The Cruise of the "Rita."

Southland Times, Issue 18056, 28 January 1903, Page 4

The Cruise of the "Rita."

A STEWART ISLAND HOLIDAY. <By Our .' Extra-Special Correspondent.) VII. • On Friday, after landing and "having same vigorous exercise— running and jumping — on the beach at Twilight Bay, we took a tearful farewell of " Dintiy " and his mate and left Pegasus behind for good. The land runs out in rocky, bushy headlands, often with a flock of Penguins standing like sentinels upon them, an<l on the left, just as you turn northwards are the Two Brothers, twin islands over which the sea dashes in foam and spray aud splendour^ Before leaving it a tale or two may be told about this part of the . island. Their authenticity Is unquestionable.

Just opposite Burnt Island, on Sandstone Point is the "Haunted Cave." It is of peculiar construction ; if a tire be lit inside the smoke will paS9 through a natiral chimney in the rear of it. It was near it that a party of Sydney sealers were drowoed. They had left a number of Maori women in the cave, and when the " -Sailors never returned the women, possessed Of the superstitious mind of the Maori, .'thought at night they could hear them wandering about outside the cave, and, greatly affrighted, walked north to Kopeka River and safety. The noises were, of course, due to air-currents through the" cave. Three sailors ence escaped from a. sealing vessel anchored in AcWeron anchorage by pretending there .was pressing necessity to go ashore to wash their; clothes/ Oace there they made -•■; the paoe as hot as possible but, in . ■ • . their excitement; went south ,'nstead ofnorth, -and, -were; never /Wear d of -ijibre. •' : I Off theWame boat, vwhich i,iust > have been a^cket-editiony.of hell afloat, with a personification of brutality ; for skipper anxi : an embodiment of cruelty as first mate, three other men escaped, and tried to walk along-shore to Port Adventure. One got there allright. His supply of matches had run out, and he arrived frantically waving- a lighted stick in the air. He used to save a good stick from every fire he made* keep it alight till iij was, getting towards his fingers and then" light another fire. The other two ; were lostV: Their bodies were picked up by! West; a surveyor. who found their pocket books on their perv sons, and, as a clue to identification, sent them to America: ' It failed; Off Broad Bay two men were once wrecked. r They had .'just time to Jump into a teri-floot dingy and pull ashore. Having nothing to/eat, howeveTi except tobacco, 'one of. them rowed out to a .-■ nruttonbird island, and, mistaking ' the state of the tide, left the dingy too far down the beach and so lost iti The two . men were thus separated — one on the* mainland, the other on the. island. To

judge from his telling that a great bird with eyes as big as saucers, and. glaring fiercely; .usied : to make- nightly visits in the. neighbourhood 9 *-4*'? .nut-.and tha-t hq used to.pick up iuhlES- br gold "as big as your: head, • which^ beiiTg 110 use to him, were imnj*diateiy heaved into the sea, h«? xnwst -hitvevboen slightty c'eraiigei by it; all

Messrs Longuet and All<a,n. op this .town both of whom have given their jiames to certain parts ol the/south ol ihe island, were the first to yralk froixt Basin Crffek to the bead of; Paterson's Thlet. They had only 16 matches* aridra'^anyas suit and "shared ■ Maori -hens' all the way, * After some disappointments tp their calculations? : is -to /where there .were huts they ';' ultimately /rea<:bed one near the mouth of the Freshwater liiver. One day - they saw a vessel loading timber from a sawmill near the head of the inlet and, at low tide, walked out a long way and lit a. fire The meri on the s-aip, however, . considered they were just Maoris v ' from the' Neck; and :wailted nothing tin , Ijarticular. They were uV^mately picket! boat. V ;;■; "'•,•■:' ~>v_. Jj;^:'--., ■ ;.- ' ; When WhM left the harboiir behind " we found the seayjfoucli rougher tUan it was coming frpmithe Bluff and some expected; a repitition.-' of the accompaniments of our little trip across the '- of our: little, tyip across the straits, but - by. .-this.-, time everyone was reasoned „ to the Rita's gentle motion and, the commodore*, bos'n.and three "more on. the quarter deck singing lively songs inces■r: santly, and ,a fairlyi /brightj warm sun overliead,-we had a great run to Port Adventure, v In -"the passage above described as ■ Scollay's owii, the "" King- .. fisher" was wrecked, some': years ago. :"_'-; - pne man managed to save a boat and in it pulled across to the mainiand, where /he had to wait a lpng time, before being ■.' picked up. Some of the" huts vhere the Maoris ,live in the muttonbird season '"could be seen on; Break. Sea Island. -W»: got to Abraham's Bosom -at 1Q o'clock,; aid after ddriner one I-oatload /.left for /the; ; Heron RiVer, and another explored^- Oyster -Cove, both of which V]placos are. now visited by/ nearly fevery /Stewart Island holiday-makef," and so /■;-' need no description. On. the beach-,.- at .-■■ ' .-'■ Abraham's Bosom there are the remains * '-- of two tree-fern huts with clay &re- : . places. We also ;found . various pieces of clothing and th,e <rhiteman's cooking utensils^ ; Evidently the occupants had had enough ol the! charms of solitude and l the pleasures of a >lonely.rlife.^ There. ■■•' were^'"quiti : a- number of sei-hens flying around the Rita as she lay =at anchor here. \^en he whose: cruelty-abhorring soul ever, shrank in agonised revulsion - :frnm things'that.^sayaurecl of a niean: advantage taken; by the strong against tihe : weak, heard that jtheie.^lack and ugly v birds >often : Tend-: the gentle ;lamb,. 'and, ■ : two " : ;of " them i Miegetheir >sometimea . bear down upon^ the graoeful' gull and slay it, when the iProniodore heard this, iie' cried aloud, "Give, me the gun ;,6n them I will a speedy vengeance take.' ' And not till there float upon the "sea four torn and shattered" bodied ' . doies . .'there escape him this further 'sadly-epoken thought: " 1\ have paid them in their own coin ; : - cruel; I have, been, perhaps, but not ao ';-. ciruel as they;" '..-: r ;..,>' v - We*- started at B;is next day and steamed -to, an old /Maori Kaik. The •■ left this , place" TJecause Taipo; came and 'frightened them. It -is now a grassy spot with ■some, cattle and a savage bull,'. rtbe ter/or of-the^place.rgrwing about in- it :■; the_rcjnains of a few huts, can ;still be, seen. Captain Hansen ;ha<J ;:;■ once • a house here,; the : chimney -'is still left; As to the cattle^ numbers of them : graze over the: island, some wild, some owned and branded by Captain Han sen. The sportsman, I fear, would scarcely hf conscientious enough,' to peeir 1 anxiously and inquisitively around the hide of a wild' bull as it fiercely vharged down, upon him, '] to see if he 'could spy there a lirand, before bowling him over. We left there at 18. 55, and after passing Chew Tobacco Bay 'where a craft was once wrecked and the hungry survivors had nothing but tobacco left, and the " old Neck/* our skipper's birthplace, we got to -'•' The Neckj." : While we were steaming up the harbour, the captain roared out something? in Maori ; the natives ~im--mediately came to their doors and replied^ ;tp f him, if not in words, by sign and. gesture. Lying "on. tfie oeach opposite where we anchored; was the "Flying

Scttd," which is ;now- inhabited by a solitary "Malay, ¥ l)Ut^/ wbich^abqut; 40 yeare' : :-"-.■. ago went : toth-e rescued of -:.';" th^" ; '•^raftbn;^ :'^^l^]o^'tb6\xr&f':\6-:Jifii^\ Zealand, We arrived^ at ;5Ph jle ßay <jjvi the other sidejjof^tlveri s^ 1 ? 8 * 11 * 4 T 9^ J* alf went across there" and were entertained tq afternoon tea by the ladies of "Ohan House.'" We also saw the " Belle,!,'- •■"■■:'.*■■ yacht out on a crviise like r ours on a , smaller scale. Quite a number of ladies ciuneion'*6ard in 'the eyening and still more visited 'us next ;morniir»g ; in fact, they seenxfed unable to stay &way from the gallant Rita. On Sunday we walked across to Horse Shoe Bay, which does bear a slight resemblance to that impleiueht. .and.saw where the- -telegraph runs overland to Lee Bay, t,he terminus of the lately laid cable. About a dozen of. the party paraded Oban city at a late hour. Near the three chief boarding houses ..they sang the "Glory Song," and "In the Sweet bjl and bye. ' lhitf was done under the supervision of the musical director and, so we heard, was much appreciated. Those nidnight serenaders brought back about ten empty bottles of dandelion porter-a non-mtox-icant t make haste to explain-and on

slight appreciation of his services, they placed four. He was, of course, asleep ou their arrival. Next morning they accused him of a secret carousal so prolonged that he had no longer strength to remove the bottles from his head. He had his revenge.

On Monday morning we steamed far up Peterson's Inlet, which is just like a small Pegasus, and boated to a shag " rookery." The nest is characteristicof this bird with which no one seems to have any sympathy — a clump of dry twigs inartistically thrown together among bare branches and over the water in quite an exposed place. After visiting a solitary hut built on the top of a little 20ft,. precipice, and looking at Kidney Fern Island we sailed for Sydney Cove. On the way down the rommotlore was at the wheel. Suddenly the skipper thundered, " What sort of a tourse is

that you're steering ?" The commodore who for once forgot the dignity of his position, looked at the zig-zagged track of foara^ behind. He could not understand if and was quite pathetic about some error in the steering gear. The skipper had secretly put on the tiller— for steering in bad weather, was turning the rudder from side to side, nnd sending the Rita all over the inlet. Sydney Cove was generally admitted to lie the prettiest spot we visited, but I Uuvo no desire to give a surfeit of Attempts at scenery-description. It unites natural and artificial beauty, and ( ailed from the poetic promodore this remark, " As the places you 'read of in song and story, even so is this." It is here that Mr Traill lives and keeps the " Ulva " post office, from which as the most southerly one in Australasia, if not in the Empire, many of us sent nuttonbird deaves. Leaving here we steamed to Little Glory, and thence to Uravo, where w<B accidentally fell in with the " Sunbeam" and her company- The" strange tales told of Bravo are probably founded on the following: — A certain' Portuguese named Gomez is said to have married a Maori of these parts und after Gomez's death, the husband of Gomez's daughter took up his abode at Uravo Island. One night, according to the tale, he saw the ghost of his father-in-law. In terror he fled from the place, and has not returned. The Maoris leave Bravo' Island severely alone. We returned to Thule Bay at 7, and .the performers at next evening's concert \»ent to Oban to have the benefit of a piano at ;their rehearsal. In their absence it was suggested that something in the nature of a just revenge for last night's trick would not be out of place. With great 'glee the chief " sketcher " one udvocated putting a liberal supply of sugar in "their bunks. It was, he said, an effective idisturber of a night's repose. Further, someone proposed taking part of the bottom from their bunks,* as that, though Its supporting power was vnchang,ed when you gave a casual glance at one, it was not really so.

I remember how- wan and thin looked that mighty" "sbetcher body •'' giro wn old with the scaling of many, a mountain as lie sought the distant view ; but I would not show, you him like that but rather, when; with face wreathed in smiles sweet as tiiu altar 'of roses, he enacts this little plot, and when, his task completed, he sits down and sees in fancy the impending scene ; how the bos'n, til unsuspecting, shall wearily climb up towards Ws : eleyd'ted - bunk and with a great sigh of the gladness of rest, hurl himseli upon it, only to find himself falling with, diswy speed through 2ft. .Gin. of space right on to the PjiUJ but wiry argumeritator, whose bunk we left im-

touched. There was a law enacted among the men ot' the Rita which forbade the use of certain words unless u»der great pressure! I show you, then, this sketcher one, as he now gives himself wholly over to the pleasures of anticipation ; from his oft-solemn lips shriek now follows shriek as with delight unspeakable, he contemplates whether, with the bos'n's mighty frame precipitately plumped upon.: him, the argumentator shall Seem the occasion the very one for which the exception in the- law provides. When I remember this I would fain idealise a little and tell that his plot 'was puccessfuf. But " that- never waur ma style," and I have, to tell you that it failed because -when; at last they came we were awaked frqm sleep by someone's polite utterance. " The brutes have takien tho bottom out of ourlaunks.; " a 'moment after we, who were qC course still fast asleep, heard the same man say " Don*t say a word about it. • Revenge is sweet, but this is. not the time for it. Wait."

At this distance of time I am not sure that '•' brutes " was 'quite the word used-; iC resembled it at any rate and was if anything a trifle stronger. '

i ,OTp be . concluded . )