ROUND ABOUT PRESERVATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2414, 14 June 1900, Page 31

ROUND ABOUT PRESERVATION.

(By Oue, Travelling Correspondent.) An old whaling ship lies beneath the placid waters of Dusky Sound, and the story goes that its live stock perished with it. Rabbits are never seen here, but pigs were liberated at Dusky Sound by Captain Fairchild, late of the g a. Hinemoa, about five years ago, and opossums were liberated on Long Island by the ranger. Opossums are very plentiful in the vicinity of the Wairaurihiri River, but none are seen on the west of it. Birds are plentiful, and include the pigeon, kaka, kakapo, woodhen, kiwi, petrel, blue mountain duck, swan, and mutton bird; but the last mentioned is not plentiful. Hawks are very plentiful at the Big River. Penguins and red bills are the only species of water fowl t in some parts. A few blue crane have been seen, but it is feared that that family is almost extinct. ; Carrier pigeons are often used to take messages to Invercargill, and do the journey in less than two hours, averaging 50 miles per hour. This is the only quick means of communication between the Inlet and the outside world, although Gilfedder's track is now passable, and the journey can be made easily in • three days. In winter the monthly intercourse j by steamer is tardy and very trying on peoples' | patience, and in stormy weather is unsafe. No : serious accidents have occurred towards the I townships, but towards the "old briny, where a great roll is sometimes experienced, several , fatal accidents have taken place. At the landing for the lighthouse, two men were drowned through the boat striking a reef of rocks, upsetting by the next wave, then being twirled about with the men underneath ; but the third " occupant managed to reach terra firma after a desperate struggle; and still closer to the bar another boat was upset by the swell and its crew of three* drowned. A similar accident at Coal Island gave one poor miner a watery grave. About 15 months ago a fair sized boat was upset on the little bar inside, and two men clung to the up-turned keel for four and a-half hours 'as the boat drifted towards the land ; but a storm suddenly arising, the boat started for the oxsen sea, while the merj struck out for land, and reached it. Tho most dangerous rock in the Inlet is Whale Rockj which is sunken, and right in the course of steamers; but of course it is on the chart. Opposite the lighthouse is West Cape, the most westerly part of New Zealand. Mile posts are said to be unsociable, but lighthouses are still more &o. Tho one at the entrance to the Inlet is called Puysegur; the next nearest to it is Centre Island, adjacent to Colac Bay. The Payscgur lighthouse possesses a clear revolving light, and on its elevated stand 90ft above sea level it raises itpnlf abnnt inothrr 90ft. It is kept in tip-top on'u 1 by j\l"ess->s \Vakefield, Sandager, and Murjaj. Mi S.uicui^ov is a well-known coHnotor of specimen-, and is an expert on zoological and

botanical matters. Many specimens now bear his name. It was he who found that species of mutton bird called Pufiinus Zealandicus, the only specimen of the kind ever secured. This lighthouse, which was built in 1878, shakes greatly in rough weather. From it the tops of the masts of the s.s. Invercargill may be seen crossing the bar, and its light is the first of New Zealand sighted by night by Melbourne vessels, just as the Preservation Mountains are the first sighted by day.