DR. HECTOR'S EXPEDITION. (FROM THE SPECIAL REPORTER OF THE OTAGO DAILY ("TIMES") [Concluded from Saturday's Paper]

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIX, Issue 1783, 7 April 1863, Page 4

DR. HECTOR'S EXPEDITION. (FROM THE SPECIAL REPORTER OF THE OTAGO DAILY ("TIMES ") [Concluded from Saturday's Paper]

At noon of the 24th, therefore, not however without reluctance, wcstaited to leturn, forded the Haast, and follow ing up a tubutavy creek, which joins it just below the canon, through which the main liver ni'-hes, we made an ascent of 1,300 feet before \cm • ing the foinier. We then thiuaded our way_t)nongh the woods until daik nirrlit, hiving gained the altitndo of 3,000 fret in the heaviest rain I lnv\e ever witnessed. The kindliim of aibewas beyond the bounds of possibility, and nothing remaiue i for us but to <-eek the best place for the iu<;lifc. Theie was however, little choice, so weaned with oui exertions in climbing, dieiichrd and hungiy, wo huddled together in our wet blankets, our only comfoit being'to take ott our wet clothes and wiing them bcfoie doing so, and passed a night, the misery of which can only be conceived by those wlio have experienced it's like. The morning r»f the next day broke as the night had continued, with the «arne steady rain, and each of ns sniveling as in a lit of ague, wrung our blankets, rolled them up, and lesunipU our mifeh. fn two or three horns just as we had gained the saddle, about 1,000 feet above wheie we had slept, the sun shot his waim rays o\cr mountain ami valley, which in letmn sent foith volumes of mist from the dense woods that clothe them. The cheating contiast produced by the sun has a wondeiful effect on the s|>nits of even famished men, and they might well exclaim in ecstaey with the poet Milton, "We feel thy Sov're'ign vital lamp." Taking advantage of the few dry sticks w e could collect, we kindled a tire, loasted a Ka-ka and made some tea. It w ill be seen that since the morning of the 23rd up to the pioseut date, the 2Gth, an mtenal of exactly three days, the only food which we had consumed between the thiec of v«, consisted of one pigeon and a Ka-ka. I meiely state the^e faeti as they appear m my notes made at the time, and I must confess, that in icwiiting them here, especially when I lecall the haid climbing in such a continual katmated state, I am at a loss to account for the successful manner m which we icgained the summit of the mountain. Our scanty meal over, w e descended into the valley of the H.aast to the same camp whetewe had left the small cache of pemican and flonr. The half we instantly cooked, and then formed a shelter of branches beneath which we had a good night's rest. Early next morning the lain lecommcnced, and continued the whole of that and the following day, pieventmg our ciossing the stream, owing to its being so greatly flooded."" Wo w ere now in by no means an enviable position ; all our provisions being exhausted, and no decrease in the \olume of the liver. On the morning of the Ist of March, theiefoie, we resolved to make a despeiatc piloit. Lashing ourselves together as is usual in such cases Itayor walked (kit, w ith a heavy log on his shoulder, and with a gallantry deserving of c\eiy praise, after being twice '-wept off Ins legs, struggled safely to the othei bank with the rope. Amidst the ton cuts of rain we forced our way to our camp at the foot of Haast's Glacier; wheio it will be lemembcred we had made a cache, consisting of thico small boxes of sardines, and about LJibs. of Hour. The first thought on our arnval was the provisions, but on examination we found the tats had eaten our (lour, and even the sardine boxes lay scattered some 12 or 14 feet the one from the other, as if they had been marked for consumption. Happily, however, instinct does not suggest a method to open soldered tin boxes ! So that we had the pleasuic of at once emptying the contents of two of them. By the time we had got to this encampment the lain had abated, and the paitially clear sky lent us feeble hopes that the w eather w oiild clear ; but on the follow ing morning the heavy black clouds came rolling up the valley from the sea, bursting over us in ram, if possible more seveio than that in the valley of the Jackson. The dense fog that hung over the glacier .above forbade all chance of le-cios-sing—and the rain on the siufaco of the ice rendered the task still more impracticable. We were accoidingly detained another day, with one small box of sardines between the three. Towards evening we began to feel hunger keenly, and the rats having left the small piece of sheep-skin, about six square inches, in which the flour had been rolled, wo cut it into small strips, and with some loots of "toitoi" grass, made a kettle of soup. This we drank and divided the sheep skin. We all felt the danger of our position more or less acutely; just at the time when stiength was most needful, it was rapidly failing, and when fine weather was most useful, a deluge of rain arrested our progress. Besides, either owing to extreme weakness, or huddling over the smoke of the fires to dry our clothes, both Ilayer and myself became partially blind. The feeling was very like that of snow-bhndnes?, viz., as though the eyes were filmed over and filled by angular particles of sand, that caused a painful pricking sensation. Providentially, for really we could but regard it as such, the following day turned out line, we, therefore, lost no time in making the best of our way across the glacier. It was here especially that Dr. Hector's characteristic daring and skilful leadership wero displayed to their fiulest extent. His high reputation as a traveller, and distinguished position in the scientific world, are too wel 1 established to need any eulogium which 1 might attempt to proffer. But at the same time one cannot help rendering him his due of praise, when by his unerring judgment tho intricacies of primeval forests, the dangers of rapid rivers and the perils of mountain, and glacial travelling are all equally overcome. As previously, we wero lashed together while he took the lead with the axe, Step by step was cut for a long distance, owing to the unooth and rounded nature of the ice, and at one place in particular, where a narrow ridge divided two awful crevasses, Dr. Hector balanced himself on one foot to out a step for the other in a marvellous manner. To us, following in the rear, when wo could avail ourselves of the steps, the travelling would have been comparatively easy task had our blindness not. been increased by the snn-sbino on the ice, but to our leader the dangers were frequent and awful. In spite of the bad state

of tho ice on which the bontiuuouß' rain for lien days had made a great alteration since we paused formerly, we accomplished tho whole journey across in a less time than that before occupied. ' The smaller glacier was also passed with fewer difficulties, as Dr. Hector preferred taking to the ascout of the mountain lower down than the head of tho ice.-. Tho climb to the saddle was necessarily sovere, but for my own choice I pvcforieditto the descent. By about 4 or 6 p.m. , wo reached the "limit of the .woods," and encamped, for the night. The next day, we rapidly gained tho camp, where wo had slung out" provisions to tho fork of a tree, and luckily found tlieui' undisturbed. Wo devoted- a great portion of tho day to feasting, probably a not very advisable, ' though agreeable, thing to do after so long a fast ; but 1 We were all so ravenous that disci etion on this point was entirely ontjof tho question, so wo fried and boiled until daifc night, which, with its usual hospitality of late, furnished us with a drenched- bed. , The following day, March otb, wo returned to tho camp were we had left tho horses, and found our first cache safe. When starting fioni this place on. the 16th, we had anticipated an absence of only six days, aud took provisions for that peiiod. After tho first two days' march it will be remembered twothirds of that quantity were slung in tho forks of n tieo to lighten our paoks. Now, as we were just seventeen days instead of six going and coming, a vei y fair idea can be foi mcd of the small rations that fell to our share. It is simply this, that for fourteen days (tho time elapsed from the first cadte to our return to the same place) wo lived upon two days 1 rations, and tho few birds that were shot. Altogether the birds shot uumbcied five ka kas, four pigeon*,, throe ducks, and two woodhens in this interval. Our protracted absence was duo to the weather, aud the delays incident to exploring thick wood couutiy entirely unknown, aud whero we weie often necessarily nfc fuilf, for, after all — were tho line of route which Dr. Hector ultimately chosen out as wo ictm nod, after an acquaintance with the country marked out and cleared -it would bo no groat feat for an active man in four long summer days to go from tho Wanaka Lake to tho mouth of the Jackson river. On tho Gth, Dr. Hector started in ne-vvcli of tho horse, and with tho utmost difficulty caught one. They had got perfectly wild, and had wandered as far down tho valley ns tho gorge noar M'Keirow'h flat. About noon of the nevt day wo got tho remainder of the hoises packed up, and descended tho Matukitnki to near tho forks, where we encamped, and on tho following day, tho Bth, wo amved at the central camp on the light bank of the main river. With refoience to tho geological structure of tho countiy, I am by no means able to furnish an accuiato scientific account; for tho latter, Dr. Hector's report of our journey, there can bo no doubt, will furnish tho minutest details. I have, however, his authority for stating, that the rocks are identically the samo throughout tho whole distance we travelled, as those in the upper part of the M.itukituki valley, and southward to the Wak.itip Lake, being the upper members of the auiiferous | scries. He seaiched for gold but necessaiily in an impel feet manner and without success; bnt largo quantities of coarse black iion sand mingled with green sand weie obscivcd, so that there is litUe doubt that gold will occur there also. For certain reasons connected with the structure of the country, he believes that its dtsti ibuhon in the river valleys will beexticmely it regular, and piospecting will bo. tho wot kof chance. On elevated gullies in the high mountains towards the coa<-t, however, more 1 regular auriferous deposits may be expected, but even on this point he is by no means confident. I may hero point out that no such trip as oiir=can ever settle those matters, provided all tho mountains ptescnt such serious obstacles as those over which we crossed; as from the natuic of the difficulties a man can only entry sufficient provisions to go and to retui n with the strictest economy of tune, and without allowing for the contingency of bad weather, the chances of which arc pretty certain, and which, after all, was the pi unary cause of all the hardships we endured. On the other hand, a leisurely examination from tho West Coast as a staittug point, would be coinpaiatively easy, and cannot be too soon undertaken, for the interest of the province. It will bo seen as one of the results of this ttip, wo have the discovery of an extensive vulloy, with level, though densely wooded, plains, stretching from the margin of the ocean for a long distance inland. Is it not extumoly ptobible that there may be other spots on tins coast, which has hitheito been constricted so peifectlv >>on bound, equally well adapted for futuie settlement 9 The fjii thest to which miners have pi ospected, in the durction we weie, is up the M.ituUituki neatly to its somce. Only one pivrty had penetrated as fur as tho camp wliPte we left our hoises previous to our passing. lTive or six other parties have followed our track*. As they (ill seem to return quickly, they do not appear to bu successful. They all state that they have obtained gold and black sand everywhere, but not in payable quantity. The nemefit point to this at which mining is regul.uiy piosecuted is somewhere on the Mntatapo, ami I am nbont to visit the eMict locality. March 15. — Dr. Hector is about to Btn.it to town on business, and I take this opportunity of foi warding the present letter to j on. Tt wns w ritten to avail nn self of the fust chance of communication, and I hnd hoped ere now to prepate an account that would have been fuller, and have done more justice to tho det.iili of our expedition, — some of which, I have no doubt, would piove ol interest ; but I am sorry to sny that for the lost few days, in common with Dr. Hector and Kayer, 1 have been suffering fiom the after effects of tho continual wading in the icy cold water of the liveis, and tho constant wealing of wet clothes, which, combined with tho hunger and fatigue expeiienced on the journey, had gieatly l educed w>, and which could not fail to ptoduce a re-action on the stoutest constitutions. I have, however, full notes, and can, if desiiable, prepare a moie sequential narrati\e. With reference to the notes upon which this and my ptevious communications aie founded, it is but justice to Dr. Hector to state that their value, in a gie.at measuio, depends upon the sources of infoimation which he placed at my disposal, and that frequently they aie the embodiment of instinctive conversations round our camp fires.