FROM OHAU TO THE WEST COAST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2209, 2 July 1896, Page 47

FROM OHAU TO THE WEST COAST.

By Dugald M'athe:on. 11.

Sunday, 23 hd.— A damp morning and everything looking gloomy. As the day advanced, however, the weather cleared somewhat, and about noon the sun came out occasionally. We spread out, our wet clothes to dry, and, the wind changing from the west to Eouth, the day seeraeu to promise fine, and things agßfiTbegan to lock more cheerful. In the afternoon I walked up the gaily towards the pass In the hope of getting a good view of Mount Trent, but disappointment awaited me, for I bard scarcely got to a point from which the top would be visible when snow began io fall. I waited for a time to allow tbe Bhower to pass, but the snow continuing I retreated to the camp. There was hard frost during the night, and the swollen streams wont down rapidly. I felt very anxious about the non-arrival of O'Leary, whom I had asked to accompany Walker part of tha way with the horses. Altogether I could not quite shake off the depressing influence of the situation, and stormy weather in such a place is hardly conducive to much cheerfulness. However, we hoped for better weather on the morrow, and betook ourselves to our blankets.

Monday, 24th.— Next morning cgmo out j bright and calm. After breakfastr I wont up the way of the saddle and took a picture of | the pass as eeen from the north-west side. Mount Trent showed a fine view, and I had a shot at him also. On my coming back to camp, I found O'Leary had not come, and wo now arranged that, after lunob, I should go back over the pass and see what was the matter. Soon after Low noticed him coming clown the ravine. We were much pleased to ccc him. He and Walker bad bean havicg rather an uncomfortable time of it, their tent havicg been blown down during the storm on the night of the 22nd, and all their belonginga soaked with the raia. In order to get a fire started they lit some of the brushwood inside the tent, and when tho fuel was fairly going they carried it outside. O'Leary went down as far aa the crossing to see Walker and bis horceß safely across the Haxley River, and then returned over tho paea to join us, making record time from the foot of the eaddle ro our camp, doing the distance botween the two camps iv two I hours and five minute?. The climb to the | top was done ia one hour and 20 minutes. In the afternoon we all three came down through ths bush lo what we now regarded as our headquarters. This time we kept the south side of M'Ket zle Creek by a third new route, and* rough scramble we Jbad of it,v Low .remarking in. reference to the steepness of the elopea — " Mount- Qook is a fool, to this 1 " ' However; we got "down -to oar camp aU right, and- enjoyed -a doable course of stewqd -rabbit ao4 boiled weka for tea, to which, we did full justice. The moon in its first quarter shone for a short time over the shoulder of Solution Hill and Mount Hooker. With the rushing sound of the big river fallit g on tbe ear and acting as a lullaby, we turned in and toon forgot the day V, toil in sleep.

Tuesday, 25th. — Yesterday evening O'Leary found a " hatter's nest," a bunch of wiregrass built up under the shelter of some large tree?, and used by some person for a bed. That some human agency had been concerned in the making of it was dear, as it was kept together by two pieces of rope twiatedfrom the wiregrass. Probably some lone prospector had made a fine weather bed there sometime. There was no vestige of any sign of tent pegs, pole, or a scrap of tin or anything else to indicate who had been the occupier. Low suggests that this human nest may have used by Cunningham for a bed, as be is popularly supposed to have escaped te tha West Coast by Broder!ok'4 Pain. '

The Lake Ohau tragedy in which this man Cunningham was concerned is shortly this : — " Seventeen or 18 years ago this man and another young lad named Hannan started down on Lake Obau in a small boat from the Lake station, where they were then employed as station haeds. A few days later the boat wits found stranded on the shore of the lake, and lying dead in the boat was the lad Hannan. On examining the body bis neok was seen to have been broken. It is believed by some that the two men must have quarrelled, and that in the scuffle whichensued Hannan got killed, perhaps accidentally, by striking his head in falling against the boat's gunwale. At all events, Canningham never seems to have been seen since, and the mystery surrounding the sad affair remains to this day unsolved."

To-day it was judged necessary to restook our commissariat department by catobiDg some rabbits, bakiDg some bread, &o. Low and O'Leary undertook this task while I took my camera ' aed went up to the newlydiecovered waterfall, which I had named the 11 Glasgow Falls," in honour of the Governor. This really fine fall is situated about mid; way up the bush on Mount Trent, about 1500 ft above the flat. It is visible (the two upper leaps only) from only one spot on the. flat near the river; for most of the way up the path to it through the bush is comparatively easy ; but when within a quarter of a mile of it the chasm becomes almost entirely rock- bound, and it is very awkward to get near enough to get a good sight of tbs whole of the fall from top to bottom. I bad much trouble in getting a suitable spot to set up the camera. The cascade is divided into four fine leaps. The gorge is so narrow and indented into the mountain that to see it all one must be almost directly in front of it. The first leap falls on a shelf which, on being struck, fans oat the second leap into a beautiful undivided fall of thick spray or broken water, which, in its turn, plunges into a bowl-like pool. Then there in a short leap, and then comes ths final leap, which is the highest, and ia in itself a splendid waterfall. I had unfortunately no means of calculating its height. Had the place been less precipitous and not so densely surrounded by bush, I bad intended to take two trigonometrical observations of it on a base line on the sideling by attaching my pocket compasses to a plumb line and bo forming a rough quadrant, so as to get an approximate calcai&yoa, Xbls, however, without a tomahawk^ I

saw to be impossible just then. S:>, after considerable toil and looking about, I got a couple of photos and returned to oamp, I found that in my absence a substantial addition had been made to our store of rations. Low came in first with a very fair bag of wekas and pigeons, and Leary shortly afterwards appeared with a number of spkndid rabbits which he had shot. The evening was ppent in cooking and in general preparations for going down river on tbe moirow. Wo found the rabbits and woodhens in prime condition. "Tea over, we go to bed.

Wednesday, 26th.— TbiB being a very wet day we are confined to our tent, which gives me time to note down a few remarks about the country around. Tbe stratum of rooks seems to bs a kind of blue slate, and intersected by narrow veins of quarlz. This is the case from where the Huxley River flows into the Hopkins flat along the course of tho Huxley right-hand branch, over Brodrick's Pass, thence along the Hopkins Ranga to the head of the Lindsborougb, tbon crossing the river as fat along the We&t Coast range downward to Mount Gow and tho Ofcoko Pass. Mr Mueller, of the Government Sarvey 'department, refers to this rock as the "Mount Torlesse formation" as follows: — " According to Dr Haast, the western olopo and part of the central chain consists of crystalline rocks aod metamorphic schists, highly auriferous and resting on a basis of granite, and that presents itself hers aad tbere to the view in tbe rugged cliffs and declivities of tho West Coast. To the eastward of this crystalline zone .stratified sedimentary rocks appear, snob as slates, eandetoaes, conglomerates, indurated shales, interet ratified with tr&ppean rooks of a dioritic or diaba&io nature." In reference to the formation on the west range, I found, as mentioned already, that from the top of Mount G?w and the Otoko Pass upwards to the. head of the gorgo tbe formation is entirely sedimentary; indeed, the only exception to this oa any part of the mountains I saw was that of Mouct Hooker, which showed a granitic appearance. The dip of tbe strata varies from nearly vertical to from 10 to 20 degrees eastward. Afterwards, near our camp above Olarko'n Junction, 1 noticed tbe dip to be from 90 degrees south to from 5 to 10 degrees south-west. Both sides of this Laudeborough Valley are heavily timbered. The timber is mostly that known as white birch or beech. The trees on the M Kenzie Flat are from lft to sft in diameter ; higher up the hill there are some fine totara trees to be met with, and lower down tke valley I afterwards saw gome splendid black pine trees, several feel; in diameter.

AU the trees are .thickly covered with mose, showing this to be a moist cli mateThere are also growing hero the other ordinary small varieties of busb, suoh as f uchsiao, maple, koromiko,.broadleaf, ribbonwood, &o. M the head of the bu«h the Mount Cook lily grows very plentifully, together with othermountain flow, suoh as celmißias and a kind of buttercup with yellow petals and a vary Strong stalk." The pretty edelweiss is met with in great quantities on the spurs between the head of M'Kenzle Creek and the pass.

Birds do not seem to be particularly numerous. There are kakau, wekas, blae and paradise duck, pigeons, mokomoko, as well as the smaller biids usually to be seen in the bush, such as ! tomtits, canarie?, &c. We noticed no kakapop, but occasionally heard the shrill cry of the kiwi, but they cerfcaiDly ar« not plentiful. Except rabbitd, whioh are numerous on the adjacent flat, there are no quadrupeds. I think this would be a very suitable, place to liberate deor or oppossums. They could be brought into the valley by way of Clark's River, then on to the Solution Spur, and thence the descent into the valley oonld be made on easy slope. The grass on tbe river bends would afford excellent food for deer, while there is no end of shelter in the bush. The snow cannot fall heavily here in winter, as the boughs of the trees showed no traces of any extraordinary weight of snow having lain on the branches. Late in the evening it cleared, and we went hunting for rabbits and caught four. O'Leary's dog got a fine woodhen after tea, which consisted of bread,- roast woodhen, and billy tea. We go to the tent for the night. Thursday, 27th.— Still raining. The hills are coated with snow down te tbe bush | line. Everything looks damp and the. boughs I of tho trees ara hanging with bright beads of water. This is very discouraging. O'Leary looks out of the tent at 11 a.m., and I ask him, " How does it look ? " His disgusted reply, given shortly, wa& " Oh, just tho same ; d d bad." The day wore on wearily, and still it rained* Towards dusk,tbe weather clearing a little, two of us again went hunting. Result : Nino bunnies. After nightfall the rain ceased, and we bsgan to hops for a better day on the morrow. While the evening cooking was in progress, and as I stood on the bank watchijjg the big river rushing past about a chain away from one of the camp fires, the moon came out now and then through the dark inky clouds, and as her soft light was reflected from the wet water-worn rocks and tbe river-bed boulders, their smooth polished, surfaces looked like lumps of shining J silver. This, in contrast with the dark foliage of the dense forest on each aide of tbe river and on the slopes, gave the whole scene a weird and almost uncanny appearance. Presently the ; moon plunges behind a black mass of vapour, and all is dark and gloomy. The | deep contrasts reminded one of some of Rembrandt's pictures. Fbiday, 28th.— The morning broke foggy and wet, with no sign of clearing. Shortly before noon we observed some paradise ducks alight oa.the river- bed about a quarter of a mile above our camp. O'Leary got near enough to shoot at one and wound it, but it unfortunately got into the river, and was carried down the stream and lost. Low, an master baker, cooked some econes, as our suDply of bread was nearly out. Notwithstanding the heavy rain, O'Leary proceeded up tbe river for some distance, and saw the remains of a camp higher up the' flat than W« were. This was doubtless Mueller's old survey camp. Ho also discovered traces of » track cut through the bush, seemingly gome six or seven years ago. In the evening" the rain came down 'in torrents, accompanied by heavy thunder. It is noteworthy that here the crash of thunder strikes the ear with a dull mulled sound, no doubt owing to tho lwge extant of forest on the' hillsides

and in tbe valley. Oaoe more, with out hopes of good weather going down to zero, we sought our blankets. Satubday, 29iii.— Ag^in rain. We oould hear it pelting on the roof of oqr tent, This was our fourth daybonfiaed to camp with rain. I popped my head out at ths door and could see that the snow had come down a considerable distance on the bush. At 3 p.m. it cleared somewhat, which enabled us to get enough rabbits for our projected trip down river to-morrow. I viiited Mueller's camp, but could not see anything left about; it to identify it, the only peculiarity about it being that the end of their ridge pole had been nailed to a treo by two Sin nails, instead of being eet up in the ordinary way. We found this to be a characteristic of nearly all the old camps wo afterwards saw there. The soil on tho flats is sandy, but of excellent quality where it is not shingly. I took a trigonometrical observation of one of tho large trees along the margin of tbe grass land, and found it to be 72ft high. Some ob the trees I judge to be frcm 25ffc to 30ffc higher than this. Tbe undergrowth near the fl it is not very dense, but; along the edge of tho grass land ferns and tutu grow abundantly. Low again acted as baker-in-cbief.'audas the weather looked decidedly more promising this evening we were in good hopes of being able to go down river in tbe ' morning. (To be continued )