REVIEW.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7075, 18 October 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

REVIEW.

The King Country; or, Explorations in Kew Zealand. A narrative of OUO miles of ti-ival through Maorilund, by J. H. KkhkyNicholls. London : Sampson Low, Mar-

ston, Searle, and Kivington. Mr Kerry-Nicholls seema to have arrived iv the Colony when tho West Coast difficulty was approaching its crisis —be ia not very par ticular in regard to dates, —but whatbor he came out to New Zaaland for tba express purpose of exploring the King country ho dooa not say. He must at any rata have projected the journey which ia described in this voluma soon after arriving, aa he carried a letter of introduction from Sir George Grey to Tawhiao at the great gathering at Whatiwhatihoe. His purpose in visiting the King waa to ask "his authority to travel through tho Maori territory." Tawhiao recoived him very graciously, but advised him not to Bet out till the meeting was over, as tho tribes were "much disturbed in connection with the question about to be discussed between the Maoris and Enropeana." Aa a matter of fact, Mr Kerry Nicholls did not atart till March 8, 1883. In the meantime Parihaka had been razod. aud the Native Minister bad mado his famous journey through tho King couutry ; but our author contrives to leave tho impression that his own adventure was one of extraordinary daring. We in New Zaaland, _of course, know better, and it would have baen just as well in the long run for Mr Kerry-NichoH's reputation if he had stated the facts of the case a littlo more ingenuously to the English reader. Wo do not mean, however, to detract from his merits as a bold-hearted traveller, neither do we mean to insinuate that he indulges in what are called travellers' tales ; and after all it is only human to magnify one's achievements. Mr Kerry-Nicholls has "arranged his narrative nnder four principal divisions." The introduction contains a description of tho leading physical features of the King country, a rela ion of the leading incidents connected with its history, and an account of the condition of the Native race ; then there ara some chapters dealing with his visit to Tawhiao; next hia description of the Like couutry, the wonderland of New Zealand, or of his wanderings between TauraDga and Wairakei: aud finally. a daily record of his journey through the King country proper, which he entered "at its farthest (southern) extremity," and travelled northward to Alexandria.

"The King country" is on the whole an interesting and instructive book, but it will be much more interesting to the people at Home than to the colonists. Here in New Zaaland we are all tolerably familiar with the wonders of the Lake country, either from personal observation or description ; and there is really not much in this part of the volume that may not be found in guidebooks and handbooks. Mr Kerry-Nicholls iB enraptured with what ho saw in the New Zaaland Wonderland, but be has not the faculty of bringing the objects which he describes very vividly or distinctly before the " inward eye "of the reader. The following in regard to the Terraces will give some notion of his style of description:— " Both terraces are unique in their way—both wonderful monuments of Nature's grandest handiwork. It seems to me, however, that iv Te Tarata we have all that is divinely sublime, ethereal, fairy-like, and lovely—a structure chaste i»nd grand enough to serve as steps to heaven. Te Otukaperangi, on the other hand, has a rich, gorgeous, Oriental look about it which reminds one of those fanciful creations we read of in the Eastern tales, and which were constructed of chalcedony, agate, alabaater, onyx, jasper, and lapis lazuli, atudded with precious gems, and inhabited by beautiful princesses, gnomes, and genii, and evolved from the fanciful minds of those gaunt, dark-skinned men, who, reared in the sandy deserts of" Araby the Blest," carried fire and sword over the Eastern world, and built up an empire which rivalled in Bplendour even the most wondrous of their fabulouß tales, which still take the mind captive, as it were, and lead it away like an ignis fatuus, a fleeting minge, or a fitful dream. But there is nothing evanescent in the Pink Terrace; it is adaman tine in construction, and grandly ba.uitiful enough to have graced the approach to tho Temple of Solomon the Magnificent, the Palace of the Queen of Sheba, or the Mosque of Haronn Al Rasehid the Superb." This kind of writing is certainly not " divinely sublime "; it ia, on the contrary, very uudivinely ngu Benaical, ungrammatical, and penny-a-lineriah, and quite out of place in the narrative of a journey the object of which was " of a purely scientific nature, and which was prosecuted throughout solely in conformity with that view." The writing throughout is indeed rather shipshod, with a tendency to magnificence; and it is perhaps fortunate for Mr Kerry-Nicholls' readers that he had only two terraces to describe. In starting from Wairakeii on the more sepcus part of bis journey, our traveller tells ns that he "waa ne novice in the matter of travel. I had penetrated into some of the wildest parts of Auatralia, explored the principal islands of the Coral sea, been into the interior of China and Japan, crossed tbe United States (by train, we preaume), visited Mexico, travelled in Canada, voyaged up the Nile, camped with the Bedouins on tbe plains of Arabia, and hunted in the forests of Ceylon. In all these countries, whilst exploring their natural beauties and varied resources, it was my practice to mix freely with tbe native race 3, while I made their habits and customs my special study; and with the knowledge thus acquired, it seemed to my mind that it would not be altogether impossible for me to get along with the Maoris, whose intelligence and courage had been a general theme for admiration ever since the arrival of Cook." The fact is that Mr Kerry-Nicholls in all his wanderings in Maoriland ran no risk, except that of being suffocated with the fumes of charcoal and tobacco in some runanga-house. His journey through the King country was, however, a very creditable undertaking, though we are sorry to say that the account of it which he has here published leaveß a somewhat confused, at least an indistinct, impression on the mind. The moat thrilling parts of tha narrative are those in wbich he describes his ascent, first of Tongariro and then of Ruapehu, These descriptions are much better than his rhodomontade about the Terraces ; indeed they are much the best things in the book, though the author is, as a describer, everywhere too diffuse, verbose, and ambitious of grand effects. We are constantly reminded of the penny-a-liner—a sad drawback to the pleasure of perusing his pageß. TonSariro is a sacred mountain strictly tapu. Ir Kerry-Nicholls and his companion (a Mr Turner, who acted as hia interpreter, K-N. himself knowing nothing of tb9 Maori tongue), were not without fears lest they should be discovered on forbidden ground. While near the base of tha mountain they saw four Maoris on horseback in the distance, but they saw no more. Mountain climbers are still unknown in that quarter, so that the Maoris have no particular reason to guard the approaches to Tongariro. Tbe ascent and descent were made in safety and without any great difficulty. Here ia what they found at tbe tip of tha mountain :" We crawled up a frozen, steep incline on to the hot quaking edge of the great crater, where a grand and curious sight burst upon tha view. We gained the rugged summit of tbe cone at its higheat side, but juat aa we did so the great cloud of Btoam rolling up from the enormous basin beneath us swept over us in a dense white cloud, and what with the loud bubbling of the great columns of steam aa they burst with terrific force from the rocky vents, the unearthly gurglings of the jets of boiling mud as they shot into the air, and the strong sulphurous fumes that pervaded the atmosphere in every direction, we seemed for once in our lives to be standing on the brink of Hadeß. Mounting a little to the right along the hot Boil that smoked beneath our feet, we gained the very topmost point of the mountain, formed by a broken rugged peak that fell on the inner side witb a precipitous descent into the boiling crater below. We were now on the windward Bids of the steam-cloud, and at an altitude of 7376 ft above tho level of tha sea. Ruapehu, the "colosial neighbour, or big brother, of Tongariro was next ascended. Instead of a boiling crat«r, Mr Kerry-Nicholla found at the top a " rocky crown of ice and snow. This crown, as it was " not only tho nigheßt point of the mountain but the very topmost summit of the North Island," he named Point Victoria, in honour of her Majesty the Queen. " Turning from the wonders of the mountain (which he has just described), and looking out over the grand expanse of country which stretched far and wide on every side in all itß priatine loveliness until it lost itself in the wide expanse of ocean, just visible in the distance to the east and west, a wondrous pa lorama presented itself. Never had I seen a more varied and enchanting scene. I had beheld a wider expanse of country from tba summit of the Rocky Mountains, gorges and precipices more stupendous iv the Valley of the Yosemite, and I had gazed over a land very similar in outline from the summit of Fuaiyama in Japan, but never before had I stood upon a glacier-crowned height in the region of perpetual snow, with an active volcano (Tongariro) riaing thousands of feet beneath ma, nor had I ever beheld so wide an expanse of lake, mountain, and rolling plain mingling together as it were, and forming one grand and glorious picture. This wondrous Elysium (we should have thought there were no "rocky crowns of snow and ice" in Elysium)—for in ita primeval beauty it looked like nothing else, with it 3 coloaaal, glacierscored mountain —had not the cold frigidity (the frigidity in Elysium being warm) of the Alpine districts of the South Island, where Nature looks awful in its grandeur ; but here was the mingling, as it were, of the torrid and the frigid zone—a land where tbe Bnow-field and the glacier rose in all their impressive sublimity above a romantic looking country clothed in a semi-tropical vegetation, where the choicest and most varied of trees and plants grew spontaneously m an atmoaphere which might rank as the moat healthful and invigorating in the world. The Bight was, indeed, one calculated to overawe the mind and to impress tha imagination with a sense of the omnipotence of tho Creator." Bnt one gets tired of mountains, crater topped or ice-crowned and far stretching prospects■; and we could Save wished that Air Kerry-Nicholls haa beon as familiar witb tha language, customs, aud character of tbe Maoris as he seems to be with trachytic boulders and lay* ridges. .Vo do however, get a few interesting, if not pieusanl, glimpses of the Natives. Here, for instance, fa a confession of agnosticism _on the part of an old tatooed warrior; for there aro advanced thinkers amongs. the Maoris as well as amongst our own small philosophers. This grim old bravo, w ho dwelt It Ruakaka, " would sit aud listen for hours to everything tbat waß Baid, but he would

never venture a remark. Now ami again a I diabolically sinister Bmilo would pass over his blud-lined countenance, and lie would mutter a word with a pnlf of smoke ; but beyond this ha was silent. When, however, the qwwtion ;>.s to his religioua scruples was put straight to him (tha Uuakaka pe.ipni an>. H-iuhaus) ho spcke out frankly, and said, with au .iir oi singular naicele: ' At one li ne I thought thorn wei-o two saints in tho Island—T.iwhia.i and Te Whiti— aud I waited a loug tim» to son it thoy wuu'd be taken up to hoavou in a chariot it first; but I have waited ao long that I am tired, and ho.v I think that tharo ara no saints, in heaven or on earth.' Old Hineparoolerangi, who was alwaya a good talker, and displayed at all tiiuoa a facetious spirit, laughed heartily at tha admission of tho old man, and then, looking ua full in tho face, she oxclaimad, in her wild, weird way, 'Wa bolieve in nothing here, aud get fat on pork and potatoes.'" Genuine agnostics I When Mr Karry-Nicholls and his companion reached Ponotapiki pah in Western Taupo they found that a tangi was baing held. There was a considerable number of visitors from the neighbouring districts. "After a very acceptable meal of pork, potatoes, and sowthistlea, which waa served out to the assembled crowd in Binall plaitod flax baskets, we wero allotted quarters in tho runanga-houso, whore 50 men, women, and children lay huddled togother in tho most pro miscuous way. Nevor during the whole of our journey did wo spend so unpleasant a night. At sundown the runanga-house was firmly closed, four big charcoal tires were lit, and men, women, and children smoked until the atmosphere became so stifling that it was almnst impossible to breathe. The great subject of conversation was the question of Native boundaries, tho projected Government survoy through tho country, and tha iniquities of the Nativo Land Court. More than a dozen speeches were delivered on theso topics, and it was amusing to see one gaunt fiijuie after another get up in tho dim light, swathed in a blmikot, niter tho fashion of a toga, and deliver a long aud fiery oration, to which everyone would listen in rapt attention, without questioning a single statement of the speaker uutil ho had delivered himself of all he had to say. These expressions of opinion were carried on from either side of the houso far into the night, uutil ono by one tha dark forms fell off to sleep, when the snoring, coughing, and wheezing, coupled with the stifling heat, transformed the place into a veritable pandemonium." Our travellers met Te Kooti at Manga-o-rongo. On the second day after tbeir arrival at that place there was great excitement as a body of about 50 horsemen, headed by a woman, came galloping across the plain towards the settlement. " Thero were loud cries of ' haeremai' from the woraon, and shortly of ' Te Kooti' from the men, aa the ex-rebel chief and his wife rode into camp at the haad of a band of well mounted though w,ld-looking horsemen Mr Kerry-Nicholls giveß rather a flittering discription of the appearauce of Te Kooti, which, however, he belies by the accompanying sketch from hia own pencil; for a more villianous-louking face was never done in black and white. Which of the portraits we i>re to believe, or whether either, we cannot say, as we have never seen tbe gentleman. The picture of his 'wife we take to be from a photograph. It is that of a gaunt wolfishlooking dame—a fitting mate for the hero of Poverty Bay. But of all the portraits, whether done with pen or pencil, in tba book, the finest to our mind ia that of Peti Hetau Turoa, which the reader will find at page 289. The lament of this old Haubau warrior over tho decay of hia race is very pathetic. But we have no room for more quotations. All things taken together, Mr Kerry-Nicholls haa contrived to write a very interesting book, whicb can be confidently recommended