SPORT AT WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4887, 20 November 1876, Page 3

SPORT AT WELLINGTON.

(From the Field.J For rifle, shot-gun, or rod, no country that I know affords so little attraction to the sportsman as New Zealand. The rifle is about as useless a piece of furniture there as a thrashing machine to a washerwoman. The largest quadruped indigenous to the country is a rat. Of course, .one of the .first questions I asked after landing was what sort of shooting I could. get in the colony. My question _ was answered by another : “ Have you got a rifle!” and I blushingly admitted the soft impeachment. “ Then," says my friend, “ you come along with me, and I will show you such sport as you never dreamt of.” Delighted with the offer, I at once accepted, but at the same time explained that, as I had spent a good many years in South Africa, and had killed every known kind of game to be found between the Zambesi and Cape Town, I might be supposed to have some knowledge of what sport was. “Africa, pooh ! —elephants, buffaloes ! stuff! you come, along with me, and I’ll show you some real sport,” says my New Zealander. So the next day we rode out to a village called Grey town, some fifty or sixty miles from Wellington, through a good deal of sepulohiallooking country, that aspect being given to it by the immense numbers of large, bare, barkless, dead trunks of trees, left on what was formerly bush country, but where the live wood had all been cut down. The following morning we left the Bising Sun, and rode about ten miles in an easterly direction till we came to a farmhouse, where we - off-saddled, and then tramped two or three miles over some roughish country, till we came to a rather thick bush of large trees. Here I was desired to “ charge my piece,” and my New Zealander entered the bush with an amount of caution and a degree of excitement displayed upon his features that apparently indicated the vicinity of some very formidable foe indeed. While he gently wended his way, peering anxiously among the rugged trunks, I turned my attention to the ground in search of “spoor,” or slot, but none was visible. After a little time, a sudden “Hist!” was heard, and I saw my friend lying at full length on his stomach behind a huge tree trunk, and I immediately “bobbed” down‘and gazed around, but nought met my eye. There certainly appeared a farmyard pig inserting his muddy proboscis into a tuft of fem, about fifty yards ahead; but my eyes passed him over -in search of something to shoot at. Seeing nothing, I approached my friend ventre d tcrre to ascertain the immediate cause of his gymnastics, and while so doing master piggy trotted off with an elegant grunt and a cheerful flourish of his tail. Up jumps my friend in great excitement, exclaiming, “Confound it! you’ve spoilt it; why didn’t you kill him ?” “ Which?” I remarked. “Whi«h? why the pig, of course. I thought you were a duffer ; I thought you knew nothing about sport.” “As how?” I observed. “ Why the deuce didn’t you kill the pig ?” “ My friend,” I said astonished, “ Why should I kill the pig? I want no pork, I have had my breakfast, and it is not yet lunch time ; besides, pigs are killed by cutting their throats, and my education did not, so far so my recollection goes, embrace the learning of the profession of a butcher.” My New Zealander rushed after the pig in high dudgeon, and I turned my attention to the more congenial occupation of gathering ferns, and examining the nature of the trees which formed the bush. On my return to Wellington I carefully greased my rifles with mercurial ointment, wrapped the barrels and locks up in flax, and locked up the cases, till my affairs should enable me to leave New Zealand for some country where a little more excitement is to be obtained than shooting farmyard pigs. There is certainly more scope for the use of the shot gun than the rifle, but even that is very limited. Partridges and pheasants have been introduced with, I believe, considerable success in certain parts of the islands ; but, as the open season has not yet arrived, I can say nothing about them from personal experience. Babbits have also been introduced, and have bred in some places to such an extent that they prove a serious nuisance. I have been told that among the lakes in the south-western portion of the Middle Island wildfowl of all descriptions exist in incredible numbers, and rails in the fem land ; but, having as yet found every statement of the sort to he very much exaggerated, X take all I hear or read with a very large grain of salt indeed, and assume nothing for granted till I have proved by actual experience the truth of my information. Should I stay in the colony through the winter, I shall pay the district in question a visit, and let you know the result. Bound the coast, those who care about coast and sea-bird shooting will find plenty of employment for their guns ; but at those parts that I have visited the work is very rough, rougher than anything I have done, even on the Cornish coast. There are hut few actual cliffs, as we understand the word in England, the grass in most places coming down to the water’s edge, but the hills are nearly perpendicular and very high. It is the beach itself that causes the work to be. so rough, being composed in most places of hard volcanic rock, worn into all sorts of fantastic shapes, pools, pinnacles, &c. In the interior, especially on the edges of bush country, a good many species of birds for stuffing may he shot ; but it is a description of sport to which lam not myself partial. I had heard a good deal about the “ kiwi” (Apteryx), and believed,' from what I had been told, that it was at least as large as the emu ; but like everything else in New Zealand, it became considerably dwarfed on actual contact, and diminished to the size of a common fowl. It is a terrestrial wingless bird, with long narrow feathers of a dark brown color, and has a long beak like a snipe. It is exceedingly shy and difficult to get at. The rod is not of much greater" use in New Zealand than the rifle dr shot gun. Of fresh water fish very few are indigenous. A good many species, however, have been introduced, especially in the rivers in Otago,, such as salmon, trout, roach, carp, trench, &c. ; but I cannot speak of the results from personal experience. The only rivers I have yet tried are the Hutt and Wairarapa, and, after several attempts, the only fish I have been able to capture was a species of grayling—Prototroctes oxyrhyuchus, I believe. But whatever may be the meagreness of sport with the gun or rod, the coasts and harbors of New Zealand afford an amount of sea fishing which is probably to he exceeded in no part of the world ; but, as the weather is exceedingly changeable, the wind often chopping round without warning of any kind, and blowing with considerable violence, it is not advisable to go very far from port in anything smaller than a 20-ton cutter.

As the fishing is almost identical round the entire coasts, I will give an account of a day’s work, undertaken in company with a couple of friends, in Wellington harbor on JSTew Year’s Day, which will serve as a sample of the sport to be anticipated on any part of the coast. As my friends were not often able to take a holiday, one being chief clerk in a Government office, and the other captain of a large ship in port, we determined to make a day of it, and, if we felt inclined, stay out the whole night as well. So we provisioned our cutter with a Yorkshire ham, a cold round of corned beef, a couple of loaves of bread, a tin of biscuits, a couple of pots of anchovy paste, German sausage, cheese, butter, &c., and to wash these comestibles down we provided half a dozen of Bass, a bottle of Irish whisky, and a keg of water. We also took several small herrings (Agonostoma forsteri) and some raw beef for bait. Wellington harbor, be it understood, is a land-locked bay of an oval shape, its greatest length being about nine miles. It is surrounded by hills, some of them being more than 1000 ft. in height, and the only entrance is by a narrow strait, running south-east and north-west, and less than a mile in width. Six miles from Wellington, and opposite the entrance, is a small island, about 500 yards long, known as Soames island. On it is built the lazaretto for the reception of immigrants placed in quarantine; there is also a lighthouse. A couple of miles from Soames Island, and at the head of the entrance, is a huge rock, known as Ward island, Wellington harbor is seldom quiescent; it is almost always blowing, either from the north-west or the south-east, and

generally' pretty stiff. There is, however, owing to its being so completely land-looked, very little surf, except on the northern shore when a strong south-easter is blowing right up the entrance.

Well, we left the breastwork at five o’clock in the morning, taking with us a young man to assist in working the cutter. It was bioWr ing fresh from the north-west, and, with “ a wet sheet and a flowing sail,” we made straight for Soaraes Island, that , having been determined on as the first ground on which we were .to commence our piscatory vocations. There was a chopping seat on, and, as we were going close to the wind, we shipped a considerable amount of spray, and soon got wet through, as we all appeared to think it infra dig. to take shelter under the half-deck for’ard. Three quarters of an hour brought us under the lee of the island, and we dropped anchor in about six fathoms, intending to start proceedings with a few rock cod (Percis colias), for which the vicinity of this island is noted. Each of us was provided with three lines ; the strongest one had a single large hook, which was baited with an eight-inch herring and allowed to rest on the bottom ; the next-sized line had a leaden plummet at the end, above which were fastened three hooks at a foot distance from each other, and of a smaller size than the first, and each baited with a piece of raw beef a cubic inch in size, the plummet being allowed to rest on the bottom. The third line was finer than either of the others, and was prepared and baited in a similar manner to the last, but with very small pieces of meat. I may say that, as far as my own experience goes, all New Zealand fish feed close to the bottom, the only exceptions which I have found to this rule being the “ kahawai ” (Arripis salar) a handsome salmonoid fish which I have caught weighing as much as 81b. —and the well-known garfish (Hemiramphus intermedins), both of which may be caught in mid-water. The latter fish appears to be very widely distributed, as I have caught it by the dozen in Durban Bay, Natal, where it is known as the “ snipe” fish, and I have seen it exposed for sale in Zanzibar ; I have also been told by friends that they have caught'it in the Bed Sea and at Bombay, as well as on the Australian coasts. It is a great favorite for the table, being exceedingly delicate in flavor.

To return ; We soon had the lines out, and waited patiently for a bite. The sun was just appearing above the hills, and gave a threatening appearance to the heavy black clouds in the wind’s eye, and the skipper prophesied a “ buster." In this, I am happy to say, he was mistaken, as it is never safe to foretel anything about the weather in Wellington, it always being liable to change at any '"moment. I took my station on the half-deck forward, and kept the thinnest line in my hand, allowing the slack of the others to rest on the deck on each side, so that I could see when there was a bite on either. As I had anticipated, the fine line received the first bite, and a sharp strike and a rapid hauling in brought to light, instead ■ a rock cod a “ terakihi ” (Chilodactylus macropterus), a handsome, flat-sided, silvery fish, one of the commonest of New Zealand fishes, and of excellent -flavor, averaging about a pound in weight. This fish was at once scaled and cut up for bait, all fishes here taking much more freely to a fish bait than to a meat one, being of decidedly cannibal propensities. We all of us continued hauling in our smallest lines for some time before we had a bite on the larger ones, the result being always a terakihi (rock cod), “spotty” (Labrichthysbothryocasmus), or wrasse (Labrichthys fusilooa). The rock cod were all small, not one weighing more than two ponnds. Just, however, as we were thinking of having some breakfast, the skipper was seen standing with one foot on the gunwhale aft, tugging away at his largest line. There was evidently some very powerful fish at the end of it; but, after allowing him to waste his strength for a few minutes, the skipper hauled away, and flung on board a ling (Genypterus blacodes) at least five feet long. It being now past eight o’clock, we metaphorically rang the breakfast bell, and retired to the lower deck to attack the ham and beef, which, in due course, we washed down with a grateful draught of Bass. The comestibles being again stowed away, we determined that, as apparently only the smaller fishes were on the feed, it would be advisable to seek other ground for our further operations. We got up the anchor, and, the wind having fallen lighter, took up a berth to windward of the island, where are a number of curious rocks tunnelled right through by the action of the water. Here we were fortunate enough to catch some “kabawais,” already mentioned. This fish is one of the gamest and most satisfactory to laud of any in New Zealand waters; it enters the mouths of streams, and, when in fresh water, is said to rise to the fly. Our young assistant, too, was not idle, for, in addition to a fine “ kahawia,” he also managed to hook a six-pound “ snapper” (Pagrus unioolor), a fish more common in the northern parts of New Zealand, and, I believe, identical with one which I have often caught in Durban Bay and at East London, Cape Colony. After this we had no bite for nearly an hour, and therefore again determined to shift our quarters ; so we up mainsail and jib, slacked away the main sheet till the boom was almost at right angles, and ran straight before the wind —which had now slightly freshened again for Ward Island. Our hands being now free, we started the whisky bottle, and much regretted that we had not a gun on board, as numbers of delicately marked gulls and other sea birds kept continually floating round us. However, we had to content ourselves with admiring their' graceful movements as they circled round,! chasing one another in mid air, which was, perhaps, the moat sensible thing w e could have done, as they'werejall well-known species, and I am no advocate for mere slaughter without sport or excitement, and when no desire to form a collection exists. We let go the anchor some distance to leeward of Ward Island in deep water, hoping to hook some of the larger fish which are often caught between this island and the main ocean, such as the “ hapuku” (Oligorus gigas), a huge fish allied to the Murray cod (Oligorus maquariensis), an Australian fresh-water fish, and which frequently runs over 1001 b. in weight, one having been recently captured in Cook Strait, while dredging for the broken cable which connects the two islands, weighing no less than 1301bs, Other large fish caught here are the kingfish (Seriola lalandii) and the “ moki” (Latris ciliaris); they are both capital fishes for the table, and the former frequently reaches 301bs. in weight. ’ As the bait was taken pretty freely, we remained on the ground for some hours, and landed a good many “ terakihi,” “ trevally ’ (Caraux georgianus), and mackerel (Schomber’ austfalasicus). We also caught a couple ef “ barracoota ” (Thyrsites atun), identical with the world-famed “ snoek” of Cape Town, which, as everybody knows, is there dried and exported in immense quantities. But it was not till late in the afternoon that the climax to our excitement arrived. About 5 o’clock the skipper and myself simultaneously perceived our largest ■ lines running out at a rapid rate, evidently with very big fish at the ! ends. On seizing my own I was nearly dragged ! overboard, and had considerable difficulty in stopping it. However, it was a very strong line, and I had no fear of it breaking ; so, after a struggle, I gently hauled away at it with main force, and shortly brought to light with considerable pride what appeared like a mermaid rising from the water, but which, on inspection, proved to be a magnificent king fish, 211 b. in weight. The captain also landed a similar fish some 41b. less in weight. These king fish appeared to have driven all the rest away, as we had no bite for some time ; we therefore again determined to take up a fresh position, and anchored close in shore, under the western side of the entrance, Here we also caught a good many similar fish to those we had .already captured, as well as some flounders (Rhombosolea monopus). To make a long story short, we stayed on this spot till past eleven o’clock, when, as heavy clouds were gathering and the wind was freshening, we made sail for Wellington, where we arrived shortly after midnight. In all we caught 112 fish, weighing fully 2501 b. In addition to the species already mentioned, I have caught myself, or seen caught in Wellington Harbor, red cod (Lotella baochus), sole (Peltoramphus novae zealandi®), trumpeter

(Lat'ris Beoateia), gurnard (Trigla kiima),: John Dory (Zeus faber), the strange elephant-fish (Collorhynchus antarcticus), like a small shark with a trunk ; edible shark (Mustellus antarticus), which is dried and eaten in immense numbers by the Maoris; leather jacket (Monacanthus convexircatris), familiar to all visitors to Ascension—at least, I believe it ! to-be the same fish ; the queer porcupine fish (Ohilomyoterus jaouliferus) ; the spined dog fish (Acanthias vulgaris); pipe fish (Ichthyocampua filium) ; sea horse (Hippocampus abdommahs) ; lump fish (Tracheloohismus pinnulatus) ; butter fish (Coridodux pullus), which has the extraordinary peculiarity of having bright green bones, which color it is said no chemical process will remove ; sea bream (Neptonemus brema) ; skate (Baja nasuta) ; brill (Pseudorhombus scaphus) ; sea perch (Labrichthys celidota); horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) ; and a small fish whose local name I could not find out, but which I identified as the Stigmatophora longirostris of Capt. Hutton. Besides these, I believe there are a good many others to be occasionally caught in the harbor ; but I am only writing from actual experience. I will therefore at once be admitted that I was not far wrong in stating that the coasts of New Zealand afford an amount of sea fishing to be exceeded in few parts of the world.