THE ALUM GAVE AT ORAKEI KORAKO.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7830, 7 April 1891, Page 2

THE ALUM GAVE AT ORAKEI KORAKO.

That path they take that beaten seemed most

■ bare ■ . < ■ > And like to load tbe labyrinth about: - Wnich .When by tract they hunted had throuchAt lehßth It brought thorn to a hollow cave. -■r\ ...* —FAERY QUBJENH. It is usual for ■**. through tourists" X J spend only one day In Taupo and it* vlcinitv. "This becomes necessary if you are-traVelling by the mail coach, as there is only one day's break in the journey. But if have a special and can arrange your own times, three or four days can be spent With profit in this part of the district? "TheTaupo people are themselves largely responsiole for the scant justice usually done to -c the attractions of the locality. The lake is beautiful; there are many spots well worth a visit round its shores ; yet a day's yachting very rarely enters into, the tourist programme. At Orakei Xorako, 2»to 25 miles from Taupo there is an exceptionally acUve geyser region and an alum cave Ot great beauty: yet so rarely is it visited and so little i* known about it that even the Eeople at the hotel and at the stables, who aye spent years in the district, could tell us nothing. They had: vague notions about a difficult bridle track, and they knew you had to cross the Waikato at a 'nasty place,.but whether by fording or Canoeing they could not say. The fact that only two or three tourists a year visit the alum cave made us exceptionally keen on going, otherwise the gloomy accounts the Taupo people gave us or the prospects of the trip would certainly have deterred us. AS it was we refused to credit their account/and concluded that lt w*stheold story of omneignotumpro magmfico. And the events of the day proved; the justice of the conclusion. We wore determined at any rate to spend three days in Taupo Instead of one, and the first of these we equally determined should be spent in a visits to tbe Alum Cave. Accordingly, on the morning after our arrival, in *pite of the vigorous protestations of Stevens that bis early rising was ruining his constitution, we assembled for breakfast at six o'clock. At the last moment Mrs Russell decided not to be of the party, as she feared the journey would 1 be too fatiguing. Russell and Stevens therefore started off In a double seated bu-igy* with Brady driving a team of three. It was a clear bracing day ; and we w#r© -in excellent humour. Indeed thero are but few pleasures in Ufa superior to that of tooling over fine country at? a spanking pace with a good driver and a good .team. Stevens, however, thought there Was one pleasure greater —that of handling the ribbons himself. Although Russell demurred on the ground that he would like to take a final leave of his relatives before trusting himself to the tender mercies of the amateur, Stevens was, eventually, allowed to assume the command, As It was his first experience with a " Unicorn," and as the road was a bit V billowy" he had enough to do to manage it. But if he didn't startle the party by any striking exhibition of skill he at least afforded them do small amusement by nisi' amateurish efforts to ** nick files off the leader's car," and to carry out Brady's re peated instructions to '* Keep your team together, sir," "Down with your brake," " Your leader rein uppermost," and many other learned maxims. However, he seemed well pleased with his own efforts if no one else was; ahd he tipped the driver < liberally for his lesson. As he philosophically averred "he never objected to- making a fool of himself so long as it amused somebody." .- "Judgingby the artistic way yoo get your whip round that axle, and the dexterity with which you tie your team in a knot I should say you'll be a second Ned Devine one of these days." - "And Who was he pray T ' *• What, have you never beard of feed? He was che finest whip that ever tooled a team on a bad road in New Zealand. And he had to perfection a quality I, above all thing* admire, ia adriver; he was as completely boss of his coach—no matter what "the rank:or Importance of his passengers, as a c&pHain is of bis vessel, or w until these latter days when Maritime Councils have taken the command out of hia hands. I remember hearing how on one occasion he gave a very emphatic proof-of this: he was driving a coach in Otago, and one day, just as he was picking up his j passengers, a florid, bejewelled man, with I an amusingly pompous manner, proposed to join the coach. He must have the box seat he declared. ' "* , " Beg pardon sir," said Ned, "Mk the box is exgaged." , _ ?iwßngi»«ed* ehsirl Whateirr I want the box," and bis florid face grew more florid and Jaia pomposity more pompous. "Very sorry, but yon can't have it.;

Hurry up and get inside, sir; I can't watt.** "How dare you refuse mc the neat,, fellow I Do you know who lam 1 [" and thej buttons on his waUtcoa* thowed signs of* 8 " J-o,Ycan't say Idp,? «*M Ned very drily, as he lightly flicked a fly with his whip. "Sir," came the answer s-'I »*B the Minister of Public Works 1" This was said in such a way as to be a .perfect ** squelcher" for the audacious Ned, but all ne said was :— "Are you now ? Well, it's a vary good billet—stick to It. Gee up!" and with a crack of his whip he rattled off leaving the Infuriated minister fuming In the middle of the road." , . At a distance of about twelve miles from Taupo we came to- the point where we had toleAve the RoWrua road, and strike off across country to tho north. Here we drew the buggy off the road, took the hones out and after substituting saddle; for harness wa mounted and rode off. The change in the method of locomotion proved agreeable enough though our gear was somewhat primitive. We had to stop again and again to mend our stirrup leather or to patch up the reins with flax. The pace was sot of the best, for the track is overgrown with high fern and sometimes lies through dense shrubberies of sweetbriar. As the branches met on a level with our faces the ride if exhilarating to the general system was not likely to improve the complexion. In fact as brauch after branch of the prickly stuff slammed into our faces, and drew blood, we did not feel at all grateful to the early missionaries who are responsible for the spreading of sweetbriar over tbe country; but as it was in bloom the beauty of It to some extent made amends for the inconvenience.

After traversing some ten to twelve miles of this country, we came In sight of our old friend the Walkato again. The descant to it was to Stevens tbe most troublesome part of tbe journey, for, as he was but little better in the saddle than on tbe box, he soon found that when your horse's back is at an angle of seventy, it requires some ingenuity to keep your centre of gravity in the proper place. At the foot of the bill is a small Maosi settlement. We saw very, few natives about; one whare, however, we found inhabited. Its dimensions were about 12ft by Bft; vet out of tbU cabin there Issued tho following procession:—A wahine, between thirty and forty years old; a young girl of about sixteen; a club-footed child; one elderly sow; one boy of thirteen or fourteen; two dog. ; one little girl with a terrible squint; three little " porkers "; while a scrofulous infant and one more sow brought up' the rear ; doubtless too a large contingent of light skirmishers iv the Shape ot fleas formed a fringe to the procession; these were tnI visible, but as we soon found, not intangible. This description Is transcribed verbatim from a note made on the spot; we have been thus careful about the details, because it seemed to us not without significance. Not only on this occasion, but on every other when we came In contact with the Maoris we were gainfully struck with the large proportion ot diseaseed and deformed among tho children. Bandy-legs and clubbed-.eet are extremely common; while the number of children we saw everywhere suffering from loathsome scrofulous diseases was appalling. Here, at Mokoia, Ohlnemutu, Whakarewarewa, and Waiotapu*—lt was everywhere the. same—the afflicted and diseased seemed almost to outnumber the strong and healthy. Truly it looks as though the time is not far distant when the last of their race will join his dead tipunas In the far-off Never never-land away beyond Beluga; and the pakeha i will be left in undisputed possession of the land of the Maori and the Moa. But the profuse aud hearty welcome of the wahine did notallow time forffuch reflections. She kindly offered to cook some kai far us, to be ready on our return; but as what we had already seen did not incline us to make experiments in Maori cookery, we preferred to carry our pro vender on to the Alum Cave and enjoy our own luncheon there. We declined our friend's offers with thanks therefore, aud merely got Brady, who speaks Maori fluently, to arrange for a guide and a canoe. We found . that the husband was away; but his son, a lad of about fourteen was wllllngtotake us across for the moderate charge of six shillings ahead—five for canoeing and one for guiding. Having tethered our horses, therefore, we made our way by a track through the manuka scrub down to the bank. Tho Maori ladies, both mother and daughter, were very lively and full of simple merriment, The young ode was coy as became her years; but the mother was hot backward in making eyes at our driver, as we could see, and exhibited in all their perfection the arts of a ballroom flirt. The combination of unblushing coquetry, naive Simplicity, and bare 'legs was highly diverting. The river at this point i. over a hundred yards wide and lb rushes along with a swift and angry current. . The canoe Brovids4 was on. th« usual Robinson rusoe pattern—the trunk of a tree hollowed out. It was very small, and the bbyde-liried to take more than one at a time. From exposure to tbe sun it looked cracked and unseaworthy; moreover, there was a good deal of water in the bottom, and as we did not care to lose time in tipping or bailing her we made the best,of it by laying some tea-tree branches In her to sit on. With a youngster of fourteen to paddle and pilot, a crazy caooe, and an angry river, it seemed likely that feh© crossing would be the least pleasant part of the journey. However. Russejl got in and packed his two hundredweight away as snugly as he could In the bottom of the narrow canoe. Seating himself in the stern, and propelling her with a blade-shaped paddle about three feet long, the boy began the transit. Ie was obvious that If the canoe capsi&ed in mid-stream it would take a strong swimmer to reach tho shore in such a I current The boy, however, was thoroughly j at home iv the business, and managed \ with great skill to keep her broadside on to the current, and though ie | took him come hundred yards down j stream, he reached the opposite bank iv safety. Russell has a weakness for getting Into water—whether hot or cold— and according to habit got out of the canoe, not on to dry land, but into the river up to hia waist.. The accident, however, had no other effect on our phuosofihical friend than to make him unchariably anxious tbat bis companions should enjoy the same experience. In this happily he was disappointed. When we bad all got over, the boy, who, like all Maoris, was most courteous and obliging —shouldered our kit and began the ascent up a very steep Sinter slope. It resembled In colour ana substance the lost Pink Terrace; down it ran & stream of hot water; the siliceous deposit from which' doubtless accounted for the formation of the terrace, For about* three hundred feet we struggled up this elope, getting some assistance now and then from tho manuka scrub which grows along the edge of it. After wo had !* negotiated "V the Slater ©lope, a little more climbing brought na to the tap of the hill, the ground here resembled that round the paddle wheel at Joshua's; a hot volcanic crust perforated holes through w hlch jets of steam issued. As usual, the tea-tree fiouri.h-d--or rather md flourished he?e—for a fire had burnt the foliage off, ©»d the whole of the top of the iduSresanted a black and charred appearance. This did not seem a very promising prospect, but after walking for about a Quarter of a mile through this kind of cod-try we suddenly came upon the alum cave* The change was aa sudden aa the most startling transformation scene in a Drury Lane pantomine. In feet ** theatrical " was the first adjective that occurred to our minds aa descriptive bf It, and we I could not help thlnkiog with what de--1 light *' Augustus Drurlolanus" would have viewed the scene, and' to what startling and proflt&hle ttshe would have put ie ueie Christmas. In the middle of a face of black and charred hill—_ veritable devil's sere— you came upon a seen® from. Fairy land. The mouth of the erne Is an arch about thirty feet high by the same width ; from this the cave descends like a great shaft to la depth of about 120 feet st a slops of I 45deg, These are the measurements a* estimate by Ru»seil at the time and jotted down in his note book; a subsequent com- ! parish with the actual dimensions as taken by MrCusseothe surveyor, proved them to be approximately true io every ease; a t&cfc over which RusseMUof eoui-ae, crows with much »atisf action. Mr Ca me a also statto that the width of the cave inside is forty-two feet, the greatest height sixty-four. These are tbe * mathematics of the situation; a much more dunc-lt task is it to describe Its artistic aspect, A short distance dowu the slop* grow three magnificent tree-ferns, their umbrella-ilke crowns forming two arches through which you view th© sceu© hf-ovv. With the slanting rays at the inn behind you. w we SiM&owl-glfcs light down into the cave and reflected from its vari-coloured arched roof into the clear green pool ac the bottom, the effect was singularly beautifuL Nature seems to have concentrated her best effosta on thi* particular spos, and she has been prodigal la her bounty. Ihe roof present/* study Iv colour tbatwould delight an artist Bed, mauve aad brown;

white, grey and black; ajTl^^ s ** ahades of green and blue blend ffl? a Ws imitate. The slope of tho cave iW *«» t*i?h apha <r Ard Wocks of ro c ki re,? « ■ *??i t _ rl ~en anew that mmt !! hlt «* At the bottom ia a warm poolo? «* ?•*•*«, ta}. clear green-such a poj <t\H might in whoa Acteon.- 01 - ---*J c?*, But like every other f ea tJ_« a S "w In its character, too; for■ ff n 7 of tho pool a cavity open* Into th_ Q la -» from which come mysterioun ik f noises Indicative of soVo fl ceedinK in tho hollows of t oe M_ti? rk *a_* attempted to enter Ifc, but w#2\i_,*» back b> the sulphurous, stihaehlA** uncanny sugge.tions of th_°piS2S> ever, did not detract from itr, p ßA.**e**We could have lingered f5 houij fi n 3 our eyes upon the scene; th?S% tempered as It passed through _!__••»*• of the ferns, playing on t_a,*s*-**■•«• shaded roof, or reflected parent green of tho pool. Truly ij 6 m * ■!*£■ wlldomoss of 9w«eta. for \'at-n»_ _ Wanton'd ai i. her prlmo; lvi {£?>» Her virgin fancies, PouriugfortSm*^ 6 Wild above rule or art, onortaou,^*^