HARBOUR PICTURES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 626, 4 October 1909, Page 7

HARBOUR PICTURES.

■ ■■■,;.. :''.', : ;'.*.' '. "'" ; :-; / ; : ' : ' •;':..•' : .., SUN .AND SHADOW; ■' ,\/ V THE MAGIC OF THE ATMOSPHERE.^' : ! '■ j-;-: ; .' : .'. (Br;J.QX)^-.y/---; v^' ""' : - On the calm, brilliant:forcnpohs.which aro interspersed, among tho noisier weather .of. 'early spring, tho■ water ,of . the ' harbour.: is deeply; wonderfully ..blue, the ■ aiure .of the sky'pales abovo it. Blue also,.'by, Bagio Of ; haze and sunshine, prevails upon tho browns and ■ greens ; of; tho hills .beyond.' Light,,from. the. high, triumphant suflj.' rests like : an prossion ,?f ; joy jupon the laco. of- tho,,watere, : the ■fcat)ires..of .the- hills,- the clear, "brow" oftho heavens. The sunshine, ,' the' freeh, soft breeze, the blucness overj-where, are at one with the prime'.of tho day, the,dhivn-of tht natural year,. the thoughts of a people who hold their: past tdbethe merest'prelude; to theit future.-' .'.■ ■ ■ ■'■■;.■•■■.-■■•■•.' ' ; '.:■: .. ['■..:.:"■ .

. Such,, from the: viewpoint of a, Wellingtou hillside-say, fram : the Queen's. Park—is 'the harbour -in, its most typical, most splendid mood. , It has other inoodsj no ono knows how; many. People, who havo looked upon it several times a day all. the year round;are not sure that: they haye. seen it twice- alike, ■ ■■. ; :.;;. As the spring day slides on into'afternoon, the colours grdw. less intense. The blue Of tho water becomes' purple. ;Tho raggod'clouds.-at: first small and Hndoly -scattered,! : : ,lbse,: : iheir early;.whiteness as. they••■ grow, and, now they cast broad .gliding shadows .upon-tho hills. Evening comes.' Thp ; hills;are shaded.in. deep violet. The water is pale grey with gleams of white, the. clouds, thinned again 'and far dispersed,' aro tinged with sunset. Lights come out upon the city and the ships',: Night fills, and all is thereafter as.the moon will have it:

: In. the foreglow of a ■ :certaih i. sunriso'.. thowater lay. very still. , "j .Great .stretched ■:of. if, wpro olassy-shioothj ■* arid others* were.','covercd , with' ripples too. srtall.,to 'hi. feoh.. 1 from; the' , hillside, and only known'by the different', tjht. they gave:'to the surface and the absehce'of those reflections that'.gleamed-and rested.upon the other parts:,' Biit|Jr|ij(!J' within iteelf,'.the pali>, Tnmilioue Wue; eovei-cd tho whole watery, source rather thaii the Mirror of;the'new.. light, —too ethereal for anything below 1 the' pavement' , of that spiritual city wherecif; thjii''e'aiijtv.hAve. .dreamed; The hills, in , 'purple, rose-above ;itj; 'arid,the sky, ; clear blue' it■, the'.>,enith. : met'them' in 'Warm rose-' ahdiAmbVr.-; The daily:turmoil: that tfas.Mon.ito'waVe upon the'.hitlier:iidp. of the ■. harbour—politics,/ business/'.moneylendlpg, i v; -;: •"• •'' ■'■,■■■';';.-' ;■;■■;■ ;- ; v.'.;;■>

. i "The heavy.trouble, the : bewiidoring oaro;'.. .That TrcighYus down who live earn; .".-;. -vOur'bteau' , ~:■/.;/■ ;,., v .*r,./. i/|/'.-.,;;'. Eeemed;in:that hour.as/thouirh they had.notbeen,, nor could ever be iii- all this .world.! , .'•: But.the harbour,scerio.is accustomod to.tnako ; jComprOmises and '.gracious affairs of every day.' Kuapehii,: Gey.«erUud, Mount Cook, Lake . Wakatipu, : :£md ; Milford/ Sounds are of superior': merit as, tourist'iattractions. 1 Their .beauties'and marvels are of kinds that can bo advertised.-: But for ordinary >uees,for, id, gldnce' over: the. shoulder, on .the'way to business, ft 1 -glimpse but of.a- tramcnr./ti.lnng look on the way home nt randovm./Welli.npton' Harbour'.'is' good and .sufficient. -Whether. it shows the leaden hues "of -impending.' storm', -or is.lashed into'white crests by bjttcr. winds, or eparklfis itndor'mirthful' 1 tirhetner:dayn transmutes it into liquid: fire, cr'.'nittht' (rfv'es it the-texture of. richest'volvot,..it 0%9-alwaV-i to; the seeking cyo some hints; of 'itt?. spiration. The hflls are inexhatistiblo storehonsos; : from ; : which. , ■/'tho, sun,, arid ■ air; and' mistt bring, fprth of ■ beauty, new and . 01d../ Sometimes' . these' '•proud; attendants • displav " tho colours of : bush ; and; grass, lightly .veiled, into a , soft harmonyj sometimes the forms/of Tidw and gully'are' stressed'> tilth shadow; sometimes the further summits:cleatn .with snoirj and i ; fometime? clouds nre brought out of the; invisible/to crown thein or. to , veil them., .:■'-./.;.','■

The changes which the 'days -and:' seasons make upon ■ these hills may be; watched like •new expressions, : and tho marks of sweet and bitter experience on the faoeof a friend. It was an-event of note when a spur near Day s\ Bay/was, first seen to glow-.with. a'stranm warmth through ,, tho qool far-spread haze. It was the yellow mantle of new-flowered (jorse, , its tone, subdued by • atmospheric artistry. Mirainar Pehinsula, seeni across tho. harbour, is bare,; dull,, and-uninteresting. But. ono soft', , grey' morning, when.: the .water- everywhere elso was rippled; there was a perfectlysmooth strip along , the shore of the; peninsula. It was a mirror, dark and bright, with tho reflections of the lower slopes and. cuttings and the red, buildings. It conspired t with tho tenuous haze to work wonders, for > the peninsula was endowed with mystery,: and. annexed to the realms, of romance. A poet could have made , verses about it., ■ ...;';., . , ';.. Look over tho harbour on a moonlit night, when the, water,; the-hills,, and the .sky. arc three smooth featureless expanses,' each one of a-different shade of grey.. It is a surprisethat, tho dark central belt is so narrow—land ocoupvlng so little, sky and wawr so much, of the picture. The hills appeared much higher by day..That was because they .had-features then. They stood'out in spurs, retreated into gullies, rose in ridpe beyond ridge,'carried the varying colours of bush, gross, scrub, and,rock. And perhaps there waa-perhapsi when any such eceno is viewed, there. always, is, in theobeoure parts.of the mind,-.-. a;,;,half-coriECious measuring of onrselves' against the hills. They are something to be climbed,' or.-: oleared,_"or farmed,- or copied in paints Thus our..aftectione, sentiments, ambitions, and .certain raceendeavonrs that have become instincts, are cnitaged.. Tho hills are enlarged to tho mind. That is why they Mem to the eyo much greotor than they, really;are. This difference between the moonlight and tho daylight) view is sometimes ■: matched by the difference > .between ■ a good ph'otijtraph and one's recollection of the reality. 'The hilln- are not: so high,.: nor , so eteep, as \ve thought. Priffessor Marshall, lecturing in Wellington,- showed ''a-' : photoßraoh ■ and a sketch of one and the samo;scene in tho' neighbourhood of Ngauruhoe.v Tho artist had given tho mountain sides a wilder and mom rugeed aspect that thp truthful' camera would justify, bnt tho professor said the place'really'looked moro like the' sketch.. Thiiß~> imnjination play 9 tricks upon UE, : and even our normal perceptions arctingcd ; with; illusions..; Some say that all-is illusion,/and that wo only dreoin what wo-' think:;.we. ,see.,..>lt is hard to answer this disquioling suggestion, but it is related that onco thews .'fatliliar bills (vnd waters, • refulgent in morning joy, seemed to titter an infinite secret. It was the old and 'still/.' unexpressed mystery of ..the/ earth.: Painters, poets, soicntistsi; and prophets hftvo tried,' and are. still trying to: hear, or. see, or feel it, and to toll it,, each in hie own language! but the soft, airs' of .that morning seemed alfnost to authorise tho /endeavourofione devoted eingc*:— f.-y -.. : : -:■:>'.'■. ■■■ "Ahl'suteljr to have known arid:to : behold Tho beauty that within the tqtil abide*; •■ : Fur Ihie ehrth blossoms and the ektee unfold, For' this the moon, makes imisic , in : the' /,,;. tidM."/.:/.;/ :-.•:/,:/.:/■ /a:/':, '>>~~" \ ThaV: is 'probably not the secret,, but -it 'mas bo ui'app>3xiputioa pi a HttlsLimrt of iU