THE WONDERS OF THE LAKES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6667, 31 March 1883, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE WONDERS OF THE LAKES.

So. VI. ! [BY A COKRESPONDENT. LAKE TARAWERA. | It was early on a bright punny morning ' when I left Te Wairoa to cross Lake Tara- ' mcra en route for the Terraces. I use the first person singular here because I was travelling alone, but a party had been formed ! at one of the hotels to hire the boat which is used to convey visitors across the lak=, so I : joined them. There were four ladies and , three of the sterner sex. We strolled through , the native settlement, where most of the whare3 wera hidden from view by a dc.'se : growth of sweetb.-iar, which wafted its > pleasant odour through the balmy air, and , then we followed down .1 step pathway fringed with spreading trees, which leads j through the Waituwhera yorge t:> a narrow j inlet of the lake, where we cinbirketl. I j had hoped to find a big war cnuoe ready , manned by half nak''d w.rri rs, and writing 1 to convey us to the greatest " Wo.i.iers of j the Lakei," but, in place of that, we yo: into a craft built like a whaleboat and manne 1 by a BtalwE rt Jcrew of Maoris, some of whom affected stripsd calico shirts and white trousers, while others were satisfied with scant garments of a less at: racth e kind. With cp:«', or rather " nil told," we museied sixteen souls. A DISTINGUISHED TRAVELLER. There was at 10-ist one distinguished personage among the crowd, and whom X at first took to be 11 boss fugleman" or captain, but I soon found out that he had only come on b mrd " promiscuous like," to gee a litt across tlie lake. Tliisi in ividtial was a tall, well built old man of some seventy summers, with splendi !ly delined Mao-i fea- , tures, which were 'laboratelv tattooed after the most improved native fashion, the thin blue lines and curves running round his month, over his nose, ami across his forehead 10 the very roots of his hair, and I could , see at a glance that he was a grind type of a savage of the old school which is i.ow un- ' fortunat-.-ly fast passing away. His only covering wis a scant shirt, and a tart'.u , shawl, whicli he folded round his body like a Roman toga. Iu one hand he carried a bis; hunk of bread, at which ho munched as we " r glided aloug, varying the operation now and

again by a drink of water from the lake, which lie scooped into his mouth with the palm of his hau'l, wliilu in thy oth-.-r In.* grasped not a ni> re, as ho. might have done of old, but a copy of the Maori newspaper, Te Koriinak,o, and which he seemed to guard with as much jealousy as a London- r might do a copy of the Times when travelling on a penny steain boat on the Thames. If the old man had guarded a pakeha uuper in the same way I would have taken no notice of if, because I would have imagined that he had brought it along with hiin to wrap up what lie couldn't eit of his frugal repast. But the Te Korimako was in his own language, and I make no doubt that the antiquated heathen knew of one or two tit-bits in it that he would read and difcuss round the camp five of his tribe. He sat alongside me in the prow* of the boat, and Sophia, the guide, eat crouched at my feet, and when I asked her what liii name was she replied Rangihewa, at which the old man smiled and said, "No, no!" "me Lieorgi (!rey." At the time of the war, Rangihewa was a noted chief, and a great fighting man. SOPHIA. As I have already mentioned Sophia's name, which is echocd over the hills of Tarawera with as much frequency as is that of Kineinoa at K"torua, but, perhaps, not with quite as much of romance. I think I cannot do better than give a sketch of lli-r here, lu anpearanee, at i;rst glance, Sophia is remarkable. She is about medium height, comely of form, with well modelled f-a'.urcs, a r-ose slightly aequiliue, lips slightly tattooed, a pair of big dark eye?, and a thick cluster of raven hair, which falls in a weird way over her well-formed head and shoulders. She walks with a firm st p, and with the ' gait of a drum-major. \\ hen she came into 1 the boat she was shocUs-i and stock ingles o , 1 and just below her knees fell a bright scarlet ; flannel petti:oat, and over this again a blue 1 skirt tucked up about s'ae waist, a small 1 bright-aoloured shawl was swathed round ; her ample bust, her hat of plated rush was i liried with pink, and turning up on one side 1 siited her ft m< rr< ilU', as the French modisl tes would say. In her mouth was a short, ! black pipe, while round her ne/k was a cord : from v/nic'i dep>fnde I a greenstone tiki, and ' whii'i, like all other tikies I have ever seen, 1 was modelled after the fashion of a small, ' flattened-out, lob-sided baby. She is a halt- ' cast of the Ngapuhi tribe, was born at s Russell, speaks English with much fluency > and grace, has been twice married, and has 3 as-is'.ed in a small way to replenish the ' earth, by becoming the mother of fifteen 2 children." For the past twelve years Sophia 1 has acted the part of guide, philosopher, and > friend to thousands of tourists who have s visited these pirts, and in this way her 3 history has become identifi'd with the place

HSSWIJ ll«D "CLUIPH. IWIV.II . - t— _ when; she reigns almost v.ith the power 01 a perty (jaccn. Her word is law in all matters iiotnuea tho natives and pakehas, she arranges the tourist parties, tells the natives what to do, settles the accounts, supplies the visitors with information respecting the notable placcp, and generally *' wa-ltzes them round." If you have an) points to work, keep friends with Sophia and do just what she tells you ; any deviation from this course will invariably plunge you into a slough of or in default of that, perhaps, into a geyser—a boiling spring or a mndhole. BEAUTIES OF THE LAKE. A.s our boat glided onward to the wild chauts of the Maoris, all the varied beauties of Tarawera unfolded themselves like an uverchauging panorama before the view. We passtd out of an arm of the lake with a picturesque headland on our port side, cloihed in the greenest vegetation, and w bicli was formerly tue site of an old pah known as Ruakiria, l.nt the missionaries changed it into Kariri quod est iutrrprclutu, Galilee. When trarelliug in the Holy Land I was often charmed by the sound of these Christain names, as well us by tho thought of the holy incidents connected with tlieill, but when applied to localities in these wild regions ttiey seem to break upon the <ar with a mysterious and almost bewildering effect. There is a small native settlement somewhere, I think, near Tauranga, which I wai told had been recbristened in the same way, by the name of Jerusalem, while I have heard of a .River Jordcn somewhere in the same locality, and whicii X can't find laid oIF or. the Government mapj. This is clearly all oversight. From this point the broad waters of the lake opened out before us, tbe sun shone brightly from the cloudless sky, and the golden rays gilding the calm blue surface, and shooting through the overhanging trees that fringed the lake rejected their gnarled branches and plummed heads in a thousand , fantastic formß in the depths below, The I water of Tarawera is so limpid and transparent that you can see far down below the • surface, ami discern the big rocks and decaying giants of the forest which lie scattered i about its bed, aa if hurled there by the I throes of an earthquake, and while every » npw and again you may behold tho gleam of ' the shoals of small fish indigenous to the ' (bike, or the flash of the golden carp iutroMl'cfuced by Sir (itorge Grey, and which here • attain to a wonderful size. Tarawera is 3 seven miles long, by about, five miles broad, t and like Kotorua, it is situated at an elevat tion of a little over a thousand feet above the . level of the sea. It was evidently, at eoino period or another, the centre of a widely e extended volcanic action, aa evidenced by a tho igneous rocks which lino its shores, as j well as lay tho rugged peaks which add o grandeur to its ecenery. On every side of e the lake boU mountains, with conical peake s and serrated ridges, roan up from the very 8 edgo of the water, covered to the Bumtnita u with a rich growth of giant-like vegetation, a whose varied tints of green were resplene dent with the bright crimson blossom of the s pohutukawa tree, which here attains to a g colossal size, and Nourishes in all its pristine loveliness. Piclure-cjue headlands juittd k out into the water, deep bays, broad valleys, n and weird gorges came before the view at d every turn, and the scenery was so wild, so grand, and bo varied that one hardly knew >. which part of it to admire the most. The v eaßtern arm of the lake forms the outlet to IE the Tarawera river, the Awa o'te Atua of [a the natives Anglioe—the " river of the gods,"

! and beyond this the grand volcanic cone of : Putauaki, or Mount Edgecnmbc, rose to a : height of two thousand five hundrc 1 feet, ' while right in front of our course the 4 majestic outline of MountTarc.vrera, . ~ed in the form of a colossal truncatc . me with steep, sloping and tmtud red oxide of iron, and sh:niny obsidian, made ifc look as if it were just cooling from tho territic heat of volcanic fires. It appeared as if, at s 'inc period «.r another, this enggy mountain had been much i higher than no.v, but that nature, being disj satisfied with her work, had snapped it in twain by one tivnV'iidou3 and caused ! the rugged fracture to assume the ponderous ' form of a gigantic ppiked crown. _ The ' stupendous form of this yiaut mountain not ! only adds grandeur to Tarawera, a3 it rises in sublime majesty two thousand feet above the lake, hut it i* a beacon for miles around ! the lake district, over which it preai.le.i like a monarch, an;! when '' king Tara* wera" tro'.vn.s dark beneath his Bpiked crown ! yon may " look out forsqualls.'' Since time immemori il Mount Tarawera haa been 1 rcnowne I in Maori »oag and legend, and, [ among other taie3 connected with it, a j , monster taniwha or fabu'ou3 preen drago »n, ■ : gifted with cannibal proclivities, is said to : hannt it, while in its dark caves the bones j of countless warrior chiefs or the Ar;\\va3 j j await the sound of the last trumpet, j XE ARIKI. | Steering our light craft, which sce-i.ed to quiver under the ilini, steady stroke of her ' d:uk crew, bo ;»s to bnng Mount Tarawera |on our 44 port quarter." we entered Te • Ariki, a wide inlet at the south-west end of j the lake, and when we had rounded the ! rocky headland known as Moru P-ur.t, th- ! hil's and vail- ys spread themselves out in a ; splendid amphitheatre o-enchant-ng scenery, the treen and creeping vines mirrored thein» st ives in tlie water, they seemed to glide beneath us like a fairy forest a*, we swept along, while a cloud of steam rising in the distance told ua that we were fast approaching the wonders of :iotomahana. We hauled up in front of a native village there wer-: one or two whares, and here old Kangihewa got cut of the boat to wade asho-e, and, wrapping his shawl ( aWout his neck, pulled up his shirt to prevent; it from getting wet, but utterly regardless of eonsequenccs, an 1 then bidding us farewell by a wave of his hind aud a tremendous grin which made his tattoo marks double up into a curious network j over his face, be entered the door of a whare with a majestic gait, and with the IV [ Korimako un ier his arm. Here we purchased a couple of kits of k«>uras irom a native woman who waded into the water 7 almost alfresco, with an indiarubher-looking i baby on her back, and then we headed tor t the further end of the bay. where a. pii:- , turesfje-look ing Maori s-ttle:nent, called ! Tahimatorra, ad led a pleasant charm to the [ beauties of the surrounding landscape. Wcy .it this noint. and nu attenuated, wir\S>

landed .it tms pome, an>; au atienu.iwsu, old chivf, as thin as a match, and with a very scant wardrobe, put oil in .'i delapid'itod canoe to bid us welcome, ail.l to annex any stray biwbeea or figs of tobacco be knocking around, ff-re thu parry was divided, the ladies embarking in t eanoc to tip the K.ai\v\ika creek, and to jofci us at Rotomahaua, while we, the sterner sex, walked a mile through the manuka scrub, following the attractive red petticoat of Sophia. [To be continued.]