IN LAKELAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1900, 3 July 1890, Page 31

IN LAKELAND.

A VISITOR'S IMPRESSIONS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT.

By L. A.

The time is night — about 9 p.m. ; the scene, the deck of the Mountaineer, which is steaming away, 13 knots or bo an hour, towards Queenstovra. Save the occasional common-place remark of a passenger, which is almost drowned by the never-ceasing splashing of the water by the paddle wheels, no sound is audible to disturb the censes from enjoying the strange, weird prospect presented. Lake Wakatipu is wrapped in the mantle of Morpheus. A reposeful solitude reigns all round. No lowing of cattle, no bleating of sheep or neighing of horses break the intense stillness of the night ; no signs of human life, of human toil, or of human habitation present themselves ; not the faintest evidence of civilisation is betrayed in the immediate surroundings, save what may be suggested by the gentle sibilations of the steamer cutting through the tranquil waters almost imagine one's self in some far-off sphere, where nature revelled supreme in all her virgin purity. Gliding along, we pass ever and anon some variously picturesque scenes; verdureolad coves, flanked by jutting nesses ; sweeping bays, " bastioned impreguably " by bold-fronted headlands, towering high above, proudly but; ominously, as if ready to fall with all their prodigious force on the valiant craft that, by trespaasiug on these hallowed domains, should contaminate aud mar the beauty of the placid waters which repose peacefully beneath the dark threatening battlements. Occasionally, too, the wild rugged mountain side is relieved by patches or s'reaksof wooded landscapes, jagged, vermicular creek?, flanked by low bush aud scrub. We are surrounded on all sides by declivitous mountains, which for the most part terminate abruptly at the water's edge, the prodigious escarpment occasionally trending slightly forward near its base. Ahead, on the right, the rugged heights of the Remarkables come shortly into view ; the translucent air, the cloudless sky, and the clear, penetrating moonlight rays all tending to enhance the grandeur of the spectacle, which, in truth, is beyond description. This is, perhaps, the first truly magnificent sight that is presented to the tourist who comes hither by way of Kingston. It is a speefcaole never to be forgotten. As this rugged range comes more aud more into view, the spectator's eye becomes dazzled with the delicate sheen which is occasioned by the rays of the moon falling on the snowclad peaks, from which a veritable sea of light wreathes up aud brightens tho otherwise dark, sombrous waters of the lake. Indeed, the whole prospect is bathed in a dancing, Bilvery light, tho darksome background, formed by the other less pretentious mountain*, enhancing a hundredfold the grandeur of the picture presented. One beoomes unconsciously intoxicated by the ravishing scene ; but it inebriates, without satiating the whole being, like a deep draught of wine " when it is red," in a suffusive libation of sumptuous colour. So absorbed does the spectator become in the very contemplation of the beauteous sight, that bis rational powers become for the time being wholly subservient to the fantastio vagaries of imagination, which is running on apace. An ineffable sense of loneliness, of human helplessness, and human littleness, involuntarily takes possession of him ; his tongue is voiceless, and his lips make an ineffectual attempt to give utterance to the feelings of the heart, which swells rapturously with an extatic sense of perfect beatitude. The elysian glory and grandeur of the prospect so entrances the visitor for the time being that he is totally unconscious of the fact that the steamer is now within a mile or so of Queenstown, which ia just coming into view. The shrill, deafening sound of the steamer's fog horn suddenly dispels the pleasant reverie, and turning slightly to the left;, a capital view is obtained of the beautiful little town named after that pretty seaport in Ireland so famous for its dairy produce. There ia a compactness about Queenstown, as seen from the deck of the steamer, that is highly pleasing to the eye, and the buildings appear for the nonce to be exquisitely interlaced with a dark green foliage, which blends harmoniously with the iron grey background afforded by the neighbouring hills and mountains. No haze or mist hovers over the beautiful town, to suggest a sense of unhealthfulness; no dark clouds overhang threateningly the quiet homesteads nestling comfortably below ; the glassy surface of the silent, sapphire lake, scintillating in the moonlight like a very sea of diamonds, forms a foreground that renders the tout ensemUt finished and complete. The whole picture, bathed in the soft, mellow light of the unclouded moon, bespeaks peace, tranquillity, chastity. "What hotel, sir? Is this your luggage, sir ?" Thus am I unceremoniously accosted ia the midst of my delightful reverie, and it is not until my Gladstone bag is being carried boldly away by (to judge from his attire) a suspicious-looking little urchin, with a sinister left eye, and I find myself in hot pursuit thereof, that I firmly realise that the steamer has been moored alongside the wharf for the last five minutes or so. Reaching Eichardt's Hotel, I am met by the proprietress herself at the portico of the oomforfcable, well lighted hostelry, her cheerful smile and good-natured face serving to impress me favourably with my new quarters right off. " Jane, show this gentleman to No. 13," and I am soon comfortably ensconced in a clean, well-aired bed. Ten minutes later I am fulfilling some important rdle in an imaginary drama, in whicb bottomless lakes, prodigious mountains, and awful preoi?ices are in some way connected. lam awakened at about 4 a.m. by the dismal, lugubrious sound, right under my window, of the Mountaineer's hollow whistle, which, I suppose, is a warning to passengers to " turn out." Theu for about half an hour or so I hear the greatest disorder iv the immediate neighbourhood of my bedroom door. "Four o'clock, 6ir," says someone (the "boots," I suppose), as he raps three times in succession on somebody's door. No response, and the knocking is repeated, till bang! crash ! comes a boot against the panel of my door, and a voice wrathfully exclaims, " Get out, confound you ! I'm not going by the steamer." Then the affrighted •• boots " makes a raid on several other doors, and the knookiug, which becomes much more vigorous, is succeeded by responses such as " All right, old man," "Come in," " I'm coming," from the more pleasaut tempered ; and, " What are you giving us ? " '•Go to the devil," and "Clear out" from those whose livers are their masters. Amidst all the tumult aud subsequent noisy removal of luggage it is impossible to sleep, and tho result is I am half an hour late for breakfast, having overslept myself an a natural consequence. After a huge repast, in which the greater portion of a trout, fresh from the clear, blue waters of Wakatipu, plays the principal part, I take up my position against one of the columns of the somewhat pretentious portico and leisurely smoke my morning pipe. This is, to me, unquestionably tho most delicious smoke 'of the day; bat its pleasures are heightened

tenfold this morning by the delightful surroundings. On my left stretches the uurippled sapphire waters of Wakatipu, glittering like a sea of silvery light in patches on which sunbeams fall through rifts in an overshadowing cloud, a canopy of bluish, shimmering haze blending the farthermost end of it harmoniously with the fabric of the distant mountains, whose configuration is almost obscured by a veil of thin, vaporous mist. Before me, towering some 3000 or 4000 feet above the quiet homesteads, beneath, is Mount Bowen, whose majestic peak looks in the daylight less austere and threatening than it did by moonlight. ißolua has not yet risen from his slumbers, and the smoke which issues forth from the roofs of two or three straggling hillside cottages in the distance hangs aloft in an azure cloud, the clear morning air and the deep blue sky, with its few fleecy, gleaming clouds, serving to render the beauty and glory of the scene complete in every detail. - The prospect is delightful in the extreme; the thoughts, the feelings, the sentiments that it evoked, no words of mine could tell. Involuntarily, I exclaim, " How beautiful!" And the ejacnla* tion furnishes an excuse for someone near by, who is apparently also a lover of nature, to interpose, "Aye, indeed; it is beautiful." Then we get into conversation, and I soon have from my newly made acquaintance, himself a citizen of the place, a succinct account of Queenstown, its institutions and its people. I hear the scandal and tittle-tattle of the little village, and learn that society is much split up and that more than half the population is composed of Roman Catholics ; all of which information interests me but little. I have noticed that one invariably hears, unasked, the whole caut and gossip of a place in less than half an hour after setting foot in it, but rarely does one get such information as one really seeks so readily ; indeed, the obtaining of this is generally fraught with inconvenience and difficulty. To change the subject, I observe to my friend, interrogatively, " I suppose that everyone here is concerned and interested, more or less, in gold mining and dredging?" Without directly answering my question, he replies, somewhat evasively, " Well, scarcely." Dunedin people appear to be more concerned just now about dredging operations in these quarters than we are. In fact, I believe I am justified in saying that there are many old residents here who know considerably less in respect of many of these extensively advertised mining claims— that is, the locality, the gold, aud the facilities for working it— than do a hundred or more Dunedinites. It is to Dunedin capital, Dunedin enterprise, and Dunedin men that the colony is indebted for half the claims that are now being or are about to be worked. But loosl speculators are now being aroused from their lethargic condition in this respect, andare takinga livelier interest in dredging matters, as is amply exemplified in the circumstance that recently £4000 worth of shares in a certain new company were applied for by local investors. We have also further evidence of this in the concern that is manifested in the now hackneyed remarks, of daily occurrence, " How is this new dredge going to turn out ?" (To be continued.)