RAMBLES IN THE KING COUNTRY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13960, 20 July 1907, Page 4

RAMBLES IN THE KING COUNTRY.

BY A Lady SraiAL. No. X. THIS WAY TO THK MAKETOTE. Up and away, for time will not wait! Here is an opportunity; 1 may mount this coach, 'visit the Makctoto Viaduct; and, returning in tho evening, catch the departmental train and return to TaumaranuU I only ascertained this fact fivo minutes befor© I found myself swung up on totheboxseat of tho coach bound for Ul9 Maketote. Six horses, coupled by traces, arc prancing about .under my nose; newspapers aTe piled sit around and about me. I sit on •a huge.pile, and am a mere island surrounded by paper. Tho coach is crowded ' inside ana out; the drivcf cracks his whip; away we prance, joggling up and down the 6teep and rutted road leading upwards out of Raurimu. Up and up and un. We are ascending, anil bo is the greut- spiral, which comes into view as we advance. I hud very

vague ideas what to expect in this spiral, of which I had heard so much. In my / wholo trip I saw nothing which answered so little to my expectations. This spiral is an immense cutting for tho railway, which will eventually encircle six times a high hill which rises above Itaurimn, reaching an altitude of 200 ft. One can catch glimpses tlirough tho thick bush of the cutting as we ascend the coach road. We shall rise 600 ft in four miles before we reach tho Miiketote. Just before ns on the road is the Government mail cart, of which wo are destined to see ■ a great deal beforo the day is over. It is ahead of us jiotf, leading the way, with tho policeman seated beside the driver.

A distance of over 15 miles separates : f Raurimu and Makatote, and with good horses and fine weather the drive would present no difficulties. We had several very narrow escapes from accident, howover. Coming round a narrow cutting at a fairly smart pace we met a bullock team just round tho coiner. Our horses really Lumped noses with those bullocks, and for a momeut horns and heads seemed intermingled. liy-andbvo the samo thing happened again and yet again. There aro many sharp bends'and turns, and there was 110 indication of an approaching team until wo wero upon thorn. There is very little human habitation along tho lone bush road. Sometimes a Government hut or shelter is seen nestling among tho greenery; sometimes two or three cluster together. There is very little animal life. A few dogs run out /iixi follow our coach, but they arc silent as tin bush itself. "What? Don't the dogs even bark up bore?" asks someone.

"People are all so friendly that tile dogs , havo forgotten how to bark," replied nni other. "Thoy aro afraid of their own voices," said a third. Ami 110 wonder. I'or the silence and loneliness began to depress us also, and we became silent- as we toiled upwards by that- dark and shadowy ■/. bush road. At last we arc 011 the higher leyel, A plant wh'ich I havo never seen before prows plentifully here, so I may as well ' describe it. It is here generally called the indiarubber plant, and the leaves are said to be very elastic as wall as offering a ' strong thread, used in many ways, and which someone of our company described as strong enough to mend a Chinaman's boots, 'l'ho plant looks like something between flax and cabbago palm, the leaves being much broader and stronger, as well as lighter in colour, than flax, while the "whole plant is n. standard, growing well up on a stout stem, and reaching a height of over ?.oft, A great deal of it grows • about here, so wo may assume that the plant likes a cold, high climate. It is the forerunner of tho snowgrass, with which wo presently becomc familiar. All along our routo as we drive through the btish we bob tho most tempting ferns by the wayside. A great, deal of tlw beantifiil Prince of Wales feather grows freely here. It looks most easy to transplant, as its large round root is well raisetf above , ground. It is really very difficult to grow, Oil tho down train from Rotorua Maori girls board the train carrying numbers of theso lovely ferns fresh 'from the bush, which tlioy sell to travellers. I lmvo often bought them, but. have failed to rear them, owing, it iB said, to the breakage of a cortn'ui tap-root in transplantation. One feels greatly tempted to experiment with foms from tho lovely bush leading to the Makatotc. We dared riot delay the coach, however, as rumours wcro freely spread that by delays the train had occasionally been missed, and the travellers compelled to spend tho night in the bush. All along our route wo distributed the I newspapers, and anxious faces greet the coach inquiring for news of the outsido world. The bread and meat cart was overtaken, and I was amused at. the curious receptacles left by the waysrido for tho reception of household necessaries. Such it receplaclo would be m viow where no abode was- to be discovered by any scrutiny of tho landscape. Letters, papers, meat, and bread wero crammed into a box on the top of a post, and on wo went, to repeat tho process a little further 011. Sometimes wo delivered a solitary paper, and sometimes a dozen or so were flung ' into a clump of greenery for general distribution. Placards, finger posts, signboards, and notices in charcoal on calico streamers supply the place, of advertisements. Here and thore roads diverge. A big signpost points out tho way "To Kniteratakalii," which I um araural is a flourishing farming district. Tho soil, however, in this direction gets mure and more unpromising, . and if ever farms exist is must, bo in a very far distant future. There is good soil far' below, but it is buried under successive deluges of pumice, which havo formed a top soil very many feet in : thickness, l'ossibly when the bush is all cleared and burned off there may be soil to work upon. Another branch road leads to Wnimarino. There is said to be good farming country bi tho neighbourhood. The names of places everywhere aro j most perplexing, and some aro quite unpronounceable. It- would be amusing to learn what the average tourist Ims to say on this subject. Some I quite failed to c;ikh. You givo a kind of gobble, gurglo, and choke, and then look at the inquirer . to see how ho takes it. If he lias not caught the drift of the name you do it all ovoV again—at least, this is how my informants actcd when I asked them tho names of the places: and as 110110 aro marked on the ordinary map it was very perplexing. Here is a name which my friend the bush paison inscribed in my note book, as I really could not master tho spelling—" Ngararaotehuarau." That is a genuino real name of a place on MlO line, imd no make-up, as might be imagihed. I leavo my readers to wrestle with tho pronunciation. Iwery here and thero as wo ascend we como out on to tho cuttings formed for the new railway line. So far it. is oiily completed and tho departmental train running to the bush settlement of Raurimu, now the railhead. Beyond this,'and all *' the way to llakatotn, sections aro being prepared, atid meii aro busily at work cutting, hewing, levelling, aiid tunnelling • through obstacles in the way. The bush is hewn down on either side and burned off us a preparation, so that burned and blackened logs aro strewn all along the wayside. There are several tunnels, and some very importaht. oiies, sucii as that just abovo Itaurimil. Tliere is a very long tunnol above To Kuiti, and darkness prevails for several minutes as tho train goes through it. Some of tho cuttings in the higher country appear vast clefts, and in many places huge gulches aro crossed by building up tho soil for the railway lino. 'A great many workers are busily employed, and all kinds of people are'represented. We met one Very curious group of workers making their way along the muddy road. They had very long picks and shovels over their shoulders,'and did not look at all happy. But it was their costume which engaged my attention. They had 011 tan boots, leggings, knickerbockers, caps—what I should describe as tourist suits. I took them for col-

legiaus, students, or some other young men on a holiday tour. My companion on tbo box 6Kit, however, and tho driver , ' assured mo that tkeso were genuine work-. "ten engaged to plj pick and ehovel.

" They are new chums; that is all," they Slid. ".All sorts of fellows come up here to try their luck and take a spell at the work. These have not dropped down to it.yet; hut they will soon.'' "But their clothes." I said—"so unsuitable; so absurd-looking! I can't imagine they am setting seriously to work in such clothes!"

"I suppose they have not- got any others," said the driver. And I was left to ponder the cirenmstam:e« which- had led these young men to take work evidently so new to them,