IMPRESSIONS OF MILFORD SOUND,

Otago Witness, Issue 1160, 21 February 1874, Page 12

IMPRESSIONS OF MILFORD SOUND,

[By a Late Visitor.]

Happy the country, and still tappier the sea voyage, that has no history. In less than five days after leaving Melbourne, we made the West Coast of Otago. It was raining heavily, and the clouds hung down within a few hundred feet of the sea level, making it impossible to distinguish any landmarks. We had had no observations for two days, and Captain Underwood thought it prudent to steam northwards, at the distance of a mile or two from the shore until we made some point which he could identify with certainty. It was about three in the afternoon when we first made the Coast, and after steaming slowly for about three hours we made the Seal Rocks— so that we had, although we did not know it, exactly hit the entrance to Milford Sound. Not bad for dead reckoning. It was thick weather during the night, and we stood off and on waiting for daylight. It was fortunate that we did so, or we should have missed one of the most glorious sights to be seen in the whole world. As it was, when we did enter the Sound the following morning, the effect of the preceding day and night's rain was only to add greater brightness and beauty to the scenery. About daybreak we found that the rain had ceased, asoutherlvbreezehad sprung up, all the clouds were lifting, and when we passed the Brig Rock many of the snowy peaks were in full view. Mount Pembroke still wore a gauzy cloud, but he could hardly have looked more beautiful, even if he had been clear. As we approached the shore, the great variety of colour in the bush became more vivid ; and we found ourselves in a lovely bay, backed by towering peaks, but, to the eye of a landsman, not promising any further entrance. And no wonder ! The entrance is only a quarter of a mile wide ; it turns sharp to the north, aud as you approach it you seem to be running straight against a great buttress, sent out from the Llawrenny Peaks. We landed on the shore of the bay, at Greenstone Point, and amused ourselves for an hour picking up specimens of greenstone, which are pretty abundant. Everyone was in high spirits, the freshness and brightness of the scenery, and the delicious feeling of the air, were all the more enjoyable because, a few hours before, they had been so unexpected. We returned to the Alhambra loaded with specimens, and made for the entrance into the Sound.

It is quite impossible by any description, either in words or in colours, to convey any adequate idea of the grandeur and beauty of this entrance, To one who has not seen it, the attempt to describe it is almost sure to appear forced and exaggerated. To those who have, it is equally sure to appear tame and insufficient. Besides, the scenery shifts and altera greatly in character as you pass up the Sound, and one person may go away with his mind overpowered by the vastness and sublimity of the sccuery, while another may retain the most lively recollection of its extreme beauty. I can only hope to give an imperfect idea of my own impressions.

The entrance is, as I have said, about a quarter of a mile wide. And this distance, small as it is, is made to appear still smaller by the vastness of the cliffs which close it in on either side. These cliffs tower to a height of several thousand feet, and are very nearly perpendicular. No bush grows on them. They are hard, uncompromising walls of rock; and no prison fortress could look more hopeless than they do, as you pass between them, with the dark blue water of the Sound hundreds of fathoms deep right at their feet. But grand and solemn as the entrance is, its beauty is. if possible, even more impressive than its solemnity. Every part of these stern cliffs has a history written upon its face. Innumerable lurrows vary its surface, and, as we saw afterwards, every furrow after a fall of rain becomes a silver skein, lacing the dark surface of the rock, and adding wonderful beauty to the picture. Moreover, the colourin" 1 of the rock itself is rich in the extreme. E°ery tint, from a dull grey to the richest purple, shines out upon its surface — a warm copper tint being the predominant colour. The sun had not yet risen high enough to light up the lower walls of rock as we passed between them ; but wherever his light reached, the face of the mountain shone with wonderf nl l>rilliancy, metal itself could hardly be more lustrous. As wo passed inwards, the Sound gradually widened, the scenery lost its stem and gloomy character, fche sides of the mountains, though still steep, were clothed with green wherever a tree or skrub could get a footing. The nearer mountain ridges were cut and carved into every variety and beauty of form, and behind all rose the snowy peaks of the dividing range. Grand and majestic as Milford Sound is, its grandeur as you ascend to the innermost part, is quite absorbed and lost in its excessive loveliness. Everything is still on a vast scale, but the vastness is with difficulty recognised, and the predominant impression ia that of extraordinary beauty. This is what distinguishes Milford from the Norwegian, fiords. One of our fellow-travel-lers had spent some time in Norway, and was able to compare the Norwegian with the New Zealand scenery. His judgment was that Milford Sound equalled any or the Norwegian sounds in majesty, and far surpassed all of them in beauty. Moreover, it is not in one direction only, as is the case in Lako Wakatip, that this loveliness shows itself. You are surrounded with beauties on all sides. As you approach the head of the Sound, you have in front of you tho wooded islands aud river flats formed by the two great rivers which empty themselves into the Sound ; to

the north-west are tbe snowy peaks of the range of which Mount Christina is the highest point ; on your left is Barren Peak, all the lower part clothed with the rich colours of the West Coast bush — colours which would make the brightest green of a European forest look dull and leaden ; out of this forest bursts a waterfall, which few in the world can surpass in size, and none in beauty of I form. By the side of Barren Peak is the glorious face of the Metallic Mountain, as it is called, which seems to have been formed of pure bell metal and just taken from the mould ; behind you is the funereal looking mass — which one of our fellow-travellers happily named the Lion, and which seems to guard the entrance of the .Sound. Still j further round to the south-east is the ' sharp Mitre Peak, backed by the snowy ridges of the Llawrennies ; to your right is the great mass of Mount Philip, and the distant peaks of the central range. It is impossible to imagine a more glorious panorama. You may in Switzerland, or in New Zealand itself, find mountain peaks as grand or even grander; you may in Austria find lakes, on a smaller scale, almost as lovely ; but nowhere, probably, in the world can you find such a combination of vastness and beauty — beauty of form, and still more, striking beauty of colour. The waterfall which comes down from Barren Peak is of itself a magnificent picture. From a dark rent in the bush, it rushes out and leaps clown, I suppose, eighty or a hundred feet, and is caught in a great hollow or cup in the rock. Rebounding in the air, to a height of twenty feet or more in two grand masses, it rushes on for a final plunge of five hundred feet. The great mass of the water falls unchecked, but about one fourth is caught again two thirds of the way down in a smaller cup, and again rebounds to join the mingled foam and vapour of the greater mass. The white foam as it shoots down seems to concentrate itself in a number of bright points, like the shower from a rocket, till it is lost in the clouds of mist at the bottom. A moderate breeze carries the vapour for half a mile or more from the fall itself, and the rush of wind caused by the falling water is felt for a distance of several hundred yards. Nothing can be imagined more beautiful, and so far as size is concerned, nothing was ever more deceptive. As it is said to be at St. Peter's, so it is also in Milford Sound. The size of any one object is quite lost in the vastness of those which surround it. No one, I think, would at first sight imagine that the height of the fall was greater than a hundred and fifty or two hundred feet ; but the height given in the Admiralty charts is five hundred and forty, aud I believe this is rather under than over the mark. It was only by comparing the Alhambra's masts with that of the fall that we were able even to guess at the distance, and we estimated the height of the fall to be at least six or seven times greater than that of the mainmast. Two of the passengers climbed up through the bush to a point which they estimated at two hundred feet above the fall (the fall itself was inaccessible) and they considered that they were nearly, if not quite, a thousand feet I from the level of the Sound.

Dunn" the forenoon three of us scrambled through°the bush for a mile and a half or two miles up the river Arthur, a strong stream il owing into the Sound from the northeast. About three-quai ters of a mile or more from the Sound the river divides into two branches ; both of them are rocky and broken. The more western branch, at the time we saw it, was a furious torrent. You get lovely views of the bush, .and of the distant ranges, as you pass along the banks of this river, which must descend from the ranges which feed the Te Anau and Manipori lakes. Perhaps the most perfect view of the Sound itself is to be had about a quarter of a mile up this river, on the west side of the island which it forms just before it reaches the Sound.

Any one who has seen the West Coast bush "will not need any description of its wonderful variety and brightness of colour. It is sufficient to say that there is hardly a tree of the N. Z. forest which is not well represented on the mountains which surround the Sound. The rata is pretty abundant ; but we were a little too early to see it in full bloom. It is this richness of colour in the New Zealaud bush, more than anything else, which gives the Sound such a superiority over the Norwegian fiords. There the forests ar« one uniform, dull, sombre black. In Milford it would bo almost impossible for a painter to exaggerate the richness and variety of the colours.

We spent two days in the Sound. During the niyhfc after the first day, and on the morning of the second day, it rained heavily. It cleared up in the forenoon, but showers fell at intervals during the rest of tho clay. This, instead of being a disadvantage, I believe, increased the beauty of tho scenery. The bush and rock shone out between the showers with even greater brightness than before ; and every seam and furrow in the mountain sides became a silver streak ; even the clouded peaks acquired a new and more mysterious beauty. It is true you did not obtain the same glorious panorama as on tho previous day, but the separate parts of the picture were, to my eyes at least, more perfect. After about 36 hours spent in the Sound, we turned our bucks unwillingly on what I believe to be the most magnificent vision that had ever heen seen or ever will be scon or imagined by any ono of us.

T was told an amusing story by a Melbourne gentleman on board. He said that Mr J. 0. Richmond had painted a most beautiful picture of Milford Sound— -that the picture had been offered to the Committee of Management of the Melbourno Picture Gal-

lery, and had been rejected by them on the' r/round that it must be an exaggeration. 1 have heard that Mr Richmond's pictures are singularly faithful. But whether this is so or not, I am quite sure that no painter could exaggerate either the beauty or the grandeur of Milford Sound. The Committee of Management of the Melbourne Picture Gallery ought to be compelled to spend a month in Milford. It could hardly be called a penance —indeed, it would probably be the most enjoyable month they ever spent in their lives —but it would certainly extend their ideas of beauty far beyond the limits of their own collection of pictures. - I ought not to close this very imperfect sketch, without saying how greatly all the passengers felt themselves indebted to Captain Underwood and his ofi&cers. The beauties of nature are very delightful, but they are greatly enhanced by the comforts of a good ship, and the kind offices of a captain who, like Captain Underwood, does his utmost to consult the happiness and enjoyment of his passengers. I will conclude by expressing the hope that Milford Sound may soon become better known amongst ourselves, and that New Zealanders may have an opportunity of seeing the marvellous beauties which exist within their own country. There is not, I conscientiously believe, in the whole world any place so Divinely beautiful as Milford Sound, and yet there are no opportunities of visiting it. I myself have for years waited for some such opportunity, but I never should have had it if I had not gone to Melbourne to get it. It is quite likely that the fault lies with the public, who will not give sufficient encouragement to the owners of steamers to make it worth their while to visit the Sound. If this is so, perhaps this slight sketch, weak and meagre as I feel it to be, may do something to awaken an interest in the place. All who have visited it and who are qualified to give an opinion, pronounce it to be simply unequalled ; and yet we, living within a few hundred miles, neglect the richest heritage in the way of natural beauty possessed by any country in the known world !