Traveller. Three Weeks in Southland, N.Z.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1982, 21 March 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

Traveller. Three Weeks in Southland, N.Z.

By Fhavk MoriLEY.

(Co id wind.') How Ion;; liavo I bocu climbing this track, picking ferns, murdering bhuke^pcare, apostrophising torn tits, and pprspiriDg freely. Se«ma like tin hoar. 1 must be at least n mile above the level of the lake. Surely I cau walk and murahec at the rate of a milo an hour. Lst me s c vrhw the anrroid eaya. Great Jehoshophat 1 only 500 feet ! I3ut the apparatus can't lie. I'm not more than KjG yards above the lake yet. I don't think I'll climb Mount Ernslaw this time. It would look like taking a mean advantage o! the mountain, to practise on a wood track at the back of* Junloch first. Just here I found the following notice nailed to a tree, which I give verbatim :—: — " Head of lake, Juno 7th, 1881. Notice. — This is to sertify that I, John Snooks, have this day applyed for a claim for wood cutting." The name wasn't Snooks, but that's no matter. I went on about fifty foct Jmthcr, when I came to the conclusion that in n ucruggie between store clothes *nd New Zealand »erub the Bomb

would get the best of it. Then I pained and 1 loked around mo, prrparatory to beginning my ('o'-cent. Theie is not much to pco cuttunly. My hniizon i<* limited to about jC fy feet. The interlacing leaves of the bh'ck birch (Cetuia nuiui), the white birch (11. <ilb<t), the red biich, the totara, and various other trees and bushes, effectually shut out the rayß of the aun from the damp ground beneath, where ferns and scrub, in endless variety and profusion, flourish side by side in their struggle for existence. I am now 550 feet above the lake, and for all the view I can get I might as well be in the deepest dungeon in the old Bastille, or down in the lowest level of the Magdala claim at Stawell. Beturning, a very pretty object caught my eye— a dagger-shaped pendant of ice hanging from the roots of a tree which grew upon the edge of a cutting. The water percolating through the roots was frozen as it issued in drop*, and the translucent icy stalactite, about two feet in length, sparkled like a huge diamond in the sunshine. But I have no more time to dawdle here, as that sound which rolls in a thousand echoes from the hills is tho fog-horn of the Jane WilliamH, and she leaves Kinloch in lees than an hour. In ten minutes more I am carving an ancient chicken for the Lady of the Lake, whose acquaintance I made this morning; and we are discussing the probability of the sun shining during the next forty-eight houra in order to reveal the beauties of the scenery, which, up to this point, have been hidden by an pnvious leaden sky. The lady is undecided whether to go or stay. "Do you think it is going to clear up," she asks. I look out at the window; then I return and put on my most sympathetic, and withal my wisest look, and respond somewhat after the manner of the immortal Captain Cuttle: "The wind ia now in the sou-west. If so be, my dear madarne, that it chopa round to the nor-weet, or nor-nor-west by nor, we'll probably have a change. If the glass doesn't go down any more it will very likely rise presently; and then we'll have some weather. If we don't have some weather we'll likely have some sunshine." "Dear me! how very annoying. I think I'll go back." " I don't think that you can gain much by staying here, madame ! " " Do you really think it will clear up in a day or two ? if so, I will stay." " Truly, midame, I think you are wise to remain." " After all I think I'll go." 11 Well, on second thoughts, I believe you are right." "After coming all this way I don't like leaving without seeing something." " I commend your resolution, madame ; only dire necessity drives me away from these hospitable shores. I envy you your chance of remaining to see the sun Hhining in all his Rlo>y upon those gloomy bills, and transforming them, as by a magician's wane), into all the color's of the solar spectrum." •• Yes 1 I will remain." " Adieu 1 " " Adieu 1 " The Jane Williams is a little craft even smaller than the Mountaineer. She is not, like her rival, got up regardless of expense. She has no gorgeous saloon chining with bras 3 and nickel, and upholstered with crimson velvet or some brilliant imitation thereof. Bat she is a good little boat for all that ; and her skipper is a decent fellow, too ; but cela va sans dire, as he is an old Victorian, and a'l Victorians are good men when they aron't the reverse. Now we are off. The Lady of the Lake stands in a pensive attitude, watching our departure. I think she in even now repenting of her final resolution. Wo steer straight for Glenorchy which gleams across the water, about three miles away, like a miniature painting on a huge gray canvas. When about half-way across we get a fine view of Mount Earnßlaw, which hitherto has been hidden by the smaller but nearer Mount Alfred. What a rugged old giant he looks with his Hiorni-lossed locks of cloud and vapor clinging to his venerable head, and hanging halfway down his shoulders, like the poor gray haird of old King Lear, when turned adrift by his ungrateful daughters and abmdoned to the mercy of the storm. There is a glacier somewhere about Mount Ernslaw which I have not seen yet ; but which I am quite piepared to take on trust, as tho atmosphere and the water are alike cold enough to indicate the presence of half-a-dozen respectable glaciers. The Bees River here joins the waters of the lake ; and although just now it i<* comparatively low, the captain assures me that it brings down an enormous volume of water sometimes, and that the shingle at tho mouth of the river is constantly shifting. Half-an-hour steaming brings us alongside the wharf at Glenorchy. We have not very much cargo to take on board; and presently we are off, our passenger list being reinforced by the addition of a fur skin-covered hunter, with a venerable and unkalizoio dog ; which must be an extremely valuable animal if only half as clever at) ho ia ugly. While we are steaming along close in to tho shore which lies upon our left, the captain enlarges upon the past glories of the old digging days. There has been plenty of gold got about Lake Wakatip. Wo are steaming pa^k the old Buckleburn ' tUgqim ' out of which tons of gold have been won by diggers in thp oltlen <laya from shallow sinking. A few Chinamen still hang about the old place with the strange pertinacity of the race. They make their tuoker now, and that is about all. But there are quartz reefs higher up the river which have been lately turning oat well, and a revival in mining about here ia quite on the oarde. The sun is still hidden by the gray pad which for the last two days has hung about the limited area cf Bky which the tall mountains leave visible. But as we pass the inlands a fugitive gleam of sunshine gives us a momentary glimpse at the exquisite panorama for which the Lady of the Lake is sighing, I hope not vainly. Suddenly, as if by magic, a wealth of gorgeous color breaks from the hitherto gray and gloomy mountains. In the foreground ia Pig Inland, or Pigeon Island, it matters not which, as there is nothing in suoh unsuggestivo names. The blue blaok waters of the lake break in small curlijg white-created waves upon the basalt foreshore of the island. Tho pale green of the ferna and cabbage trees contrast vividly with the dark glossy leaves of the scrub. Away beyond the Btrip of water between us and the fuither shore, and forming the back•jiriun'l of the picture, tho gray and brown waih n.ider the magic influence of sunlight, tuin f>-o. n gloom to gladness. Instead of bldck and gray and brown our eyes are gladd v.od by tender harinoniea and aweet nuancet of color. Deep purples, delicate blues, tender grays and a peifcct diapason of all the colors from the led to the violet end of the epoctrum arc reilected from tho needle-like peaks and shaggy aides of those hitherto gloomy hilte ; and, high above all, the pure white o! the snow almost dazzles tho eye to look upon it. But this gleam of sunshine is only momentary ; and presently, like the ghosta of dead memories, the glorious vision disappears. It appears to me that the beauty of Nev* Zealand acenery depends a good deal upon liyht. Thi3 sounds like a eiraplo truLsin ; and somo very smart reader may probably remark that "any fool knows that." But what I moan, if, indeed, I have any meaning, is that light plays a more essential part in producing magnificent effects among New Zealand mountains and lakes than any other factor. Each point and peak, ovcrj angle and escarpment seems to absorb that portion of the composite solar spectrum due to its molecular constiuction and its angle of incidence. According to the law of optics, there ia no color generated by any natural body whatever. In the white light of the aun we have the Bum total of all poasible colors ; and the vaiioufl hues which greet the eye of the obiervcr an the rays of tho sun fall upon those rugged heights are due to the sifting process which the light undergoes before being

reflected back. Sometiinp't all the li^ht is absorbed, and c d-^iitp b l a"kn r "-t appears ; then tbo red, tho r>n<.vf'>\ tV Y-U >w, the gipon, the blue, and the violc 1 ; 1 1> iiu 1 Ah eoi'bpd or rf-flpct°d aa thpe^e may bo iOhuH nit; Jij all the coliih b"inq from c ome poiut or other, and all bl* li'led into a lmimonious whole by ma a<~* of may a a;'d othei neutral tints in the way th \t only nature can blend her colors , while mingling wiffi the cloud? are tho snow-cJn'l peaks. " Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful." It is very beautiful when the sun shines. The Lady of tho Lako by this time is probably happy; a3 sho rauat hays caught a flppting plimp^e, if no more, of tho beauties of Lake Wakatip, and the mountains, under the vivifying touch of — " That orbed continent, the fhe That severs day from ni^ht." But now " the glorious lamp of heaven " ia hidden under thick masses of vapor. The sombre gray walls are unrelieved by any pplash of color or gleam of light ; the black waters of the lake Beem blacker and more unfathomable than ever; the shore flits pa3t indistinct and shadowy ; the trees and ecrub appear out of the darkness in front, and disappear into the darkness behind, and, the wind tossing their branoheq, they seem to turn eternally like the lost souls in the Hall of Eblis. The wind begins to ripe. As it blows over those enow-covered billls, it swoops down as if it had just arrived from some antartic waste of eternal icebergs ; and seems to be embued with a demoniac desire to cut your ears off. You walk about frantically to keep up the circulation, or you cower behind the boiler of the engine, which, in the Jane Williams, rises up boldly through tho middle of the deck ; and ever nnd anon you feel in tho darkness for your no<>e, to make sure that you have something more substantial on your faci! than a lifeless and frost bitten reminiscence of the past. But there ia not much of this. Presently wo reach Queenatown, and in Ih9 comfortable hotel of Madame Eickhardt I find r*s good accommodation, a<3 good liquor, and as good meals as the traveller will find out of Melbourne, or perhaps in it. (To be continued.)