THE PIONEERS

Southland Times, Issue 20538, 14 July 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE PIONEERS

MORE RECREATIONS

(By

Rambler.)

A scientist has stated that in two thousand years’ time the human race will consist of being without muscles, and he bolsters up this statement by asserting that exercise is gradually being eliminated, and musI cles are not now used to the proper extent. Be this as it may, the early pioneers were not likely to suffer in this direction for they all believed in abundant exercise and walking played a large part in their lives. They thought nothing of walking three or four miles after the evening meal ! had been disposed of, and after spending a II pleasant evening with friends they walked home again. The early settlers of Waikawa could tell of some splendid feats performed with “shanks the mare” but it remained for one of the younger generation to prove conclusively just how far a party in search of pleasure could walk in a day. I was one of the party that covered twenty five miles of rough bush track in search of penguins eggs. The distance was measured with a pedometer and I think that it was very i accurate. The time engaged was about ten ' hours and that included two stops to boil ; the billy. I A favourite walk of the Campbells was to [Shades beach and home again in the day. This only amounted to about twenty miles ■ but considerable time was always spent at [the beach so the walk was no mean feat. • The coast towards Chaslands Mistake is ; native reservation and this was a favourite i tramping ground affording as it did ex- | cellent coastal scenery for many miles. By crossing the Waikawa river in a flat-bottoiii-I ed boat the trampers could proceed by a fair 1 track to the Brothers and from there could , journey many miles down the coast. A party of eleven pig hunters once left Waikawa about 10 a.m. and journeying by the above route were many miles I down the coast by noon. They ' then made camp and finished the day by attempting to catch fish. On the following day they travelled about twenty miles through the bush in search of pigs but without success. The following day was spent in , the same manner and as provisions were then exhausted they were compelled to return to Waikawa that same night. At least one member of the party could walk at a five mile an hour pace through the bush and keep it up for hours. [ Another party once walked in the same I direction and returning the same day, climbed over the headland behind Whitehead I and visited the caves. As these caves were J a favourite spot for a walking tour a desI cription of them may not be without ini terest. The party in question was armed I with candles purposed for the visit and I reached the region of the caves about six ' o’clock in the evening. The caves were ! situated in a natural hollow or crater close !to the cliffs. This basin collects the rain i water and this water has soaked through the soft rock to the sea and while this I process has gone on through the ages, the ; rock has been washed away and large caves have resulted. The trampers climbed down to the bottom of the crater and there discovered a narrow rift in the earth. Sliding through this they slid several feet over slippery clay into total darkness. Candles : were lighted and a huge cave was revealed. ' The roof was lost in darkness and the width ' and length were such, that when one can- ' die was placed in the middle of the floor, I nothing but the sandy floor could be seen. i At the seaward end the tiny trickle of ' water passed through a narrow cleft and i thence through smaller apartments to the I sea. This passageway is too narrow to ad- [ mit of an adult passing through and the 1 adventurers could only examine the openings beyond by the restricted light of the candles. The walls and roof of the main ; cave are coated with fungi and swarms of weta live on the strange pasturage. The ’ pale colour of the fungi takes on fantastic j forms in the uncertain light and serves to give the place a wierd and ghostlike nature. I One member of the party I write of was I examining this fungoid growth by the aid of his candle and approached the flame ; close to a large weta. The weta promptly j acted liked a grass hopper, which it closely i resembles and sprang into the face of ani other member of the party. Just at that I moment a large drop of water fell from the I roof and extinguished one of the candles. This proved too much for the person struck by the weta and he raced headlong through ■ the entrance and refused to return. ' When these long walks were undertaken ' in the bush they were not always attended by pleasant results for occasionally a party became bushed. It was really a very sim- | pie matter for even experienced bushmen Ito get bushed if overtaken by darkness. [ There is a distinct difference between being i lost and being bushed. The latter term is • applied when the traveller is prevented from traversing well known bush by being overtaken by darkness. I experienced all the pleasures and all the discomforts of being bushed on one never to be forgotten occasion. We had discovered a wild bee hive and three of us set out to take it one evening. We secured the honey and started on the return journey, but rain came on and the darkness beneath the trees became intense. We lost the faintly marked path and soon became hopelessly bushed. We knew that we were no more than ten chains from the open but we did not know in what direction to go. We attempted to light a fire but all our matches were damp. We then commenced to build a shelter but had to be guided entirely by touch for the darkness was complete. Finally we concluded that we had erected sufficient protection from the elements, and took shelter beneath it and endeavoured to cheer one another by telling stories and singing songs. Anyone who has heard me sing can imagine the effect of the latter performance. About midnight I remarked that water was trickling down the i back of my neck but fell silent upon being i told that another member of the party | was sitting in a pool of water. Shortly after this we heard a faint cooee and attempted to reply but could not owing to the dampness having made our throats sore. The coo-ee was repeated several .[ times so we started towards it. We travelll ed down a gully until we became convinced i that we should strike out to the right. We . attempted to climb out of the gully but could not for the side appeared to be sheer. ; This puzzled us considerably for we knew . that the sides of this gully were easily clim- ; bed. We moved further down and were I then able to climb out without difficulty j and after plunging around in the underi growth for another five minutes, suddenly , found ourselves in the open and face to ; face with my father who had been coo- ’ eeing to guide us home. Fortunately we did not suffer in any way as a result of our I unenviable experience. We returned to the ; bush the following day to rescue the honey I and laughed uproariously when we saw the ■ shelter we had built. We felt inclined to ' cry when we saw a large sloping tree trunk within ten feet of our shelter. It would have afforded comfortable shelter for all of us but in the darkness we had missed it. We examined the place where we had failed to scale the side of the gully and found marks that showed that we had attempted to climb up the side of a large red pine.