REVIEW. CAMP LIFE IN FIORD LAND.

Northern Advocate, 29 July 1893, Page 6

REVIEW. CAMP LIFE IN FIORD LAND.

[Br WILMAM Mcttt'TCHKSOX.] Tiik! opening lines of this very interesting little book will give the reader a good idea of what is to follow. ; "Camping out! Camping out! What visions come up at the sound of the words: To those who spend their days among the bricks and mortar of 'a city there is a world of luxury in the men; thought of 'camping out.' It seems to speak of leafy woods and shady dells, murmuring streams and running fountains, breezy hills and pleasant valleys, of n season of absolute freedom, relieved for the time from the starch and buckram of conventionality.' The writer is one who evidently thoroughly appreciates the al resco lii'e he describes so well. Those who can recall yarns by the camp fire, the delight of stretching tired limbs on a bed of fern, thes nectar of steaming black tea, the keen appetite for the rough meal, in the cooking of which all have assisted, the luxury of the pipe thereafter, the whole earned by an honest day's work, will recall many a pleasant experience in reading these pages ; while those who cannot will bedullarJ indeed if. not filled with the ambition to go and do likewise. For those who have not, and are never likely to have similar experiences the book would be interesting enough for this reason alone, but it is perhaps jits least charm. The excursion described took its- writer and his companions through some of the most magnificent (and at the same time the least known) natural scenery in the world. Referring thereto, we will quote our authors own words : — " Doubt has been expressed whether iho world- wide famous sights of the Voseinitc and the Ifucky Mountains are really grander and more wonderful than our own. I say without the least hesitation that nowhere -within the same compass can America show- such a successive variety -of? sublime sights, so countless an array of stupendous marvels as can be found anywhere in the Fiord land of New Zealand. No where in the wide world is it possible to see anything like so much of the sublime and the wonderful withir* the limits of a single day's journey." With a deep appreciation of the marvellous scenery of this wonderful land, our author possesses a most enviable power of description, his terse vivid phrase leaving but little for the imagination to do in conjuring up a mental picture of wondrous beauty when reading of the Sutherland Palls, the Clinton Valley, Mount Hart, Te An au Lake, Castle Eoek and scores of other scenes of grandeur and surpassing loveliness. We are tempted to quote at greater length than our space will allow and must perforce content ourselves with pne' extract. After describing the beauty of the Sutherland Palls, the highest hnoion waterfall in the ivorkl, thus the writer "We entered the last turn and found ourselves face to face with the Castle llQ^.;,eoj-Qyi?ig.anuniniarjpuptecl view of that stupendous 'marvel. How calm and grand it looked with polishec spires and bronzed pinnacles that shone in the sun like burnished gold. Picture to yourself if you can, a single ■ shaft of black polished granite j symmetrical as a pyramid, shapely ai Cleopatra's needle, rising up out of i 'deep wild gorge without break o: biemish for more than a mile and i 'quarter in vertical height, a single per ipendicular shaft, unapproachable ex cept on eagle's wings. What wonde: we forgot all else in. sight of such i marvel, the like, the equal of which i not in the whole universe. The Yose mite can furnish no single shaft o ■such magnificent prc^sriiujir', h "Sentinel Rock" u'nks into insig nificance, ane the much-vauntei ' CatheelrtfiSpires ' of Colorado might to •placed bodily on the top of the pas without challenging the supremacy o sway of New Zealand's King over head." The book is profusely illustratee with excellent reproductions frou I photographs of the most strikinj marvels of this wonderful land. Officia maps are attached and the intendinj tourist will find therein reliable in formation of the) best routes -to!, talc* according to the depth of his purse and the amount of roughing in camp life he must be prepared to encounte if desirous to do the Piord Lam thoroughly.