IN THE WAKE OF A WHALE.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13108, 6 May 1908, Page 6

IN THE WAKE OF A WHALE.

THE WILD WEST COAST. (SPECIALIST FOR "THE PRESS. , ') By Edgau R. Waite, F.L.S.. Ccratoii, Cantebboby Musextm. (Concluded.) On Sunday morning we started off for a point six and a half males to the northw-aTd of Okorito, and ascended a bluff known as Oommissioroer'e Point. Looking down to the beach, we saw what resembled a largo vessel bottom upwards. This waa the whale. No words of mine can convey the slights est idea of tho enormous mass spread before us. You may stop out 87 feet, but you cannot realise tho bulk of the creature. It proved to be a cow whale, and is lying on its back; its lower jaw therefore is uppermost. This olono measures 22J feet in length and is 11 J feet across, the thickness of wliich caiULot bo spanned by both arms. The tail is lying flat on the sand, and the flukes measure 21 feet across.

Some of the blubber bad boon ou-t avvey, and ,thc oil saturated the Bond' all around. The effect of this was very noticeable on the breakers. Far from the vicinity of the whalo they were smoothed down, and an. attempt to wash the hands in the tea only resulted in adding a littlo more oil to them. The whale liad been lying on tho beach for two weeks when we first saw it, co tlsere was another noticeable' and memorable feature in coi>nection with it. I canrxt say at what distance the odour of dead whaAe •was apparent, but it was confidently predicted that both Mr Sparkes and tinyself would lose our toreakf asta, as others had done, but we proved: to be superior to such a -trifle.

The next and subsequent days were spent jilongsido the whale, and much labour was expended., in trying to notluee. the bulk of tho cretaturo. Attention was espedialy directed to outting away, the flesh on the lower jaw, and the beach was strewn with masses eacih as large as an ox, and! then but half, or less, bad , been removed. On© of our tirst 'efforts was'to identify the wlna-lc, ami its characteristics were so apparent that wo had smalt difficulty in recognising it as tho Blue Whale. (Balumoptera musculus). This species has a fin on the back, though wo could not see it in tho specimen, and its throat and belly are deeply grooved, reminding one much pi corrugated iron. It is a whalebone whale, but wo ascertained, after much trouble, that all the "bone" had gone. My opinion is that the whalo had been dead some time before it was cast on to tho beach, and that as tho flesh rotted away tho baleen (or whalebone) was washed out. This was a sad loss to tho mon, for they nad an offer of £100 for the alone. Largo scars on tho body~sh~owecl whore barnacles had been, but the animals had all dropped off when the host died. The question was raised as to how the huge .creature died, and the only answer seems to be, old ago. It is, of course, possible that tho baleen had dropped out much as old peoplo lose their teeth, and that the whalo died of starvation. I should imagine, however, that the whalebone was lost after death.

As before mentioned, our object in setting out for the whale was to socuro the skeleton for the Museum, but under tho circumstances in which we found ourselves, this proved to bo impossible. Whale's flesh is exceedingly tough, and.absolutely no^tools wore to bo obtained, excepting an old hay knife, which, however, did remarkably good service. It-could-be used by but one man at a time, and' several would be required for earnest work. Then there was the labour question. Veryfew men were available, and as they were.earning good wages at the flax and timber mills, thero was evident disinclination to leave such work to out up whale, notwithstanding an. offer of increased remuneration.

It appeared, howovor, to bo merely a question of money, and after our return to Christchurch negotiations were renewed. In this connection I must cay that tho chairman of the Museum Board met my representations in a very liberal spirit, and I bau" high hopes ot recovering tlio specimen. It is not necessary tor mc to detail tho -nature of tho subsequent megotiaV tionis ; 1 may tihereforo merely chronicle my intense regret that tho project has been, perforce, abandoned. The skeleton of this whalo would hav-s been asighit of the Dominion, and a_ vivid testimony to the magnitude of Nature's haadiiwork. I cannot now sa v whether tihe homes wild be secured to whiten on the Okarito strand, or whether tho eoa will be allowed to claim and,keep them for over. To Mr James W. Thomson, harbourmaster at Okaxito, we desire to record our appreciation, not only for giving us much local information, but oJso for assisting -to make our sojourn in ttho district ac plcasamt as possible. As may be gathered from tihe foregoing, I (had not intended to write further, and, indeed, I: have nothing more to say about the whale. Wo cannot claim to havo experienced adventures as numerous or as startling as befell the celebra.ted "Baron Munchausen'," but, as we discovered later, neither our pleasures nor troubles wore at an end.

As previously Toiated, we nod spent three days in the company of the •unhale, and m this timo we hod 'thoroughly debated ways and means; had measured, photographed, cut into, and examined tho' animal from all available points of view. The next question was, therefore, how to'return to Christciburch, Tlhe onJy couree open ■yas, in the first sUge to go by coach which leaves Okarito on Saturdays. Till is, therefor©, left us two and a half days to fill in, ko wo decided to visit tho Franz Josof GJnoior. only twelve miles out of our direct course. The glacier has beem so fully described and illustrated, that it would bo out of place for mc to attempt to picture it here. I may say, however, that our visit proved moat instructive. Though one may have a fair knowledge- of glaciers and their action from reading and the examination of specimens of rocks collected by others, no idea can possibly be formed of the rrrodisrious mass, weieht and nower of the ice; how'it moulds its&lf to tho shape of the main and lateral valleys, how it cute away obstacle* and carries,in its clutcihrer tons of solid matters, rasped off in its irresistible downward course, aye. and upward too, for tho mass behind, six or seven, miles in length, presses onward with such f-orce that the ice in front has to travel up-hill in places, when enormous btickhng and cracks are produced. The terminal face of the .glacier is constantly falling'down, into the river . below, which, in eum- | m«r. is a roaring \orrent, hurlinjr along huge, males' of ice. "Wherever one c;oes on- the ice it- is eeeu in a continual state of drip, drip, drip; these drips from streams, which frej quently pierce the ice through hunj dreds of iteet to join the river v rushing bejieat/h. Avala-nohea of ke dre continually occurring, caused by the undermining of some enormous pin- : nacle or arch, inevitably doomed to disappear. *Fhe pides ol tho glacier i are no jmderinined' that one caa look j under for many yards, and sooner or [ later the &nperincum:bent mass lose 3 Lite support and •cooks* crashing down. rocks and stones are

constantly occurring at the lateral and terminal faces, and those "form the features geologically known as moraines. ; In winter the fall of snow replenishes the amount lost by the melting sun of summer, but it -would seem that the supply is not to-day equal to tho loss, forj if I read certain evidences aright, tho glacier was at one time much more extensive eren than at present. One generally understands that a | glacier moves extremely slowly, but in places favourable to its motion this ifl by no means the case. In one lateral valley the ice is travelling, 60 I was told, at the rate of a foot and a hall per day, and the great masses of ice ■which were pointed out to us as baring fallen during the past two months would fully substantiate the statement. Quite recently it was possible to get on to the ice from the terminal face but this now presents a vertical wall, probably 150 feet in height, so that it is necessary to travel round the edge of the glacier for 2 or 3 miles. This would be impossible but for. the path which has been constructed, tho -work of Mr Peter Hende, jnr., and his staft. It is an admirable piece of road engineering. In places a narrow gangway hugs tho side of an immense clitt, and this could only be erected by aid of a platform hung in ropes from a dizzy height.. At one place the "creep" of the glacier above referred to threatens to overwhelm one of the gangways, and indeed part of tho glacier has been dynamited and further removal will apparently be necessary at no very distant date. To the geologist, a visit to the glacier is a practical lesson of the highest valuo, and the casual visitor would be well advised to read up tho subject of glaciers beforehand, otherwise it would I bo to him a mere field of ice, tholes- j sons it teaches being lost. No after roading would recompense for tho neglect, because tho essential features not having been looked for, would have been unnoticed. Quite near to the foot of tho glacier I had a dip in a hot spring, from which a cloud of steam arose, condensed by the cool air from the ice stream. We left the glacier by coach on Saturday, February 29th, and counted on being in Christchurch on Monday evening, but—and one can hardly pass hero without recalling Burns's worda aoout "mice an , men"—our adventures were not yet at an end.' Early in the day wo met an old man on horseback, and as tho roads are very narrow, some little manoeuvring was necessary. Unfortunately a hook on the swingle-tree of the coach caught the rider's stirrup, and both the man and the horse, wore thrown to tih© ground, the animal lying on the man's legs. When cleared, the old man, who was over seventy years of age, got np saying, 'Tm not hurt; I'm all right." Then, and at tho time it seemed very ludicrous, ho pulled out of his pocket a fla6k and offered it to the driver. The latter declined, and suggested that the old fellow was more in need of a drink, but Kβ pocketed fne flask again unopened, and saying, "I'm all right," Went after his horse. During tho nightj where we stayed at Bonder's ferry, rain fell in torrents, and next morning the river had risen between four and five feet, and was pronounced to be' impassable. Steady rain in tho daytime and torrential downpours at night, to tho accompaniment of thunder-storms kept tJie river up until the following Wednesday, wiien it fell as suddenly as it had risen, but was still said to be too dangerous to cross. However, some Government land surveyors, who were cycling, essayed to cross in the ferry, and arrived safely on the further side, - after a tumultuous voyage. This placed the mailman on his mettle for he did not like the idea of not doing what others had done. The crossing proved to be a much, more eerious matter than I had imagined. The passengers crossed without "mishap under tho skilful pilotage, of Mr Harold Hende, who made five journeys in the .email punt. The trouble occurred with the horses, which were repeatedly driven into the suiging water, but though pelted with various missiles, -they again and again refused to face the deep water. Finally the lot, nine in number, were driven across, but some of them, which emerged a quarter of a mile further down the stream, were greatly exhausted and their legs had Buffered oy contact with tho stones driven along the bed of tho stream. Two dogs, which plunged into the seething waters after their masters, had a long, rough swim, and, being light, were carried a rery long way down the river, but, swimming all the way, they had escaped the pelting of the stones, and awpr a good shake they trotted off notfe the worse for their long immersion in the icy water. - . • And so we had crossed the big Wanganui in flood and all were glad; the only -regret I heard esproseed was' that the Minister of Lands had not shared thb experience, ''for then," eaid the Westlanders, "he would have eeen how much we require a bridge." This flood is the worst experienced for twelve months, and as heavy rain fell in tho evening it is probable that we should have been further delayed had we hot crossed on Wednesday. We staved the night at Boss, thence took coach next morn-i-ng to lluatapu and train io Hokitika. Wβ traveLkjd from Hokitika to Qv&ymouth in tihe guard's van of a luggage 1 train, after Oiaving signed o form of indemnity. Advantage was taken of the frequent amd Jong stoppages «<n route, incidental to shunting, to hop from the train and gather blackberries, enormous bushes of which line, not only the railroad, but afeo all the highways over which we travelled in Westland. My efforts to secure examples of the New Zealand grayling pro-red unavailing, though at cmc time, 1 was toM, this fifih was abundant in all tihe districts wo traversed. There ifl little doubt tihat the grayling is iv«uig pxtermina.ted by the introduced trout, and or© long it will be ouvmbered among the erer-increasing category of extinct forms extinguished by the agency of man. A belated attempt ie being mado to set back the time whe>n the place at present ocdnpied by active birds will bo tieurped by aliens, but not evein an attempt is made to preserve our native fishes. Surely eoroe suitable lake could be found, sacred from the wiles of tlhe angler, whero native fishes could be placed and protooted from the Tavagoe of introduced enemies. Tiie grayling is one.of Hha most interesting of our fishes, and is c near relative of the trout itself, the common presence of the adipose or f3*ty fin on tho hack being patent to all. The family to which tba grayling belongs has a eout&ern distrxbwtdon. Representatives in Tierra del Fuego and tho Falkland Islands are naked, but the Australian cund New Zealand fonce bane the body covered with Eoafos, like the trout itself.

The types of fresh-water fishes, the distribution of which support tie theory of a foraner Antarctic land connection, are comparatively few. The clahns rf one g^nue—Galaxies—have been eeriouely weakwicd by 4he <licovery that aovoral specaee pass part of ■ttcir ]iv<e in lie teat ■ The only remaining New ZeaJand types, therefor©, axe the torrcmit fish (of which I reocnitly gave com© account in these .columns), the kmprey, and the gray-