Magic in the Air

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22111, 5 June 1937, Page 4 (Supplement)

Magic in the Air

As Helen stood In the garden at imaware at a strange presence lushing in die shadows. was in the air. _ All toe iffatM was on tiptoe waiting. The Midi were still, toe flowers were flwwiinir, but toe stars shone rtinn ever before. Sud* denjythe curious spell of enchantfnent that seamed cast over toe Shadowy garden was broken by a aiwT rnaidftn She was as brown as toe berries on toe hillside and her young form was as slender and erect as the larch. She beckoned to Helen and the girl followed. Bow could she linger when XBBemoa’B laughing eyes were on Helen knew they had travelled far, when at length toe Maori girl Stored. Yet she was not fatigued. She had walked as though on ahr •mi the sensation was delightful. Yhe ooid night winds playing on her woke her from her reverie. She felt the damp green grass Wndacfoot and looked round in bewilderment. Beneath was a mass of twinkling lights and far, far sway was- the rugged line of the . mountai»4ops. Though she was wtfiiwe from toe sea, she seemed to Imw the pounding of the glistening white waves as they rolled in to toe shore. Her Maori guide turned to her and for the first time Helen heard the Maori language spoken as by a native of long ago. The musical voice of Hlnemoa was 'zeal magic to Helen. quite unexpectedly the maiden stopped and began to ex.plain to the enchanted white girl. ■Down there,” and toe brown hand pointed to the lights, “is the city of Christchurch. You thought wo were far from your home, did you not? See the plains in toe distance end the Southern Alps. The great is angry to-night. Listen Suwit crS and roars on the —nd« Watch and listen. You will Jesm of a New Zealand you have Wr known. You will see plains never white man walked and ■eas that even the Maoris did not know." The city lights blinked and 4hen all was strangely still. It was day-time. The sun shone warmly, but a breeze fanned Helen sk she stood entranced. As far as the eye could see, were great wide polling plains, green and undulat-

ing: Yet Incredibly close were the mountains, snow-capped and steep. What mountains were these? As if in answer to her. thoughts, Hinemoa said, “The Southern Alps, but how different! No human has ever climbed those snowy heights.” She paused, then continued.- “Up there one would be alone with the wind and the snow. “See those two great white gashes on the mountain nearest us. They are glaciers, perhaps the largest and longest in toe world. But Time will erase them from the mountainside. *flie very mountain itself will disappear and many thousands of years from now a new rangeof hills will unfold in this land. They will be the Southern Alps with which you

in your life are familiar. You are young. The New Zealand here is old. Even those plains you see may be worn away by the ocean, still the same Pacific. The Pacific is always the same, yet never the same. One day, it is calm as a mill-poind and waves duress the shores in tones as gentle and soft as the softest music. But another day, it is angry. It lashes the rocks and roars in a voice of thunder while all this lovely land trembles in fear of its mad foaming mouth. Yes the Pacific will wear away these plains but the slow, sluggish, muddy rivers that creep from the two white glaciers will build up the plains again. They will make the tiny speck in the ocean a hilly island. They will Join it to the mainland and thousands of years hence people will call it Banks Pen-

insula. The plains with their fertile soli will yield green grass again, but toe virgin bush by toe glaciers , Is doomed. “To-day, you sec,” sadly she went on, “everything in all its glory. Those forests are vast, and dark, and cool, but there are trees on those mountains which you will never see. Long before the white man comes, those monarchs of the forest will be gone. The few marvels and beauties of New Zealand forests will soon follow those trees oi past times. Where the white man comes, the forests are no more. The ferns die and the shrubs are lost forever. “Even the birds are not spared by cruel man. In those cool bushlands and forests where the light of the sun never penetrates, the notes of birds New Zealanders do not know are heard. Songs so exquisite that they seem to come from paradise, are sung in those green glades. By silver streams flit birds of wondrous plumage. Man will never set eyes on those magic colours nor hear those heavenly songs. When man comes to these Islands of toe Blessed he will marvel at the songs of bell-bird and tui, at the beauty of the rata, and at the stateliness of the kauri, but he will destroy them. The Ocean destroys, but even it and other forces of Nature combine to build again. Man is cruel. He destroys when he knows he cannot renew. “Can the ways of Nature be changed? No, that is impossible, for Nature is ever the same. Can the ways of man be changed? Ah, would that such a thing were possible. I dream of a time when man shall be enlightened, when he will cease to destroy and because he no longer destroys he will renew. To you, .child of the future, I hand on the precious heritage. Destroy no, more and you will renew. You will regain the beauties of a New Zealand long since forgotten, a New Zealand hidden in the mythical past. Remember!” The lights blinked In Helen’s eyes once more and then the twinkling city vanished, even as had the New Zealand of long ago and the lovely Maori maiden. Helen was in her own garden again. —’MATE TARAWERA, M.G., L.8.H., Spreydon.