THE CRUISE OF THE "CIDER BARREL"

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3046, 23 January 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CRUISE OF THE "CIDER BARREL"

FROM rAMfIIUDGK TO AUCKLAND IX A CANVAS CAXOE. Au, (he ti'no the breeze, right in my teeth as Ujiml, w;i9 freshening. With much toil, complicated by the fact of having to keep my toe in the leak, 1 passed Waipipi on the left hand bank, but soon after, rinding I was making no progress against a strong breeze nnd a choppy sea, I turned her head ami ran for Waipipi wharf. Here, the tide being low, I beached her on what, in my innocence, I imagined to be a sandbank. It was misplaced confidence, or rather it was mud. Still I had to get ashore, so, sticking my axle iu the mud and making my canoe fast to it, I struggled through knee-deep slime with some trepidation ; for to be smothered in mud is a death neither romantic, cleauly ; nor pleasant. Without boots, but with nice slatecoloured mud stockings, I made my way to a house which turned out to be a Mr Harvey's. I was taken at first for an escaped lunatic from the Whau, but having, I hope, partially reassured them on that point, I was regaled in the usual hospitable way on some tea and bread and butter. Making myself, with the help of some water, a little less like a mud lark, I inspected Mr Harvey's tannery and returned to my boat, jnat in time to find her surrounded with water. Hastily divesting myself of my lower integument!), in Highland costume I dashed out through mud and water, and just reached the plunging " Cider Barrel" in time. I scrambled into her, pulled up the axle, and, putting my toe in the leak, bailed her out and made for the opposite shore, which appeared more solid. I paddled before .a pretty heavy aea, and made for the opposite bank, and, after waiting a short time for the tide to rise, I succeeded in getting her on to the rocks, and soon had her lifted out of the reach of the tide. I found two slits iu her canvas, nnd, having made all secure, made for a house above. Here I met with the usual kindly welcome, only more so, from Mrs Woodward, the lady of the house, for we soon found that we were from the samo English county and knew, by name at leist, many of the samo people—a great bond of union in distant lands. She kindly placed all the resources of the house at my disposal, and, armed with hammer and tacks and a tin of mutton fat, I made repairs to the poor battered " Cider Barrel," giving her a thorough greasing with tallow all over. This done, I got to the house again, receiving the fame hearty welcome from Mr Woodward that I had had from his excellent lady, who invited me to have a " cup of tea." It was a very good " oup of tea," and just to keep the tea from feeling lonely, I accompanied it with three fried egga, six slices of bacon, and several hunks of bread. I'm fond of the colonial " cup of tea," but don't think more than three such " cups of tea " a day would be good for most men.

Mr and Mrs Woodward are blessed with four children, one of whom is, of course, quite a baby. There were babies in almost every house I visited, and they were all darling, charming babies. Their mothers said so, and their fathers confirmed it, and what am I, a lone bachelor, to disagree with such high authorities. My private opiuion of all babies is that they are hideous, slobbering, crying caricatures on bald-headed baboons. But I never tell a mother so ; she wouldn't like it, I always make a point of shaking hands with the babe and smile sweetly on it; and if, as is often the case, it has been seeking geological specimens in the ashpan, I call it a " noally, boally, ickle rogue"—not a "slimy, grimy, little wretch.

If only on export trade could be developed in live babies ! France and Russia might be willing to take a few thousand annually, and with proper encouragement the production would be practically unlimited, and a boom of unequnlled prosperity would set in for New Zealand. After all, would it not be far better to export babies than to go to the expense of rearing and educating them, when, under Freetrade or Socialistic Governments, no employment can be found for them when grown up? I commend the baby export idea to my Freetrade and Socialistic friends.

If, as Lamb said, a home to be perfectly happy should have a kitten rising six weeks and a baby six months in it, then we must have many perfect homes in New Zealand. Though natural difficulties must prevent the constant achievement of the six months baby, the New Zealander's wife does her best. This is an awful country for babies. The settler's wife our praises wins, She bears Rons with such a zest, She cannot every time have twins, But she does her level best. Mr Woodward showed me over his farm, a place of 500 acres, of what, in the North Island of New Zealand, is called good laud, aud in any other country would be poor and unprofitable. He seemed satisfied with it, and hopeful of making it pay. The country is hilly, but not sufficiently so to interfere much with cultivation ;■ its conformation is thoroughly suitable for sheup farming, but I cannot consider land good, which, in its virgin state, requires three cwt. of bones to the acre; at all events not good enough to farm for a market 13,000 miles away. Poor land can never be profitably worked where, under a free trade Government, one is obliged to sell in the dearest market, the inevitable result of a freetrade policy in a young and undeveloped country.

After passing a very pleasant time in the Woodwards' society, I started again amid their mingled good wishes aud predictions of disaster, ou Sunday afternoon, wind and tide both favouring me ; quite unmindful of the dreadful fate of the naughty boys in the Sunday-school tracts who, going boating ou a Suiiday, invariably get drowned and, presumably, go to Sheo). With a fine fair wind, though somewhat squally, I sped down the bluff-bunked river towards the Manukau. I am delighted to find my boat after its tallowing perfectly tight and, passing through pretty scenery, soon open out the Mauukau in all its imposing breadth.. I pass a sailiig boat going in the same direction in great glee at my little craft's sailing ability.

To the left hand, a high-cliffed shore stretches along, curving inwards and then, far a-head, outwards to a great headland called, I believe, the Huruka Point. My timorous 9ide prompts met 6* follow the coast along, in comparative safety, but pluckier councils prevail, and I point the " Cider Barrel's " head for the distant headland, which I intend to be my night's destiuation.

To my right is the broad expanse of the Manuka, stretching away to Onehungu and Ptipakura, its green and white flecked surface darkened at intervals, by driving rain-squalltjgobscuring the distant view of Auckland's far off volcanic cones.

The little "Cider Barrel" tosses on the wavts as the shores recede, and the wind blowing from the sou'west, the swell topples me about in it conies up on my port quarter. Ewi-y few minutes a squall with some ra ; u sweeps down on me, and I slack my sheet and run before it. This is the worst weather we have had to encounter yet, aud it gladdens my heart to see what grand weather the little hooker makes of it.

In the distance wo pass Pollock wharf, and, somewhat nearor, that

lit, Awitu. K.'ii'.ikit point is rounded in n deoidi:il!y viulni. sin, which makes mo feftl just a little nervous, but soon wo are under tho !••« of the land in smooth water, and, rounding a pile of I)ouldnr3, I see I am in tlie passage to the Heads. I therefore beach her on fine hard sand—a pleasing contract to the mud of the Waiuku—and carry her above high water mark, near some fine Pohntakawa trees. Having sighted a house as I passed, I made my way to it along the beautiful hard beach. The house, I found, belonged to Mr Hudson, asd from him and his jolly wife I received the regular New Zealand welcome ; although, I think, at first they too took me for an escaped lunatic. Their house ii most prettily situated at the foot of the high table land, which shelters them from the cold southwesterly breezes. They have just completed a most comfortable and commodious cottage, which they hope to let to visitors duriug the summer months, and I am sure that if the cottage is empty a week it will simply be because the delights and attractions of Awitu are unknown. A party could spend weeks there without tiring. In front, bordered by a fine hard beach, stretch the broad waters of the Manakau; not as I imagined it—a vast sandy waste at low tide—but a beautiful sparkling lake. To tho right is a fine sheltered bay, designed by Nature for boating parties, leading on to the Waiuku, where the oysterloving can t>et their fill of the excellent bivalve. To tho left, the frowning bush clad mountains of the northern shore of the Manukau, raise their peaks, separated from Awitu by the deep blue channel, leading to the bar. At the back, rise high red cliffs with hundreds of little nooks, where picnic parties could bivouac, or where spooney couples could »;ue for hours, undisturbed, into each other's eyes. Spoon ! Why at such a place the most flinty-hearted bachelor could not help mashing the very plainest girl. Along the beach the elders might look for shells, they wouldn't find any, or auy to apeak of, but they would get any amount of looking on a line IkiiJ beach. And then, for change, the thrifty minded might dig for gum on the top of the cliffs, n great place for gum, and get, at the same time, an unsurpassable view. Far way from the din of city life it is yet easy of success ; a steamer from Onehunga touching there several times a week. I fell in love with Awitu at once, and I recommend any one, jaded with town life or weary of the niODotony of inland country existence, to give Awitu a chanco of proving true all 1 have said in its favour.

I spent a pleasant evening examining specimens of gum dug near, learning a great deal of the life of a gumdigger, new and most interesting to me.

I listened too, with mixed feelings, to the narration of tales of unfortunates, who had been capsized and eaten by sharks in the waters of the Nanukau, with dismal prophetic references to my probable fate if I attempted, at any time but oa the valines t day, to cross to Ouehunga in my craft. Then I went to bed and dreamt I was being drowned ; then, that a shark was pursuing me and, all night long, the bed seemed to heave like a boat on a heavy swell, the result of my afternoon's tossing.

(To he continued.)