KERMADEC ISLANDS EXPEDITION.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13289, 5 December 1908, Page 6

KERMADEC ISLANDS EXPEDITION.

THE STORY OP ITS WORK.

(By Tom Ikedale.)

Xo. I.

(SPECIALLY WRITTEN VOR "THE PRESS."?

[This is the fret of x ceries ol articles, in which Sir Tom A. Ircd.'.'o, a member of the party of New Zealand scientists who spent nearly the whole of the current year on the Kermadecs, will describe the experiences o"f the expedition and tho reture of- its work and investigations.] As so much uncertainty exists, at least in the southern portion of New Zealand, as to the whereabouts of the Kennadec Islands, it may bo advisable to describe, at tho outset, the geographical position of the group. Tuo main, and only inhabited, island. Sunday, lies about 600 miles north-east of Auckland, and ac it was unon this island that the expedition spent the tsn months, not much need be said about the other islands included in the group. Macauley Island is about 70 miles direct south from Sunday, from the high land of -which it can. be seen in fine weather. It is almost circular, about one mile in. aiameter, and /uO feet in height. Curtis Island is over twenty miles south-west of Macauley, and is about one quarter the size, and about 'WO feet high. Fifty odd miles south of Curtis is a rock known as L'Esperance, which is considered the southernmost portion of tho group. Sunday Island is the crater of a volcano which, at~the time we were on it, was quiescent. The island is of volcanic origin, and, as has been shown from the researches of Messrs T. F. Chceseroan and S. Percy Smith, of comparatively recent origin. There are only two .landing places at present, one in Denham Bay on the w-csb coast, nnd the other at Fishing Hock on tho north coast. From, a study of plans of the island, wo had decided that the best camping place was on. tho north ©oast. It appeared from the map that wo would be able to more thoroughly explore the' island from that point than from Denham bay. We, therefore, intended to have our packages landed at Fishing Reck, but on acquainting Captain Eollons of this, ho dissuaded us from this view by pointing out the disadvantages he knew the place possessed from personal knowledge of the island. When we saw both landings we were, very pleased tiiat Captain Bollane had so advised us. Fromthe landing place in Denham Bay we had to convoy al>out ISO packages nearly one mile to tho camping place. Over hot loose sand and under a broiliriig sub-tropical sun this was no little matter. From tho Fishing Rock to tho nearest cam-Ding place- on the North Coast was, however, nearly two miles, and this route consisted of boulders Jlad our packages* been landed at Fishing Rock, some of them would still havo been there when, our etay was up. As soon as we were settled in Dcjiham Bay, it was found that a subsidinry camp was an absolute necessity on tho north coast. Previous to 1900 the only settlers on tho island had lived on that portion of the island, and we found the remains of , their houses. One of these we patched up and used fis a rendezvous whenever we were out working on the other side of the island.

SETTING UP CAMP. Before doing this we had to build permanent habitations in Denham Bay. The only available site- was about the middle of the bay, where a fairly large swamp lay between the s;ea and the cliffs, which rose almost perpendicularly to the height of about 1000 ft. By digging waterholes almost at the edge of this swamp a good supply of water was obtained at a depth of about €i£ht feet. At no other place in Denham Bay could water be found so near the surface. The only other method by which water could be collected was by storing rain water, and for this -wo had not sufficient vessels. The lack of water was the greatest •drawback wo had to contend with when conducting our exploration of the island. There were three lakes in the crater, two of large size, but the water was of a mineral character in two of them, one of them being almost undrinkable. Otherwise, though there were springs in the island, two of them were so situated that they were only visited once.

Having selected the position for our camp wo had at once to commence building operations. It was decided to erect one big whare wherein to store all such articles other than food, and also to bo used as a dining-room and working place. To this was attached a kitchen with a big chimney. A second smaller whare was built simply for sleeping in. It was then found necessary to build a third wharo to store all provisions to prevent depredations by rats. This whare was built on raised posts, which were encircled by a long piece of very smooth tin. This was called: by the Maori name of "nataka." These whares were all built on the same plan. The framework consisted of poutukawa saplings, and the covering was variously of rushes, banana leaves, nikau leaves, or toi-toi. It may here be noted that though Maori names were constantly used for plants, in the majority of cases the Kermadec Island plants wor» specifically distinct from the Xew Zealand ones known by tho same name. The saplings had to be cut out of the bush and carried over a quarter or half a mile of country not easily traversed. The banana- leaves were further dis-

taut, whilst the nikau was rarely used on account or the distance of the trees from the camp.. The rutshes had ail to bo cut out of the swamp, nnd as- tJiis meant wading in up to tho knees all day, it.w«s JfotJ exactly a pleasant job. When completed, the whares kept out aH tho rain, though they let in all the,|re6h£ air, no doors being used and , 'open, places for windows. During the -winter a -window was nwide up out of spoilt half-plate negatives, so tha-t on wet d-ays work ooald be done which needed a good light. " Whilst building these wlares we had to convey all our packages from tho landing "place to this oamp, so that progress was not so fast as might he anticipated from tho result®. As an instance, it took nearly a -week to build tho chimney and fireplace atone, and this was hurried, as wet weather sot in, and we oouH not keep a good fire going in the open. Having oonsploted our Deniham r«ay settlement, we out in order the homestwid on fhe north ooast. Tin's was roofcrl with iron, and spouting convoyed the rain water to two very tnn.ks, the only water supply available on that const. The skies wca-e, in this case, nikau, as there was plenty of this handy. MIjTTON-BTIipiNG. AYe had hardly findshed all this work when wo had to commence our nnittonbirdirtig operations. After nvuch discussion, it was decided that it would bo easier, and also better, to collect and preserve the birds on the north side. This necessitated the conveyance of a considerable amount of heavy appliances from Donhnm Bay, but the rosnilt justified our conclusions. The process that was followed was one that had been produced by years of actual experience by tho islanders. It. is a very complicated one, but the finished article is very superior to the New Zealand mutI ton-bird. This is mo inly due to tho ftict that the Kermadec Island mutton-bird is a very different bird, and has not the same habits, nor dors it consume similnr food to tho New Zealand mut-ton-bird. When th-s preservation of our year's supply of birds was complete* we wero free to devote all our enercies to the main objects of the expedition. • OBJECTS OF THE EXPEDITION.

Briefly, these were, to maKe collections of* the fauna and flora, study thegeok>Q7 of tho island, and take full meteorological observations. When collecting the fauna, -copious field notes were taken, so that th-s life history of as many of the forms as possible could be worked out, whilst tne study of tho flora was conducted from an ecological standpoint. It is necessary hert to reimrk thpfc previous to this expedition the only work done on the inland was the report on tho botany of the group by Air 1. F Cheeseman, after which he drew up" a 1!.,t of the birds frequenting the island. These were published in 18b9-01, and were the result of a few days observation when the New Zealand Government steamer Stella formally annexed the group in ISS7. .When treatiufcor the flora Mr Chce&eman noted that the plants generally were of superior growth to the same species grown in New Zealand. Consequently the ecolosical study of the plant life could not fail to produce items of especial value to N*»w Zeaiaud botanists. The study of the bird life >.vas endowed with much more than ordinary inteiest, due to the fact that one or several species of petrels resorted to the islands for the purpose of breeding on tho surface of tho gionnd. This surface breeding habit is almost unique in this order of birds, and in this caso is accompanied by peculiar habits_ and variability of coloration. This will be morn fully treated of in a separate article. - DIFFICULT TRAVELLING. • . The island, which we had intended to explore so thoroughly that we expected to know every i?nlly in it, we found most exasperatingly large to work, though so small to look at upon paper. It simply consisted of the .crater, of .a volcano, with two long spurs running, one to the north-west and the other to the south-west. The elopes outward were "nt into numerous inin< r spurs and gullies, whilst the inside of the crater was a mass o? gullies. Tn tho crater-were two large lakes, which had been active as recently as tho early seventies. The exact date is unknow.. but the nearest would appear to h* 1872. At the present time two bare patches show whore the most eovcre damage w.as done, and all rouud these tho scrub ib easily seen to bo. new, whilst dead, burnt trees can still be seen. At the end of the chief crater lake are holes, from which issue steam; and the water can be heard boiling at a distance of some yards. * Wo dug round one or these holes and converted it into a basin, wherein we boilod eggs, taro, and other vegetables. »

Although the crater tvu only about a mil? and a quarter across. in a straight line, it took the best part of three hours to hurry across it. TbK may convey some idea of the ruggednoss of the island, as a fair proportion of this traok was, comparatively speaking, good going. When bad gully country was got into the rate of progress was extraordinarily slot*. The country outside the crater was about as bad .as the "worst inside. It was very early in the year found necessary to get back to first principles'and. go barefooted for the purpose of negotiating tho so-called tracks over the island , . At first, roots projecting just above the surface of the ground caused much pain to the toes, whilst an orange thorn in the foot was most unpleasant. Many of tho tracks were impassable ■without aid from both hands, whilst deviation from tho tracks consistently caused trouble. _ There wa6, os it is understood in New Zealand bush, no undergrowth. Tho obstacles consisted of fallen trees. A huge troo with big and numerous branches would, fall across the track usually in a plaoo where it could not be dodged, and all the branches had to be climbed through. This occurred bo often that it was a very common saying, "Oh, by the way, there's a tree across the track in such a place." Small trees, of course, were cut out at once, but these big ones stayed. Perhaps worse than these trees were landslips. A track, saving half a mile of hard travelling, would have been made_ across the scene of a previous landslip. Heavy rains would cause another slip, wiping this track out of existence and prohibiting the formation of another near -that place for a long time. ; HOW THE SCIENTISTS WORKED AND LIVED. Thus, although we apparently had enough time to visit every place on the island, as a matter of fact, there aro hundreds of acres of land' that b:tvo never been trodden. We certainly did get over most of the island, and always made careful searchings, so that we anticipate we shall record the bulk of the land forms living on the island. Nevertheless, we found instances of extreme localisation of forms that caused us much misgiving. Although the island is so small, we could not go fax to collect or observe end return tho same day. Wβ had. therefore, always to make preparations for camping out at least on* night, though as often wo camped two. Wβ could never stay away longer, on account of the lack of water* In.-addition to water and food, wo usually carried a camera and collecting apparatus. Those who have worked heavy, bushy and hilly country will be best ablo to appreciate the work wo have done. Very rarely did anyone lea.vo camp with less than a twenty-eight-pound load on, an<l to get away in any direction the 1000 feet- cliffs had to bo climbed.

Out food whilst on tho island was mainly subtropical in nature. The staff of life wo made taro, in preference to bread and potatoes. This tropical food wo found, to be most eu&tainiDg,

palatable, <uid easily carried. Iα *&&&& tion, we had yams, kumeroe, and tjaralp nas, as well as almost every that can be grown in Konr The cooking bananas especially *ptiei&i«it ed to all of us, and theso, with ttaro Ig 'we're- our solo food for weeks at This was due to desire, not neeesfcffy ?> Thttonlv He*h ioods were TOutto»b&E~€ •and goats flesh. The former wero«» ; # staple, the latter a luxury. .V Wild goats wero fairly abundant r bat'""* it necessitated a full day to procured one, and often bare days resulted,-ftf*? due to lock of goats but scarcity "«fl animals fit to eat. W e could be harfV-'t called vegetarians, but we were clofielv i alhed. Fisli could be very <££& - : caught whenever the weather was calm *"• For almost six months, however Tt&nham Bay we were unable tct£sk ' - t so that we did not got tho ouantiO ¥ this food we had anticipated f rora. th» -* report* we had heard. ™.' During our stay of ten month, m -i the island we-only saw about \" dozen vessels and none called in Earl* ' ii the nineteenth century the island »" was used as a place of call by whaknT ' but it is now about three yea» - one ,ha» called. Som» o| the tteeis we sighted may have been whalers but Vi they never oamo near. The last boat- ' wo saw was a steamship, which cam* - ' quite close on the morning of OctoW " 27th. Just glancing at Denh&m B» ' -, she steamed hurriedly north. She iS. ' terest<yl us very much, and many irere the discussions concerning her purpose ' in thus tensing us. These w<;*» vu. ?■ tially dispelled by tho arrival of the Hinemoa on November 7th, and the 1 μ-s of the ill fated Loch Lomoni We then concluded it must havo ■ the Navua, but we have not yet tieUled this. ■, .: The early arrival of tfte Hin«n»» '■ gavo us a considerable amonit of he«TT ■<■ work at high pressure. We had to i pack all our specimens very carefojlv 'i for travelling and also to carry all the."" j boxes from our camp to the landing '•'S, place. As a matter of fact wo Tsere *i working from nbout half past four in ■> the morning 'until after ten in tho ert-n- -\ ing as it was full moon. This wae » fine finish up of our work. (To be Continued.)