EXPLORATION OF THE HEADS OF THE WAI-AU-UA AND GREY RIVERS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIX, Issue 21, 14 March 1860, Page 2

EXPLORATION OF THE HEADS OF THE WAI-AU-UA AND GREY RIVERS.

In fulfilment of the promise intimated in our last number, Mr. Travers has kindly placed at our disposal the following particulars of his exploring trip to the heads of the Wai-au-ua and Grey rivers, a perusal of which will doubtless gratify a considerable portion of our readers : —

It may probably be interesting to some of your readers to know the result of an exploration recently undertaken by me, the main objects of which were to discover the sources of the River Wai-au-ua, and to ascertain whether any practicable pass could be obtained from the valley of that river into the valley of the Grey. I had long entertained an opinion, founded upon observations made some years ago when exploring the gorge of the Wairau, that nearly all the large rivers of the province had their sources in some central mountain mass, radiating from it (so to speak) like the spokes of a wheel, but I had not previously had leisure to determine the truth or error of my speculations. The strong desire which for the last few months has been evinced to open up the talley of (he Grey for occupation, revived the

ideas I had formed, and I determined to devote a short time to a personal examination of the country intervening between the Clarence and the head-waters of that river.

I may premise, that travelling in the unexplored regions of this country is by no means a romantic or adventurous undertaking, but is on the contrary a very matter-of-fact business, involving considerable labour with no small share of dirt and hard living ; and although I might, if so disposed, paint in glowing colours the scenes through which I passed, dwelling upon the rugged majesty of the snow-clad Spenser mountains, or upou the softer beauties of its richly wooded glens and rushing cascades ; although I could describe scenes in which the poet would revel, I shall confine myself to that which is purely utilitarian, and give to those who may be tempted to follow up the opening I have made, the plainest description in my power of the country through which I passed. I may here mention that I was accompanied in my excursion by Mr. Christopher Maling, to whom leave of absence had at my request been granted for that purpose, and by a man named David Stewart, whom I had engaged to assist in carrying provisions. Onthe 26thFebruary (having on the previous night camped on the lower side of the Gorge of the Wairau) I passed through the gorge and ascended the river as far as the Island valley, leading to the Clarence. Up to this point we had packed our provisions, tent, &c, on horse-back, but from thence, doubtful of the character of the country into which we were about to pass, I determined to proceed on foot, and therefore sent the horse back to Tarndale. During the absence of our man, Mr. Maling and myself traced the Wairau to its source, near which we ascended Mount Southey (the southernmost mountain on the eastern side of Lake Tennyson), for the purpose of taking bearings. From this height we obtained an extensive view of the country to the westward, and there observed a large snow-covered mountain mass (named by me the Spenser mountains, in honour of the poet of that name), lying almost in the centre of the Province and rising to an altitude, little, if anything, less than 10,000 feet, whilst the country to the southward of these mountains appeared to consist of high grass-covered, ranges with wooded slopes and numberless intervening valleys, presenting, apparently, no great obstacles to our intended exploration. Immediately below us was the head of Lake Tennyson, into which the waters of the Clarence flowed through a narrow glen surrounded by high rugged peaks, amongst which the Princess towered to an altitude of about 7,000 feet. We returned to camp iv the afternoon and prepared for an early start on the following day. I may now state that Mr. Maling, who had accompanied Mr. Domett on a visit to Lake Teunyson some time ago, mentioned to me the existence of a low saddle in the mountains on the western side of the Clarence, which he believed to be a pass. This being upon the very line of route intended to be taken by me, I availed myself of it, and on the Ist instant after lunching on the southern shore of the lake, we ascended the hill to the saddle in question. Lying between the saddle and the lake is a long strip of forest, the southern point of which, and the summit of the saddle, bear 5.75 0 W. from the edge of the lake. We reached the top of the saddle at four o'clock, and to our extreme gratification found stretching below us a large valley, at least 1,000 feet under the level of the Clarence, and through which flowed a considerable river, draining in its course part of the western slopes of the Spenser mountains. I was satisfied at once that the river we now saw was the head waters of the Wai-au-ua, and our success, so far, inspired me with great hopes of the future. From the saddle we descended by an extremely easy and almost unbroken slope to the level of the valley, which was here almost a mile in width. Along its western side flowed a gentle and beautiful stream, about 60 feet broad, and between two and three feet deep, the bed of which was shingly, whilst from its further edge rose steep wooded spurs of the great mountain. From the size of the river at the point where we first struck it, and from the appearance of the valley towards the north, I should suppose the river-course to this point to be about 10 miles, through a glen bounded on either side by rugged mountains, the Clarence, the Wairau, and the Kopi-o-wenuku or Rainbow river, rising amongst those which lie on its eastern side. I named the saddle over which we passed from the Clarence, ( * Maling's Pass," he having been the first to observe it as above mentioned. We camped here, intending to descend the valley on the following daj% Accordiugj vre broke camp the following morning at six o'clock, and proceeded down the valley, whose general bearing was S. 8° W. It widened gradually as we descended, the river receiving numerous small tributaries until we reached the valley of a large stream on its western side, named by me the " Ada," and flowing from the Spenser mountains. This river contained about three times as much water as the Maitai in its regular average, and joined the Waiau betweeu three and four miles from the opening of the valley. Looking up this valley the view is magnificent in the extreme, the rocky summit of the big mountain towering in majestic grandeur over the surrounding country. Seeing no opening in this direction, we proceeded down the valley until we reached another large tributary of the Waiau, flowing through a narrower and steeper valley than that of the other. This river, which I named the " Henry," joined the Waiau about a mile and a-half below the opening of the valley. The character of the scenery here underwent a great change, the big mountain curving away to the westward, and nothing higher than the hills on the south side of the " Henry " being visible from the valley of the Waiau. I at once determined to ascend those hills (which were open on the summits and wooded on their slopes), in the hope of discovering a

pass into the country beyond. "When I call them " hills," I do so only by comparison with their gigantic neighbour, for I compute their own altitude at nothing less than 5,000 feet. We accordingly ascended the valley of the Henry for about two miles and a-half, and camped in a small bush on the banks of the river. On the following morning (the 3rd March), we broke camp at six o'clock, the weather being extremely fine. We ascended the river for about a mile and a-half, when it forked, and I named the southern branch the Anne. Crossing the fork to the foot of the range on the south side, we entered the bush and ascended the mountain. We found the summit completely covered with a close sward of grass, as smooth as the lawn of a gentleman's domain, dotted with ponds of cool, delicious water, the margins of which were literally carpeted with Alpine flowers in full bloom, many j of which were extremely beautiful, and will, I believe, prove new to botanists. Amongst others was a celmisia, with leaves upwards of a span long, of a bright pea-green above, and covered below, as was also the scape, with a rich tomentum brown ; the flower is nearly as large as that of the celmisia holosericea, and contrasts exquisitely with the rich green and brown colours of the leaves and scape. Proceeding along the range, we had the satisfaction of seeing, far below us, alow grassy saddle leadiug from the head of the Henry into a large river, running due west, and rising in the Spenser mountains. We could see the course of this river for several miles, and could clearly trace its further progress in the same direction for a considerable distance, the whole being estimated by me at not less than fifteen miles ; whilst a large opening, still more to the westward, in the direction of tbe river's course, appeared to indicate a valley through which it flowed iv its onward progress. From the direction of its course, from its size, from its source in the large mountains, and from its palpable separation from the waters flowing to the eastward and southward, which I shall next mention, I concluded this to be, if not the main branch, at least a large branch of the Grey ; and assuming this to be the case, I thus had the satisfaction of finding one extremely easy pass into that river from the country on the south of the Wairau Gorge. We next proceeded along the range, in a south-we3terly direction, for about two miles ; gradually ascending between 600 and 800 feet above the snow-line; and then saw another large river flowing nearly south, and which evidently joins the Waiau. Between this river and the river supposed to be the Grey was also a low saddle, the height of which above the level of the two valleys could not be more than 300 or 400 feet, approachable by au easy slope on each side. This second river I named the " Boyle." Between it and the head of the river Anne is also a similar low saddle, so that, assuming the river flowing to the westward to be the Grey or a branch of the Grey, it can be reached from the head of the Henry, or from the head of the Anne into the Boyle, and thence over the saddle between it and the latter river. I believe the last mentioned, although the longest, will be found to be the best route, because the gully leading from the saddle to the Henry is precipitous with large slips, whilst the other saddles have easy approaches from either side. From the saddle below, the Boyle, as far as we could see along the course of the river supposed to be the Grey, it flowed through a valley which appeared to offer no obstacle whatever to the formation of a road, whilst the practicability of the intervening country to Tarndale may best be understood, when I say that we could walk over the whole of it at the rate of three or four miles an hour without encountering any obstacle more serious than spear-grass or a thicket of wild Irishmen. From where we stood we also observed to the south and west a large tract of mountain and hill country, the summit of which was generally covered with grass, and having wooded slopes which appeared to offer opportunities of occupation for pastoral purposes. Having, as I believed, accomplished my selfimposed task, I returned to Nelson after an absence of 13 days, and, although in no degree connected with the local government in the matter, I at once communicated to them the results of my journey. I venture to express a hope that the matter will not be suffered to rest where I have left it, I but that some step will be taken by the constituted authorities to ascertain whether any material beneficial result can be made to accrue from vaj exploration. W. T. L. Travers.