REMINISCENCES OF EARLY DAYS

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 11 August 1909, Page 13

REMINISCENCES OF EARLY DAYS

WILE* PIG HUNTING.

BY L. L.OJGLAXDS.

j effect that "Mess** Edgar Hazlett and | A & Ke ,rhile pig-huuting on the ranges 1 £m»n a °u ° f Waik o«aiti, encountered an 'immense boar, which, after an hour's ■ JtemunK sport, was bailed up and d e ! ; *P«tched in a deep gully in Beauty '« Bush , jnd they .intended to send the 'apecinS' j to Dunedm to be stuffed and presented to i \r^ rl y Ssttl€r s' Museum. »P» P : in nnif 36 th * ancestors °* the specimen ;i"rt U were ? f S r6at service to the w™? Jf \ &nd , supplied a . want, though they loudly protested j again* having to do so, suJely PP t his deJ3JJ has « ""doubted right to be ncluded -m the very interring and instructive collection already on view in that memorial building. ' - , . It is not generally known that the pigs ; ai th^ago were not the progeny of pics left by Captain Cook. The Sounds wS the most southern part of New Zealand where h& landed pigs., _ Otagp was stocked by Oaptain Wissman; of the whaling barque - Elizabeth Mary, from Tasmania in the j year 1829 He landed a boar and two j sows at Otakou, where they were kept j until there was an increase, and then they , were boated up and let go at Pelichet I Bay. When old "Jack" Hughes, in December, 1837, left Weller Bros. 1 whal-' ing station at Otago Heads to start on his own account at Moeraki, taking "Jerry" Haberfield with him, they made a raid on the rapidly-increasing stock, and took the captured ones to Moeraki, where they kept them penned up at first and fed, and when they turned them out had them shepherded " for a time, so as to keep J them as much together as possible. The progeny of those two lots became very numerous, and spread all over Otago in droves. No wonder ;— for many years ' there was nothing to disturb them, while there was abundance of food, since there were large tracts wvered with fern and ' other -roots dear to tbeir piggish hearts. On plains like the Strath-Taieri and Maniototo they were like flocks of sheep, and runholders had to have them -destroyed before stocking, or it would have been a poor look-out for weak ewes and lambs. The usual way to effect the destruction of the pigs was by contract at 6d a tail, and where the ground was accessible the contractor generally took with him salt and casks for curing the ' -best, as some of the animals showed marks of breeding, and made excellent ' pork. Other pigs again, called Captain Cooks (although that noted navigator was in no way responsible for them) were ' monsters of ugliness; they .were roach- j backed and flat-ribbed, their sides having a splendid pitch for a wet day. They had immense snouts, hollow in the centre, but with great rooting power, and most formidable tusks. The suckers of those , that showed breeding, when styed and fed, would fatten, and prove delicious eatLag. As far tlie ' others, no matter how young they were caught or how well they were fed, the result was always the same— the more you put 'nto them the thinner they got ! Although Mr Jolm Jones supplied the butchers of Dunedin with beef #nd mutton • from his farm at Waikouaiti, there wa6 occasionally a difficulty in getting it, and the supply often ran short. Then the residents had to make use of the pigs — in fact, ! many preferred wild pork even when other meat was obtainable, and the outlying settlers had to depend entirely on it. Pigs were very numerous about Dun--edin in 1848, and the gullies and ranges between the town and Waitati (Blueskin) were literally swarming. When whaling was going on at the Heads two men camped at Dunedin for the purpose of killing pigs and supplying the whalers, j and one reason why John Anderson (the j sponsor of Anderson's Bay) moved from j that spot to Pelichet Bay in 1846 was to : < be nearer the place vli-ere the only butcher . " ■meat he could get was most plentiful. J : Pig-hunting was frrand ppoit, and many i tales could be. and \vei€, told of hair- i breadth escapes and cr.-ua!ti?s on the i part of tho?e engaged in it. I supnose , it is human nature, but many of those ; "yarns had a strong flavour of fish feto'i<?s. j i The dogs used were well up to their . , work, and rarely got lipp'-cl — th*-y knew i too well how to tackle thr-ir c^ame and ! it was only rash ones which dn h»->d at j ] the pi^s without any pre-auls.m t! tu <?mp j ■ to grief. A boar of any tize, with aI ,

2 good dog at each ear— ihat is, if he hac 1 ears, as many of the bescaired warrior i • of numberless fights had non-e, or, a , best, only a few fragments left— wa, [ held as fast as Ailsa Craig. Th< dogs held by pressure as well as teeth and the knowing ones would pie^s thi . harder with their shoulders while easim out their hinder part to allow tr< . hunter's hand with the sheath knife t< give the finishing touch under th< , shoulder, the only vulnerable part. I' was considered a great feat in those day: to have a hunt and bring home a pig ir triumph on one's back, to say nothing of the service the victim rendei-ed in th< pot. The writer and two of his fellow passengers, in July, 1848, purpdjec carrying out a much more enlarged scah of operations. It did not, however, come off — quite. We went to Otokia. or the Taieri, where there was a smal settlement of ex-whalers and Maoris. 3 " put up " with " Ned " Palmer, and m\ two mates with " I?dll " Palmer and " Sam " Perkins respectively. Our hosts were white, our hostesses Maori, We had a glorious time — pig hunting, fishing, and . shooting. Th« Taieri plain then was almost like a lake, the surface of the> water lite: all* black with, wild ducks, the river stocked with eels, the bush with birds, and th< tussock with quail. We enjoyed ourselves immensely for 10 days, and then proceeded to carry out the crownine; finale — i.e., to march into Dunedin each with a pig of his own catching on his back. We got three dogs from " Sam " Perkins, for' which each had to |eav:e a d-eposii of £2, and started full of hope and anticipated triumph — out — there was a hitch ! Our planned route was over the range and through the extensive bush at th« back of Flagstaff, on to Dunedin. Wt led the dogs, but whan we got to the edge of the bush the scent of pigs was sc strong and the dogs so keen that we could not hold them, so we let them go, and they at once dashed into the bush. We did our best to follow, but it was no easy matter amongst supplejacks, twisted vines, " lawyers," and such a profusion of undergrowth. The dogs gave j no sound, but we kept on haphazard : i and ifc was borne in on us that it was not ha picnic in which we were indulging. j Presently the dogs gave lip ; one howling j horridly in. on© direction and two barking • in another. My mates made for the I barks and I for the howler, and hed great difficulty in reaching him. He waj -very badly ripped, his inside protruding. I tried to do something for him, but he ! died, and by this time one bark .had turned to" a howl, and then both bark and howl ceased. By dint of coo-eeing we got together and found the position to be — three helpless new chums, two dogs dead, one dog missing, and still missing, but I do not intend to offer any reward for his recovery. The dogs being thus disposed of, the next thing was to dispose of ourselves, and about the way to do this there was some aoubt. as we did not know where we were and the sun was not visible through the bush. We agreed on a course, but it was hard work making progress, and skin and clothes both suffered. We got benighted and had to lie on the grouno.'. It rained, and the drip from the trees was worse than if we had been in the open. Starting again at daylight, late in the afternoon of the second day, hungry, weary, drenched, mud-stained, and in rags there returned veiy much down on their luck the three who had set out so boldly to 'conquer fate. Our misfortunes were caused through " Sam " Perkins takine advantage of our confiding innocence an<T providing us with old dogs without a tooth in their heads. If dogs have no teeth to hold on to a pig "they are easily thrown off, and then a boar has a playful habit of ripping them. • Many years later " Sam " Perkins got up a bogus rush to the Blue Mountains, near Tapanui. and tried to sneak away when the fraud was discovered by the diggers, but was caught and spread-eagled on -i bullockdray, when the whip was lustily applied. Had I had the luck of having had the handle of that whip in my hand I would have drawn a modicum of satisfaction, as well ac of blood, from the application. In those days the watercourses on the Strath Taieri, from the foot of the Rock and Pillar range to the river, were covered with impenetrable scrub. Through this a cutting wide enough to admit the passage of a bullock dray was made, and thie formed the only crossing in the whole length of the course. In 1862 the writer was riding from Patearoa to Dunedin for a doctor, and on reaching r>ne of those courses, north of the Strath Taieri township, found himself blocUen" by an immense black boar, a regular Captain Cook, and, his mate having taken full possession of the crossing, he did not charge and would not move, but stood facing me, gnashing his teeth, -shaking his ugly head, and making; the foam Hy in flakes from his horrid-looking tusk?. [ rode up and down the creek, but could md no othei' crossing. The horse I rode, ike the horses of that day. was a valuible one, and I had no wish to come to >lo?e quarters. There was nothing for it jut to keep out of sight and wait. After detaining me for about an hour, the boar 'runtingly. but of his own free will, :ondescended to move, and gave me free jaesage. Reminiscences grow apace, but I will :ontent myself by giving one more pig ale which, like the preceding ones, has lothing fishy about it. " Dick *' Driver, :hief of pilots and tall " yarners."' vhen boarding the pioneer ships outside he iieads, was bombarded with all sorts >f questions from the passengers. Driver iad a wonderful store of imagination, and Irafts to any ext»nt on that stoic vei-e Inly honoured. How he did cram them ' )n one of the f-'nips. the Lai kins, from /nifJon. in September. 1849. v^eie a m of voting cibin p;'. c .-~f-nt fit- j^r-ing on to Afllincrion. all pager for spoil, ana of our^e Driver v, as appealed to. He told

them of most of the game that was actual'y here, and invented stories about otheis. But, whether purpoeely or not. pigs were not mentioned. The passengers soon noticed the omission. " But pigs, Mr Pilot ; w e want to go boarhunting."— " pigs ! Boar-hunting! You' 1 ] find no eport there." — But why, Mr Pilot, we have been looking forward* to that "—" — " Why? Because they are too tame ; won't get out of your way." This was a crusher. Guns, however, were got ready. One young gentleman with an air-gun was prepared to do immense execution. Some of the residents owned pigs, and ac bylaws, or, in fact, any other laws, were unknown, they were allowed* to ramble and root -at their own sweet will. As the ship neared Port Chalmers, telescope* were at work and pigs were spotted. A rush was made for Driver. " Are they wild, Mr Pilot?"— " Wild? Of course they are; there is nothing else here!" That wais enough. As soon as the A^essel was " cleared " (by the writer) and passengers were allowed to land, there was a rugh on shore with the guns, and the sportsmen commenced blazing away in all directions. Of course they were soon stopped by the indignant a"nd surprised owners. The pigs of that day were not quite as well bred as at present, nor yet so thin-skinned, and unices they were hit in a vital place shot would drop off them like hail, and bullets would flatten, so that no very great damage was done after all. "When the strangers were convinced the pigs were not fair sport all damages were at once J>aid and apologies made. They did not see Driver again until he came on board a month later to take the vessel out of the harbour, when they " went for " him open-mouthed. \ " A nice , trick you played us, Mr Pilot!" Driver at first Dretended not to understand them. When they assured him the pigs had been claimed and damages paid, the incredulous look he assumed was a study. He looked from one to the other as if bewildered. " I don't understand," he said, so the tale was repeated, and at last he seemed to realise the affair and. looked pityingly from one to the other. " Well," he said, " I have heard of greenhorns, but nothing to equal you gentlemen ; they had .no more right to the pigs than I have !" Thus he left the passengers to sail away in the glorious uncertainty as to whether they had been " had " by the residents of the port, or by the very veritable Pilot Driver. My idea is that hp never dreamt of being taken literally, but, when he was so, made the best of it by a bit of " bluff."