SCENES FROM THE CATLINS DISTRICT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2442, 2 January 1901, Page 24

SCENES FROM THE CATLINS DISTRICT.

A holiday spsnt in the Catlins district is full of interest. There is good shooting, [ capital fishing, and plenty of beauty spots to visit. Among the most remarkable sights of the district, however, is the Devil's Blowhole, descriptions of which have appeared from time jto time. A recent visitor thus describes his J impressions : — After an uneventful walk we ' reached the Blowhole. When you are in the midst of the heavy bush through which the track winds, a booming sound is heard, re- ' peated at short but regular intervals, and pressing forward to see where the noise comes trom you reach the brink of the chasm with startling abruptness. And what a chasm it is ! Fully eighty yards long, forty wide, and fifty deep. It is -surrounded by tall pine trees, which appear almost to meet overhead, and its precipitous sides are covered with a | dense growth of small ferns. Looking down i into this mighty abyss you see the rise and fall of the churning waters below, as they ebb and flow through their cavernous channel, which begins at tho ocean, 600 yards away, and runs for an unknown distance inland. The deafening thunder of the subterranean tumult and the sombre grandeur of the surroundings produce on one a weird effect which words cannot convey, and it is with the utmost difficulty that one can shake off the dangerous | fascination and turn his back on this wonder- ! ful spot. A most startling effect is pioduced ! by firing a gun into the landward extension of the cliagjn a3 the torrent recede^ seawards. The . report goes booming- along in the- bowels of the earth till the- inrushing waves as»ain fill the chasm with a deafening crash like the | roar of big guns following the rattle of rifle ; fire.