No. 2.) [By our Travelling Reporter.]

We began to compare notes as to the beat way of surviving a frosty night without a fire, or a blanket, or a place to he down in, and with only a pipe to keep out the misery. We could hear wild cattle in the bush, and wo had heard terrible legends of ferocious old maneating wild boars, who ranged this particular bush, and of one old monster in particular who was known by beinjr without ears or tail, and who had ripped every dog over bi-ougbt against him, and did not wait to be hunted, but charged 'every man he met, and had chaaed one victim to a tree, and kept him there for many hours regardless of revolver bullets, which glanced off his tough hide as they would off plates of ateel, and we smole a a sweet sad smile, and drew comfort from another nip of our hVk. Certainly, nothing could be found in its way more beautiful than a thick New Zealand forest of giant pines, palms, and the hundred different varieties of ferns, from the little tree parisites to the noble spreading fern tree, the graceful and elaborate fret work of the tmy lichens ; the brilliant blue, crimson, and brown fungi of all shapes and sizes, and all the luxuriance of vegetable wonders round us. By way of antidote to our enjoyment, one of us would slip in a hole or tumble headlong over a supplejack, and 101 l in the mud, or have to crawl over a log on hands and knees, or to liawl ourselves from stone to stone up a steep bank, scrambling and climbling more Jike the monkies of our respectable ancestors than men innocent of that useful appendage, a tail which would have been of inestimable service to us just then. At last we saw the clear sky abo\c us, and came upon a small space on the summit of the hill on which some of the trees had been burnt or felled through the rank undergrowth had made impassible again, and there in front of us stood the surveyors' trigonometrical pole, and we knew we had reached the end of our outward journey. It was 2 o'clock, and we knew that it would be quite dark by half-past five even on the open land, and if we did not get out of the bush by four, we might look upon a camp out as inevitable, but we decided to spend half-an-hour in seeing what was to be seen and taking a rest, or a " spell" or a "blow," as we sweet innocents of bush life termed it. On to the veiy top, and then hurrah, for small mercies ; right down at our feet lay the East Coast and a bemtiful panorama stietched right and left behind us. To the left lay the firth of the Thames with tho twining winding blue line of tho Wfiihou running: across the broad t-lain for more than forty miles into it. Paeroa and Grahamstown would hive been distinctly seeu had we brought a binocul.ir but rlie liou-cr could not 1)3 distinguished by our unassisted eyes. From the Piako Range we could see tho Pi iho river widening- down into the Oulf and on our near *-ide the Thames and the Ohuumuri, blue and still and at our distance looking .solitary though now teeming with human industry along its banks and awakenine to the great future that lies' before it. We could see the spa rolling in to the foot of what I .suppose to be Cape Colville and on the other side tho broad outline of Mercury Hay and round the coast oxteuds tho view t) Kahkiti and away to Ttiuranga on thp nsrht. Had the dny been earbei we might have seen the West Coast. Far away to the South West we could distinguish the snow capped /^eak of Ruapeku and the dark cone of Tougariio, Mount Egmonts clear sharp ►point could not be soen though it is said to be visible in the <?arly morning -when decked with tho grand prismatic colours of the rising sun upon its snowy top. Across the noble flats and the ranges that we looked over from ou" point, we could distinguish the sites of Cambridge and Hamilton, though the buildings were beyond the range of sight, and to the liotth, the peak of R-ingitoto showed us where Auckland miyht be bsen with a good glass. Jt certainly is a sight worth going up 3500 feet of scrambling and tugging to look at, but like all rewards in thone times it requires hard work to gain. There was a bottle there in which former visitor" had religiously chronicled their feat^, my companion added his name to the liht but I left mine to posterity. Having cackled a little we prepared for thp tug of war, the downward rush that must be accomplished in two hours on pain of perhaps death, and off we started. My fiery youth naturally rushed wiong at "first start, and it cost us half an hour to go back to the top and start afresh. Then with the aid of my caution wo got right and on to our paper tiack and bounded down tho slopes as much like young roes as we could afford to be. I could see my companion's legs all in the air at once every now and then as he lay C^ebly on his bsu-k across a log or in a bole, and all I feared w]fo that I might have to carry his corpse in addition to my own allowance of flefrh. Sometimes he Would hear wild yells aud profanelanguage and looking back would find his amiable friend in a similar position or sliding down an unusually steep and slippery bit on his trousers or even on his back. There was no time to think about it or wait to study appearance, the ground had to be got over somehow in a certain time, and on we went, At last we got out on to the flat, just above the Parson's Nose, and the sun still was tolerably high above the horizon so that Aye were certain at all events of some of our mortal remains getting in before dark, but the question was bow much would be left after the descent of this hill that had seemed so horrible to ascend and looked so much worse now. Of course, I turned giddy again, and had to sit down in undisguised shame and confusion of face, and uump or slide down as the fates willed it, for my legs positively refused further work. Not to dwell upon the harrowing tale we reached the end without any decidedly fatal accident, and after tea and warm ablutions could talk with considerable pleasure of ott* trip up to Te Aroha, and own that itSfitt noble hill, and one commanding a r fl£|Jils delightful view r* the Whole of this oarfc of the country.

Everybody will be glad to know that the old and 'annoying tidies for ornamenting furniture, are superseded by long scarfs of V haireen" work. On a creamish . White ' ground of clear muslin are ernbroide*eij|tr.&]Kketr.y and. orange, green, ' gUver and goldthreads. , pear? necklaces are very nPlt& apd much in favour; the most ? ; foshionable are npt white, but have the t;jmes o f the changeful opal. They should Iffce m large at >' peas, 1 and , not -fewer than jj^glit or nine rows are twined round the