NAPIER TO TARAWERA.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7803, 5 March 1891, Page 6

NAPIER TO TARAWERA.

The week following we were busy in preparation. We greedily waded through a whole library of literature dealing with the Taupo Zone, from ron Hpcbstetter , * learned volume to tbe latesc edition of Cook's " Guide." Russell, as one " who had seen the manners of many men and cities," and who had moreover been through the country before, was naturally looked up to as an authority on matter* of outfit and luggage. On some points, be was very emphatic; he especially Insisted on large umbrellas as a protection against the sun, and big nails in our boots to facilitate climbing. For the rest, provided these two things were attended to, the less you took with you the better. In fact, so extreme was he in his "no " luggage, theories that he reminded one forcibly of the tourist who carried as his only impedimentum an empty water-proof bag.

" What's the good of the bag ?" asked a friend when he saw him thus equipped.

"Why, when.it comes on to rain you take youc clothes off and shove 'em in. After the shower is over you've got a dry suit of clothes—see ?"

This seemed ingenious, yet the friend was still puzzled. "But what the dickens do you wear in the meantime-!""'' "Oh—a—you wear a smile— and asmile is always becomiug, you know." Russell did wear a smile, not to say" a grin, most of the time; but happily, fn the interests .of decency, he added a nan uetauit. After a pleasant trip up the coast and overland from Wellington through the Manawatu Gotge we arrived at Napier, and put up at the Criterion, preparatory to leaving by the Monday coach, Napier is not a very lively town in these days. Now that the sea wall is completed it can certainly boast of a very fine "Marine Parade;" but the houses along it are, with a few notable exceptions, such miserable affairsr-conaisting of cottages with broken down fences, relieved here and there by a dirty stable—that they detract considerably from the pleasure of the view to seaward. However, on the hills are some Sretty gardens and villa residences, and a rive there on the Sunday proved very enjoyable. ' ..-■-. On Monday morning at 6.30 we left for Tarawera by one of Crowther and Macauley's coaches. Tarawera is the name of the village which forms the terminus of the first day's coaching, and is not to be confounded with Tarawera . Lake and volcano—two days' journey further on. For a very moderate , extra charge we'had secured a ," special;" but the ordinary coach wi(h six or seven passengers left at the same time so that we had company on the road. Mr S. Crowther, one of fhe proprietor*, drove ue and proved a aicullul and careful whip, and a pleasant comoariion to boot. After driving over Scf nde Island, as hills and. flat on which Napier stands, are called, we crossed the long Pefcane Bridge, and then came a monotonous spit of loose sand and shingle stretching across the harbour. We saw nothing of interest here except the bold head and some oUhe wreckage of theiuniortunate vessel Northumberland. Petane is a pretty little village; but the approach to it is unhappily not pleasant; lor an enterprising firm have erected soap worKs in the vicinity, and as the wind was blowmiles through the beautiful Petane (Bethany) Valley, we came to* thaflftt ford of the river Esk. For several hours the road lies along the bed oi this river and we crossed it and its tributary .the Manga-kopi-koplko (a name the driver gave us in instalments), no less than forty; seven times. This part of the journey Is not very interesting, except an occasional pretty patch of fern along the banks of the riveT, there is nothing tedium of the scenery. As we were about to cross the river for the- IMB time, we noticed two feroclous-lookioK j swaggers seated on the bank, Aae ? j were on their way to Napier, and ! had just crossed Manga &c Number 1. They were evidently new to the road ; tor, to our great amusement, they were lacing up their boots which they had taken off to ford the river. One could imagine the;iou • All rights reserved.

creasing chagrin they would experience as they came to each new ford; and the steady crescendo Iα their expletives ; and we could not help speculating as to what was the nth ford at which they would go through the operation of unlacing before resolving to wade through, boots and all. Their fierce appearance seemed to fill Mrs Russell with mild apprehension. "Suppose they were bushrangers!" she ex61almed. We assured her that buahransring, like tnoa-hunting was among the extinct professions in New Zealand; but the remark drew from Russell the following bushranging story: ".You have heard, of course, of Burcess and his gang. That man had the stuff of real greatness in hioi, but unhappily fate wu«? . nlm a vlU *ln Instead of a hero. While In gaol in Neteon he wrote an account of some of his adventures, and in it he tells t hie story. He had just broken out of gaol in Victoria, and was travelling on foot through the bush when he met a trooper mounted on a superb animal. This was the very thing to suit him, and concealing himself behind a log on the roadside, he waited for his man. When he came up Burgess suddenly covered him with his pistol. •• If you more a muscle except to dismount I'LL shoot you." The trooper's face twitched fora moment, then in a husky but tirm voice came the reply, " I've been mounted nigh on thirty years—shoot." It was too much even for Burgess. " By— you're a game 'un ; stick to your mount then and ride to —— on him," and the trooper rode on unmolested.

After gettiug out of the Esk riverbed the road ascends gradually till you reach the top of a plateau, and then after a few miles more you come fco Pobui. Here the coach stops for an hour or so, horses are changed and the passengers have luncheon. The accomodation house has a somewhat unpromising exterior; it is in fact merely a long, ramshackle shanty ; but inside we found a pleasant cool room and a homely but appetising meal. In the afternoon the road lie-i, for the tirat part of the journey, through a pretty bush, and then winds up the slope to Titiokura, to a height of about 2400 feet. From thispoint.an extensive view is obtained ; and as it was a beautifully clear day we had our last look at the Napier hills, the bay and Cape Kidnappers in the distance. The descent from. Titiokura id the most difficult part of the Ifaupo road ; for, not only is the grade very bad in places but the curvosat eat limey 'unpleasantly sharp. The worst of them have been improved lately, in that the road has been widened by six or eight feet; but even as it is some of them are so abrupt that you completely lose sight of your leaders before the coach itself begins to turn. The last part of the descent Is the notorious Mohaka cutting. When you have retched the bottom and look up at the precipice rising sheer above you—• almo-it perpendicular —with the narrow cutting zlg-zagglug down the face of it, your only thought is one of wonder how you ever managed to come down * it, or better, perhaps, of gratitude to the fates for landing you ac the bottom with your neck unbroken. It is this, cutting that has acquired such a bad name from accident there some five or six years ago. The leaders at one corner were turned too soon, and down the coach rolled. The only passenger who escaped death or serious injury was a Maori. It seems that on the top of the 'plateau the team bolted for about three miles, and the wary native, having no desire to win notoriety by breaking his neck, jumped out of the coach and did the descent on foot.

At the foot ot the hill flows the Mohatra, now spanned by a good bridge. Oα the other side Che coach stopped .for a few minutes; the horses were refreshed with bucketful* from the river, while we were extravagant enough to indulge in beer at half-a-crown a small bottle at a small shanty, dignified with the name of " Mohaka Hotel." We had now come to the pumice country, the white, breakable stuff crumbling into a light dust, that made travelling somewhat unpleasant. In the side of the pumice cutting could be seen here and there pieces of charred wood, buried there, doubtless for ages, and originally ourned with charcoal perhaps at a time when the pumice was red hot. The road now ascends again for several miles up the lofty Turanga—Krnnu ("Sitting Upright. ) These hills will one day be a favourite resort of sportsmen. We saw several pheasants rise as we drove along, And Crowther told us that the country abounds in wild turkeys and peacocks, and that further to the westward there are a good many kiwis. At the top of the hill is a small Maori settlement. Here the coach stopped for a moment at the bidding of a handsome damsel, gaily attired in a scarlet petticoat and orange bodice, with masses >of shining black hair falling over her shoulders. She gave a letter to the driver to be deli/erea at Taupo. It was addressed in a well-formed, and even stylish angular hand to " Rupi te Rangi," some dusky swain doubtless, who had won her heart. We expressed some admiration for the hand writing; the driver remarked that the Maoris are usually very expert with pen and peucil, and to prove his statement he showed us a small drawing of a stag's head which be carried in hitj packet book. It was accurate in outline and skilfully shaded, and was the work of a Maori lad living in one of the settlements along the road The natives indeed possess intelligence and a' capacity for receiving culture far above that of any other aboriginal races in (the world, and quite equal to that of the Average European. But educate them and civilize them how you will, the instincts of generations assert themselves, and at the first opportunity most of them go back to tlie old pa life. Hence arises the anomaly that you may meet a young girl who has a good English education, possess perhaps some accomplishments besides, ia a good musician ' and an adept; with her pencil, and yet elects, when she leaves school, to go back to her native pa and share a whare with pigs and plccanii nles, dogs and fleas. - " That same fact comes some times ac an unpleasant surprise to the uninitiated," I Russell remarked. " A good irniny years ago I was travelling on Batiks' Peninsula, I and when passing a pa near Port Levy, I saw a girl much like the one we've just i met; shoeless aud hatless, digging up potatoes in a paddock by the roadside. I didn't know the. country and wanted to make some enquires. She looked pretty intelligent so I thought that by the aid of signs and gibberish I might make her follow my meaning. I went np to her, '•Haeremai,"l began, thinking I would start with something she could understand ; and then very appropriately I asked her in pigeon English the way to Pigeon Bay. . • ■ , She didn't answer, and her face assumed a peculiar expression not unlike contempt; that's how the Maoris look when they are puaaled. thought L I tried again with more signs, " You makey tell mc road to Pigeon Bay ?" This time there was no mistaking the expression on her face; jifter "taking roy measure" with a look of great scorn, with a perfect accent she replied, ,k I beg your pardon, but don t you think you had better speak English ? I have not made the same mistake since. • For several miles the road now rune through bush, scattered and stunted. Then, after we had crossed the highest point in the. road, Tupurupuru— iome 8000 feet above sea leveland had begun the descent, at a turning in the road there suddenly opened on our view the most magnificent prospect the eye could wish to rest upon. Stretched in a grand panorama.Before yoa as the coach rushes down the mountain side yoii ccc peak on peak, valley on valley, with the tortuous white line of the road winding like nent till you lose 1C in the distance. Wittt its rapid interchange of cliff and glen and Bla!n;there is a power and a charm in the landscape you instinctively recognise. There rise the fern-chid hills, throwing their cool shadow* over the valleys ; there the rata, the rirau, and the taua rear their heads skyward; and over all the enchanted scene, the cloudleis heaven with its arch of serenest blue. iar away, where the village of Tarawera can be aneu —a mere white specie in the distance —the varied colours and features of the landscape seem to mingle and lose themselves in the soft, purple haze. No words can describe the delight, the exhilaration you experience as you view the scene, and seem to pass through •• An ampler ether, a diviner air. „ And fields Invested with pnrpurealgleams. So beautiful was the prospect, and so intent were we on the enjoyment of 16, that we did not even notice that the road at this part is anything but a pleasant one for **" rm !* t peavle to travel. In the course of about three miles, the driver informed us, you descend about 1000 feet; and the grade in parts Is as bad as it can be. Hence passengers who make the mistake of looking at the road instead of at the landscape, occasionally haye a bad quarter o2 an boor—especially if they are on the bos. Crowther told us that they sometimes got so carried away with fright that they lost their heads, and would grab hold of the reips. He had even had to rap their knucklee with his whip handle to make them let co. and he was not unfrequently oblieid to order the ladies on. the box to go inside. Such people must be ao end of a nuisance to a driver, and we asked him whether he wasn't very hard put to it at times to avoid profanity.