UNKNOWN

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2982, 25 August 1891, Page 4

UNKNOWN

■ ... i ; , • ..; til fil acres ! ; 0.. .'Us iitll, etc. :« c. , . , il]-- pap r may 11l ,||. I. %I - I iiH\ :■> tail 11 1 ' 11 ai; a ..Uo, •! iiir iI- 'A ill lieei: a 1-;'. JC number (.; ue ' i an. I a a i..-! .-. -i.. '■ I'' o! | >.■' >:i : 1.. ■ i ; '.-in in ■ i '■ n. r trim, Th i' n"i n ;nv n .j,l to do the woi'l. a I I :h-. !h.-c in;:-!. !i .ve lucker ;av i: ;; h..-: ;-u< ]ir ; li c ail they I, t ,o t i.ii tl.nr li.-l i i.: work :iml the ! i - a n mint 11, i-i-- f'i'liitt' lhe:n An a; ea ol;;;)!)() acie, i.-ari.v live square mile-; takes vety lit lie room on paper, in 1-ealitv it 1-eiii'e-enN tin* clearing of a ~1 :;7."| miles'lout! by one chain wide. 'I n open up hush 1 mil to sm-h a large i■ leiit ini ai's the p netrating of lean into a formerly almost untrodden wihhmess— 1..0S and cattle and in places the stockman or the native, may have had tracks of t'neir own. Even these tracks are very welcome to the advancing bushman, but In- cannot depend on those alone as he has to pitch his camp in a handy place to follow his destructive calling. To give your readers all idea, where some of their fn.'iiils, perhaps relations, are toiling and Ihe facilities they have to keep in touch wi'll the civilized parts of the country, is t lie aim of this article. Raglan being the nearest township to one end of the ai. i of hush, attacked with billhook aud a-;e, let us enter the To Akau station on h i sout.hurn-most end from the Raglan township, aud then proceed northwards. 1 lad en(in::h as the road from Hamilton to Raglan generally is miring the winter montlis, 1 need not detail what is well known to whoever had to cross the ranges in the cold season, therefore let us s iy"good-bye to Hore and his kind family and' give Mrs Kenny and her pretty daughter » shako of hands and hasten tu the old wharf, where tho ferryman ia waiting to take us and our horses across to the station. lie is a little impatient, a ; to swim your quadrupeds must be d-iue at low water—even then, there is nearly lialf-a-milc of swimming to be done by your steed. We arc seated in the li'i.at at last and the horses enticed to like to the hriney. A short swim takes us across a small inlet, now the animals have to follow the boat walking along a s indspit till by degrees, they lose footing and have to strike out main. One of our racers swam all right at first,but then took iu iu his head, that it would be easier lor lum to get towed across thau to swim. It may have been more conviiicut to tho horse ; it certainly wa* neither to the man who had 1.0 hold the brute's head above water nor to the oarsman. With some extra exertion, we lauded on the beach close to the residence of R, C. Mal.hias, Ksq., manager of the T,- Akan riir.. The superfluous water having drained iiom the swimmers, we : eidied up and .started for the wilds. A eending a small hill, the road leads li- hind the st vtion house, past the stables, and then by the woolshcd on to the b ■ ieh again. Until we reach the beacon, a-nl for' a while even after passing the latter, the sand is pretty heavy ; but mice round the heads, the beach is hard, .and a .splendid gallop in to be had until we come to the muss-.I rocks. With surefooted horses, many ride over these ro-:ks as it shortens the road considerably. 1: is risky, however, as tho final descent f -..'it I lie rocks on to the beach again i.s 0-er . leps formed by the rock itself— there are three steps of from one and a half to two feet each. These rocks are only passable shortly before and after low water. We climbed one hill, then down into a gully, another steep ascent, ami on to a track on the sea beach a ' hi. A mile or two more of very good ha: d beach brings us to the end of all the good part of the road. Steep hills are in i'l nut of us, and after a weary slippery climb, following the ridges, we come in sight of the Te Ao te Rei Valley. Now the track divides—to the ril'ht is the way to Mr Hall's ilax mill, quite a settlement in itself; our road, however, is to the left. As high as we had lisen to see down into t ,e wide fields of flax, as low we have to s'itlti and slip again to ever-returning tidal waters. A short ride along some very heavy sand, then across a little filream, and up, up, and higher up, along a ridge, and higher up. brings its close on to last year's scenes of a.\e work. Do not fancy that our track looks like a sidewalk in Hamilton. It is more like a ciiiifction of ruts, continuous horse trail',e and heavy rains having formed as many gutters as there are horse-walks. Wo can see the grassy hills of Mangati now, but to gel to this out-station the track branches again to the left. Following the coast brings us toOhuka, another out station. To the right we have to wend our way through a rather boggy piece of bush. We descend on some ridges which were cleared of ti-tree and bush last season. A fence is ahead of us, and further down to the left a welcome sicjht a weather-hoarded house meets ear eyes. To reach this building we ride to the top of the ridge, and then follow along this, pass through another fence, and then eoine to the slaughter* yaid. This part of the road was not so bad, ns it leads over undulating country, but worse is ahead of us. To reach the main building we pass over a very muddy alluvial Hat, and by crossing a silbstan-tiilly-built bridge come ti the house proper. We were ela.l ol a bit of rest, butli for ourseh. i'S aud 1 -m-i ami walked inside. A notice on the door mfoi-nied lit by wilha bob we could have a sqiu'ivc meal: v. e ebulle availed ourselves i-i fill' eh nice, j'lie food was well eook-'il, t lie U'a'i-e.is e.leall, the tea yell hi'e'.'-eil, the bread AI. and as our a ; ■ it' s w -re well sharpened, we did a ' o d go- as they say in the bush. We nrs now within a few miles of the nearest camp, and i.;ia<Py accept the, offer of Mr Can', contract overseer, to bring us safely within hail of one ot the camps. Passing a new stockyard, we cross over a swamp winch has been well fascined, bat after that, " may the sun dry it up," (j-.'iig : ire and slush is ihe only name we can give it. excepting roots and sticks and stones, which are mixed and twisted and turned in the mini so as to puzzle even a mule. Along the l-nnk.-i of the 1-n el: e.e follow in this to!;, track, oeea- : , e,i die chaneing too venue with a little ti-trce llat,, then a swamp, ti-tre.e again, am>l let' sa a 1 np, aud so forth. \\ e cross a couple of rough bridges, and for a final n., -cut a very s'eep hill, muddy all the ■way up, l; ;>m where we e.ui see, deep I'.m-ii ill a e 1111 v, (he c:ri>|> of M"ssrs (li osln, Ih'o::.. contractors for that section. Tiie distance from Mnnga'.i to this camp i-; ;;ivet> variously from twenty minutes' walk ro four miles. We should not, have caved to walk it, and t'< r'de the e made a faree lioie in sixty miiuitos. V, have arrived ile n\ and how this bush party aud others are doing we will let you know by and-!'-,". I'm! nt'il reaches the e in;j> oecasioeallv, and Till; W'.MKATU Timi-s is the paper tli'-y all look tor to u.e anion-..--I other items something of Oi:k Own. ■July, hsill.