WHERE FEW MEN TREAD

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 49, 21 November 1907, Page 5

WHERE FEW MEN TREAD

AN INTERESTING COAST.

NATURE AT PLAY. A land where few men tread is the narrow strip of sun-scorched sand that stretches for sixty miles from Reef Point to Maria van Diemen, at the extreme northern limit of this island. A gentleman who lias just re-' turned from visiting this No-man's land found it a highly interesting region. Nature and her creatures have their own diversions ' there, wLich compensate for the absence of mail's "many inventions." The hard surface of tho sandy beach stretches perfectly unbroken except for one great rock, tlie Maunganui Blulf, forty miles up the barren coast. One solitary settler has his house on tho shore, marked by a round hill, called Hukatere, the sceno of a battle in the' old fighting days. At intervals along the beach are huge heaps of white shells, showing where the old Maoris uswl to land to gorge on toheroa. The toheroa is a large' shellfish, only found on.the western beaches of tho North Island. It lives buried ill tlid sand below high-water mark, and sends up to the surface a tubular pipe > ending in au apparatus like a button. Tiio gulls dig out • tliesu toherba- from the shallow water,; carry them up into tho air to a height of about, a hundred feet, and drop them time after time upon the hard beacn till the concussion -makes the toheroa open his shell to find out what is the matter. Then; the gull's beak meets him in the opening. It is curious to see the big gulls pause in their upward (light to drop a shell, their heads bent down. 1 , between the outstretched wings for .all tho world as if they were watching to observe the success of the experiment. • 1 The sea birds build their nests 011 the sand hills a littlo way above high-water mark. The nests are made on small hummocks, covered with a coarse sedge, and frequently when the wind blows from the east the birds are buried in the sand-drift, refusing to quit their nests. Their skeletons are seen at intervals where the wind has laid them bare again. Seagulls, red-bills, godwits (kuaka's), dotterels, mackcrel, gulls, and gullets form the bird family of this region. . It is. said that the godwit builds its nest in far-away Siberia, and that the birds leave tho New Zealand coast to return thither as though by a concerted signal. 0110 starts up and begins'his'flight, and all the others follow. ' JL'"ish aboand 011 tho coast, and this traveller counted not less than- ten varieties stranded 011 the bcacli. Oh these the solos were exceedingly line,- the largest' being nearly twenty-ono inches' in length. The gulls peck out their eyes, and afterwards consume them at their leisure.. 011 a calm day, when there is but a small curl on the waves, shoals of fish can be seen from the beach. One has only to wade into tho water and throw out a line fiom the surf to catch them in laige numbers, and a-net, properly cast, could. scarcely be dragged ashore. Distances along the beach arc very deceptive, and mistakes arc frequently made in respect of objects which, one imagines that one sees a mile or 50 ahead. Travejling becomes very monotonous in this solitude, and one welcomes the sight of what one takes to be a fellow, traveller some distance in advancc. On arriving nearer one. is 'surprised to find that the fellow traveller is an old shag, in a 'sitting posture, with wings outstretched for drying in the sun. At a distance of a mile or so the resemblance to a human being is complete^ The tracks leading oil' the beach into tha various small gum-digging settlements arc difficult' to find, as often the post which indicates ''tlib- " turn ill " is blown _down by the wind or covered by the drifting sand, and' it. is hardly safe for anyone unacquainted with the geography of the place to travel inland without, a guide, on account of the .sandhills, swamps, and quicksands. During an easterly gale travelling 011 the beach is most unpleasant. The'sand gets into eyes, ears, mouth, and nostrils, driving with' stinging force. On a calm day, however, especially towards evening, there is 110 more romantic ride in all New Zc-aland, and the sunset, there is a sight that can never-.ba forgotten.