NATURE-AND MAN

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 9, 21 December 1933, Page 9

NATURE-AND MAN

WONDERLAND OF NX W PEW CLIMPEEB. EDITED BY LEO FANNING. iWeJI, friends, here v« are again, eloM up te another Christinas which, "* all fondly hope, should be the last of the dismal slump period. However, for a few days, let us cast care aside and try to see the world with the bright, trustful eyes of childhood. Despite the dirges of dreary pessimists, the world is really quite a good place. It ia always ready to produce more than man needs for all purposes of life. When humanity, in the mass, gets some more sense and learns how to make the best use of the gifts of Nature, the millennium will be practically here. But this is not a time for heavy homilies or eludings. Serious lessons about various affairs can wait until the New Year blows the whistles and rings the bells for a stern return -to life's routine. Therefore this week’s article will be mainly for the entertainment of children and for older folk who wish to be young again for a little while. Here are some jingles from a book which I wrote some years ago:— CHARM OF THE FOREST. The fairies of the forest dells Have palaces of ferns and moss; . No wicked witches cast their spells To cause the pixies pain or loss. The woods are ever gay and green; No snake lurks there for careless feet; No terror spoils the sylvan scene Of Nature a joy and peace complete. During the midsummer holidays many thousands of New Zealanders will see some of the marvellous beauty of their forests. May they resolve to do whatever they can to keep that sylvan splendour free from harm by fire or ether nuisance. CALL OF THE WANGANUI RIVER. The Wanganui River winds through miles of verdant banks Where tree-ferns stand like sentinels in splendid serried ranks; And through the leaf isles you see the crests of noble hills. And hear the roar of waterfalls and songs of birds and rills. If the Wanganui River is to retain its present scenic majesty, there must bo no juore destruction of forest on the watersheds above its banks.

THE PREHISTORIC TUATARA. The Lady Tuatara will never tell her , •g'M Shes very, very wrinkled, but very, very sage; She’s very, very proud of her ancient ancestry— This Tuatara knows she has the oldest family tree. She Jinks up with the dragons of prehistoric days, When monstrous ugly reptiles flew about the swamps and bays. So let us be thankful she is innocent and small: If she wasn't she would eat us—flesh and bones and clothes and all. New Zealand’s unique Tuatara, a harmless dwarf survival of the prehistoric snarian family (which included various winged monsters), i s only about two feet in length when full-grown. It is a link between reptiles and birds; it is a distant cousin of the crocodile, but it has bird-like ribs, a rudimentary third eye, and other peculiarities. MARVELS OF MILFORD SOUND. A million years or so ago, A giant wandered to and fro About the Southland Sounds. His height was fourteen miles or more, And heavy were the shoes he wore; He made tremendous bounds. He couldn’t get enough to eat; So when he’d finished all the meat. Except a lion friend. He slowly starved to death, ’tis said. He sank into the Milford bed. And more than filled one end.

And when he lay there all alone His Cap and Lion turned to stone, And there they are to-day. The Lion seems to guard the Cap— A vVry faithful kind of chap, Who never funs away. The Giant’s Cap in Milford Sounds, Southland, is known officially as Mitre Peak (which is more than a mile high), but tho Giant was not a Bishop. Compared with “The Lion,” crouched near the Mitre, the lion body of the Sphinx would look like a mouse. MAORI MYTHS OF MOUNTAINS. There were hot times in N?w Zealand When He-moyntains used to fight Bv tho sea-land and the tree-land For the dear She-mountains bright. There were awful rqarg and hisses, And much huHing of big rocks, For those lovely Mountain Misses, Who survived volcanic shocks. When a rival was well battered. He would flee far, far away. If he lingered, he’d be shattered; So he didn’t like to stay. A Maori myth states that when Taranaki’s conical Mount Egrnont was an active volcano it stood near the toy Toiignriro. They quarrelled for the low of Pihatiga, a delightful green, mantled mountain above Roto-a-lra

Lake. Egrnont was tanquished, after much spluttering and fuming, and fled west until his tired feet found rest near the sea’s edge. MURDER OF PELORUS JACK. Pelorus Jack, a wise sea-scout, A dolphin, old and gray. In Cook Strait kept a keen look-out Tor ships that sped that way. He met them by a narrow pass, And seemed to guide them through: He knew hts pilot task first-class, Surprising any crew. Uo leaped in glee above the wave, And dived beneath tho keel; For Jack was strong, and lithe, and brave, And quicker than an eel. Pelorus Jack, a bright-hued Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus), protected by New Zealand Government Order-in-Council, has not been seen since the visit of some foreign whalers to Cook Strait about 1914. It is believed that these persons harpooned “Jack” in ignorance of his legal right to kindness. His loss was very deeply regretted.