UP MOUNT EGMONT IN 1869.

Otago Witness, Issue 1149, 6 December 1873, Page 2

UP MOUNT EGMONT IN 1869.

Ix the summer of 1569, having determined, in conjunction with one or two others, to attempt the ascent of " Mount Egmont," we accordingly met at the establishment of one of our party (who was kind enough to give us houseroom, &c, &c.) to arrange preliminaries, and settled to make a start on the 29th of March. On that morning our party — which consisted of six— left the town of New Plymouth in detached parties of two and three, en route for our rendezvous, at the farm house of one of the outsettlers, about 10 miles in the bush, myself and friend leaving some time after the rest, and had a most enjoyable, although rather furious ride through much of the very beautiful forest scenery of this extremely fine district.

Oh arriving sit our place of meeting we dismounted and turned out our animals, this being the furthest point to which horses could be taken, and being, in fact, the commencement of the ascent of what is known as the " Puuakai " or " Lower " ranges of conicallyshaped hills, some four thousand feet in height, and over which our track lay. Having discovered that the rest of the party had already proceeded on, we arranged our swags and made haste, following in their tracks, arriving at our lunch ground — about halfway up the lirst slope, without any more serious mishap than an occasional " trip up " over the numerous creepers that interspersed our very narrow path — where we found the rest of our fellow - excursionists assembled at lunch, and partaking of amongst other refreshments the " cup that docs combine inebriation with cheerfulness/ and of which I might say we did not require very great pressing to join them in it. After a few minutes' delay we again made a start for the first and highest peak of the range, named " Photograph Peak ;" and now commenced the " tug of war." The ascent was almost precipitous, and appeared to my heated imagination far more of an angle than the orthodox 45 degrees. Perhaps the fact that the sun had shone forth in its full power as we emerged from the shelter of the scrub may have had something to do with adding to the ideas of my heated brain ; at any rate I thought the top would never arrive, but after about half an hour's really stiff climbing, hands and feet botli being called into requisition, our leader with a yell and a hurrah reached the top, — the happy top ! — and the rest soon joined. On looking round upon the wide expanse of forest that greeted our eyes, we were amply rewarded for our toil, by beholding the panoramic view of the districts beneath, the various military settler townships being dotted about on all sides : Waitara, Tikorangi, Clifton, Urenui, and the Mokau Hills being plainly visible. Rua* pehu also favoured us with a glimpse of ii* snow-clad summit over the clouds to. the east ; the town of New Plymouth and suburbs lay at our feet in front ; the Oakura Ranges shut out all view on the west, whilst at our back, towered up like some great grim monster, the object of our journey— Mount Eg. ujont, and which sight reminded us that only a very small portion of our undertaking had been accomplished. After a final look around we re-commenced operations, by descending again towards the mountain down what has not inappropriately been called the " Devil's Gorge," it being indeed about as rough a piece of travelling as you could imagine his Satanic majesty could possibly choose, for the purpose of irritating the feelings of any unlucky excursionist ; the ground also being covered, with slippery moss made your footing very uncertain, All these little unpleasantnesses,

however, were fully compensated for by the extreme beauty of the valley beneath: the rich foliage of the mountain cypress, blending with that of the innumerable "crowns" of the " naamaku and ponga" fern trees, and the brilliant hue of the " kowai " flowers, formed a scene which went a great way to make amends for the vile descent, to say nothing of the positive network of ferns and mosses of all sorts and sizes which covered the sides of the track— a perfect " paradise" for botanists. After about half an hour of this alternate jumping and sliding we reached the bottom safely. Emerging from the valley we came out on the edge of an immense swamp about atnile to a mile and a half in width, and which proved the most disagreeable portion of our journey, consisting as it does of tussocks of coarse grass and "wild Irishmen," cemented together by moss, which treacherously covers a number of deep muddy water-holes requiring no small amount of dexterity to avoid. But even this disagreeable mode of proceeding was not without its little diversity, as we had not accomplished more than half the distance across, when with a shout and a splash our leader suddenly disappeared from view, only to re-appear the next minute from behind a flax bush like some dissipated ' ' otter " or other amphibious animal — a rusty brown hue all over. The unfortunate was, of course, greeted with peals of laughter, in which it is only fair to state he heartily joined, and piuckily again assumed the lead, bringing us to the other side without further mishap. Here we completely changed the nature of our path. Leaving our previously soft mossy ground, we struck off up the bed of a creek that wound its way round the base of a singularly- shaped high table cliff of about 800 feet in height named " Sinclair's Table " (after, I believe, the name of the discoverer). This sort of proceeding continued for about one mile, when we ascended the bank of the creek on to our proposed camping ground named "Holly Flat." We here halted and pitched our " fly " (tent), and busied ourselves preparing our supper, to which we did ample justice, as mountain travelling (whatever may be its discomforts) certainly does not in any degree diminish your appetite. On the completion of our repast we were privileged to behold one of the most beautiful sights that could be imagined. Through an opening of the spurs of the range to the west the sun was setting in all the splendour of an autumn sunset, lighting up as it gradually sank below the horizon the snowy pinnacles of the mountain top with a most beautiful tint of golden sunlight, which sparkled and glistened on the surround.ing icicles with an intensely brilliant hue, dazzling to the eyesight, and which gradually faded away from crimson to gold, and then to sombre grey, as the sun quietly sank below the sea, casting all sorts of fantastic and distorted shadows over the surrounding hilis and valleys as it departed.

After this glorious scene had been done full justice to, -we all gathered round the camp fire, and of course " beguiled the hours with many a tale, jest, and song," as is the most correct thing to do on such occasions. We also amused ourselves by watching the stars as they in succession sank behind the mountain, and speculated as to our chance of a fine day for the ascent on the morrow ; and no little amusement was caused by one of our party, who was fortunately endued, (or imagined he was) with a prophetic turn of mind, offering — in support of his prophecy of a wet day for the ascent — to remunerate 6d. for every star which could be observed after midnight. This liberal offer was at once closed with, but unfortunately for the reputation of our prophet, it turned out a magnificent starlight night. It would perhaps be as well to mention here, that the prophetic gentleman, for reasons best known to himself, had seen the necessity of "turning in" some short time previous, and wtthoutconsumma.ting his bargain by any monetary transaction — a course we all thought it advisable to follow, in anticipation of our next day's climb.

At break of day we w^re all up, and hurriedly disposed of breakfast. Having about a mile of rough travelling before commencing the absolute ascent, we were overjoyed to find a beautiful morning and every prospect of a continuance, not a cloud being visible. We commenced operations by descending a steep cliff down into the bed of a small creek, which we traced down to its junction with a larger stream which we followed up to its source. Here we began to perceive the havoc which a late earthquake had made in the ravine, the whole of which in some places — trees, rocks, and carth — had been completely carried away, and thrown down in the valley, effectually choking up the stream in many places, making the travelling anything but more easy. On arrival at the head of the stream we commenced in earnest the ascent, by clambering up a steep grassy spur for about a quarter of a mile, rapidly adding to our elevation, and in half an hour reached che upper limits of vegetation at a height which our aneroid gave as 6,000 feet. This vegetation consisted of what, to an unbotanical eye, would appear as coarse grass, but no doubt would be recognised by a botanist as possessing a name of yards in extent. At this point we made a halt to enjoy the fine view obtainable at this elevation. The town of New Plymouth (about 16 miles distant) was plainly visible, as also the s.s. "Storm Bird " lying at anchor in the roadstead ; also, Opunaki, Cape Egmont, (warea) and Stony River were in sight. Time, however, our greatest enemy, would not permit a very lengthy survey ; so at it again we went, and found indeed that our progress, if sure, was most certainly slow, as now we came to the real struggle. Leaving our former grassy spur, the whole side of the mountain changed to loose shingle, and every step forward was accompanied by almost an equivalent retrograde movement, making the

progress extremely fatiguing and unsatisfao tory ; and we now found ourselves in exactly the same predicament as the renowned Mahomet in a somewhat similar situation. This state of things was, however, enlivened by watching the long faces shown, and the awkward stumbles received by the others of the party ; and one actually did relieve the monotony of the scene by quietly reclining on the edge of a snowdrift, and partaking of the traditional " forty winks," after which exploit he arose like a " giant refreshed :> and resumed the ascent with renewed vigour. After half-an-hour's further toil we did not appear a jot nearer our destination than we did at the commencement of that period, and we began now to appreciate the truth of Tennyson's words — " Men may come and men may go, but7«?go on for ever." But there was nothing for it but to look as pleasant as circumstances would permit ; and on again we went, now enveloped in haze, and then out again in the full blaze of sunlight, showing us in the interval the icy tips of the mountain top all glistening in its rays, looking like the battlements of some " enchanted castle," and stimulating us to fresh exertions, and encouraging us by its apparent (oh, how deceptive I) nearness. But just as we were congratulating ourselves on our progress, and prospects of a view, to our horror and dismay great masses of cloud came driving up from the S.W., enveloping ourselves and every surrounding object in a thick veil of mist. Luckily, however, it as soon again dispersed leaving us to the tender mercies of the sun, which (it now being noon) commenced to make itself very obnoxious by loosening huge masses of ice from above, which came dashing and crashing down the mountain's side at a tremendous pace, gaining velocity at every bound, and ultimately disappearing over the edges of the cliffs below. They would be rather awkward fellow-travellers to meet, many of them weighing some hundreds of pounds ; but by keeping on the ridges we fortunately escaped their little attentions. And, at last, at 12.45 p.m., myself and two others clambered over the last stone, and stood upon the highest pinnacle ; but, oh, what a wretched disappointment after all our toil ! All beneath was an entire mass of dense white cloud, and becoming more dense eveiy moment by the addition of huge piles of cloud fast driving up from the south. Nothing was | visible within thirty miles of our position, but over the clouds, to the N.E. ,were to be seen the volcanoof Tongariroand Kuapehu ; the mountains Woody head (near Manukau), Mokai and Clifton on the S. and W. , Cape Farewell, both sides of Cook's .Straits, Blind Bay, the Kaikouras, the Tararua Ranges, and YVangauui, -were also to be distinguished, although the masses below prevented a view of the settled districts. After having awaited the arrival of the rest of the party who made their appearancein half-an-hour's time, anddespatched our lunch (during which operation we did not forget to drink the health of Taranaki, the native name for the top of the mountain, and from which the Province derives its name), we proceeded to explore the locality and give the clouds time to disperse. We discovered some very pretty ice caves, extending for some distance into the crater, with many passages branching off on either side of the main entrance. The roof was suspended with dripping icicles of most, fantastic shapes ; and the whole cave being lit up with a beautiful blue tint from the sunlight above, gave it a very striking and pretty appearance. After a short survey of all the novelties of the neighbourhood, we again re turned to the outer world, and just managed to get a peep through a temporary opening in the clouds. At Patea and Waihi Col, Whitmore's camp was also plainly descried. But even this small aperture was speedily closed again, and there being nothing further to be seen, we deposited our cards, and some of us our photos., in the natural repository used for that purpose, and at 3 p.m. commenced the descent, and bade adieu to one of the loftiest points of the North Island. We found the descent a vast deal more expeditious than the ascent ; in fact, the difficulty was to prevent a too great 'speed being attained, as in the case of an officer of the Royal Engineers, the season previous, who, in returning from the ascent, attained such a velocity that he was thrown some distance violently on to his face and received very severe injury to his personal appearance. We, however, were fortunate enough to get down without any more serious mishap than several very narrow shaves from dislodged boulders. We arrived back at camp at 6 p.m., having occupied about 5\ hours in the ascent, and 1£ hour in actual descent. Next morning three of the party, including myself, started off to visit Bell's Falls (named after Sir Francis), about two-and-a-half miles from camp, the road thereto being down the bed of one stream and up that of the Hungatahua river, upon which the falls are situated. Af tera very rough walk of about an hour, we arrived at our destination, to be much disappointed in the size and beauty of the falls ; and in fact, as falls they do not repay the toil of getting to them. The falls themselves are only about seventy feet in height, but have evidently at one period been a great deal higher, the cliffs on either side being from six to eight hundred feet high. Apparently the stream has worked itself down from nearly that height to its present level. After having read the various inscriptions and initials which are cut in the large boulders at the foot of the falls, and fully admired the luxuriant vegetation which clothes the face of the cliffs and overhangs the falls, we retraced our steps to camp, and found on arrival that the remainder of the party had, during our absence, clambered up to the top of "Sinclair's Table" in the anticipation of obtaining a view ; but after a rather severe climb reached the top only to be disappointed in their anticipation, the vegeta-

tion being far too thick to admit Of anything of the kind.

We struck camp in fifteen minutes and made astarthomewards t re-crossingthescenes of our previous mishaps, and arrived again at the top of the range, again to be disappointed in obtaining a view. We proceeded, after a short delay, back by the bush track to where our horses had been left two days previous. After some little refreshment we were not at all sorry to regain our saddles and return home, after having had three days of most enjoyable, although rather fatiguing, excursion.