BOAT HARBOUR AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. Boat Harbour, December 3rd.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 326, 19 December 1888, Page 5

BOAT HARBOUR AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. Boat Harbour, December 3rd.

LOST IN THB BUSH. There is an endless charm in the scenery of our New Zealand bush, but when a man is noosed around the neck by supple jacks» and hooked aoross the nose by '* lawyers,'' the charm begins to lose its power. Such I found to be the case one day last week when attempting to take a short cut to Tairua, aud I became entangled in a thicket of vines, creepers and other parasites. The fact is scarcely worth mentioning, but that it was the cause of your not receiving my usual communication that week, I started from this plnce to post, my correspondence and some private letters, allowing myself reasonable time to catch the s.s. lona, which takes the Auckland mail from Tairua. How pleasant the cool shade of the forest ! What varied and lovely tints j of green gladden the eye ! Who could be 30 dull to the beauties of nature as to pass with unadmiring gaze those graceful nikau palm* and gentle fern trees, the fronds of which even a •avage would look upon as the emblems of peace ? See that tui who seems to be enjoying a private rehearsal all to himself, as he performs grotesque movements to strange guttural accompaniments, occasionally rolling oat rich musical notes, calling an echo from one of his kind hidden in a distant tree-top. But why do these charming scenes and sounds cease to impress me? Because I am lassoed with supplejacks, torn by " lawyers," and engaged in a wild Davenport trick with the pliant stems of I plants, the botanical names of which I don't I know and don't care a for. At last, thank hoaven, lam out of it. At one time 1 feared that I was about to spend another night among; the fawns and satyrs, woodnymphs, moreporks, and things. After a seveie struggle, however, I defeated the supplejacks in the Davenport trick, and soon found myself on the beach, where I rested to enjoy the ever consoling pipe. But no ! yes ! I can't have ! can I ? There was n^t the least doubt on the subject. My pockets were empty. My letters were lost. Go bock for them ? Not if 1 am aware of the difficulties attending such an undertaking. Let the woodnymphs make curl papers of my " copy." Let the fawns and satyrs put it to any use they may think fib. Let the roaming gumdigger geb the squint trying to decipher it. Let the moreporks pork fun at it. Where it dropped, there it may remain. Go for it, and be hanged in supplejacks. Not for Joseph ! With clothes all awry and dishevelled hat I sat and lamented, until, seeing there was no help 'for it, '- arose »nd returned to camp by an old and well-beaten track. Moral : Never take a short cut when you are in a hurry.

MINING OPERATIONS AT BOAT HARBOUR. But let me see. What were the " items " I bad noted for your readers in my last manusciipt? Extra hands have been pufc on th© prospectors' claim afc Boat Harbour. The attractions of Mataiangi have proved too much lor <h Evers, wko has left us, and C. Marsack fia^ taken hit place on the above property. We had a short visit from A. F. Wilson, a well-kno\ui and experi ' enced Thames miner. Hi& stay wa-5 ,i brief | one, but from what he s»aw of the place while here, I was glad to hiu< he had a favourable opinion of it as * Held foi prospecting ; so much so that he purposes returning after Christmas to have a thorough j examination of the country. Mr R. Crusoe | is now a monarch of all he surveys on his j island. He only wants a man Friday, a I goatskin umbrella and a footmark to , make him supremely happy. He has finished driving for the present, and. is now engaged Backing ore for shipment to Auckland. Mr (Tlarkton is, I learn, coming over this vr*y, too, to do some prospecting. The more the merrier. Let them come. If they " coo-co," and I am about as they approach the camp, I will sling the billy and cook them a beggar on the coals. (Don't know what a " beggar on the coals " is ? Bless my heart ! You evidently cannot have attended those cookery classes at South Kensington.) My knowledge of the locality is at their service, and whenever they go into " the Bay " they can have as much beer as they like to drink — at their own expense. There is nothing small about me but my feet (tens).

SHIPMENT OF AURIFEROUS SAND. Meisrs Johnstone and party, who have for some time past been carrying on operations on the beach at Te Karo, recently ' shipped thirty tons of biack sand by the cutter Wanderer for the Thames. The stuff is to be treated by an extensive tailing plant, rented by the party for the purpose. Messrs Johnstone and friends have gone to superintend the treatment of the sand, and if the trial proves satisfactory chey will retarn to Te Karo after Christmas to continue operations. About a mile to the southward of Te Karo, J. Campbell and mate are also working the black sand. Campbell informs me that he thinks the gold is coated with oxide of iron, which prevents the quicksilver from acting properly upon it. This party are also doiag some work on a reef, the value of which has yet to be proved.

December 9. We have had no communication with the outer world for more than a fortnight, and consequently I have been unable to forward my usual correspondence. It was my intention to post it in Tairua, to which sawmill settlement I went on Wednesday last, to get something for a sick man, but unfortunately I was late for the mail. Tairua does not give one the idea of a centre of restless enterprise. ' There is a store, a " pub," and a post-office there. There are also extensive mud flats. I should say it ought to be an excellent place for flatfish. The vigorous retrenchment policy of the kauri " Sydney-cate " has here, as in other local centres of the timber trade, made itself felt in an unmistakable manner. Unfortunately, there has been a deal of sickness in Mr Murray's family of late. Dave, one of the original prospectors, has been seriously ill for tho last month, and since the death of his «ldest daughter, about two months ago, on© or more of his children have been ailing. His father, an old man of 78 years, is, I tear, rapidly sinking, and " Jimmy," a native of New Caledonia, who ha? been working with the Murrays, is also ill.

A CAPITAL FISHING GROUND. It U difficult to understand the cause of so much sickness, for, as far as personal experience goes, I never lived in a more healthy par! of the world. There could nofc be a better camping ground. Beautiful icenery, delightful sea air, plenty of wood and water, and leviathan whapuka and patriarchial schnapper for the trouble of catching them, Just now, all the fish in the sea seem to be in their primeat condition, and the tarakihi — but that is a fish you do not get in Auckland—is simply delicious, and for richness and delicacy of flavour, surpasses anything that swims along our coasts. The crayfish, too, now that they are mmolti t are at their bMfc, Warn tie water ii olwr, *u and hit

little Bister Polly are out among the rocks in a small boat. Polly of the keen eight is peering into the depths among the seaweed, and than she says in a, low voice in Maori, "The crayfish in there." Her eyes alone show Pu where he can find his prey. Carefully and slowly down into the water goes his h pear. Then there is a brief pause, the shaft is driven with unerring aim and a flapping crayfish, wildly clutching at nothing, is hoisted aloft. I have no use for cookery books. They always tell you to take four eggs or twenty pounds of gravy beef, or the hind-quarters of a giraffe, or something else equally obtainable. Thanks to the kindness of my neighbours, the Murrays, I enjoy the new potatoes, fresh from the ground, with the flavour of early summer still upon them. Boil the tubers slowly and tenderly with the fish a la Maori. Turn the whole out into a dish, and the man who cannot make a good meal of it, with a pannican of tea, deserves to go without an appetite.

ROUGH ON MOSQUITOES. The only drawback to camping out at this time of the year is that it is not easy to sleep comfortably during the business hours of the mosquito, I never found a curtain act well in a tent. One of the tormentors generally manages to get under it, then there is a struggle in the dark, generally resulting in the destruction of the fabric and the free use of "cuss words." Why does not one of your Auckland chemists invent "rough on mosquitoes ?" It ought to "go" well. In other countries I have used with success a mixture of pennyroyal oil of lavender and rose water. It was a perfect preventive, but rather expensive. Carbolic acid mixed with any kind of oil is very good, but, augh ! the smell ! io always reminds me of a coroner's inquest. Rub it on yoar face at bedtime, and next morning You may soap, you may lather that face if you will. But tho Bmoll of carbolic will cling to it still. Shade of my country's bard forgive me. £

A RUSSIAN WAR. The Star of the 24th of November was the last news down this way. A man passed about a week ago, bound South, who spread a report of a Russian war ; he, by some nicane or other, got hold of a paper a few years old in which there were cablegrams anent the scare of that period. On hearing the report, I was about to spin you off an article on the subject that would astonish you. Whon you know this, you will probably rejoice that there is no Russian war. It is hard to be left without intelligence of " Parnellism and Crime." betting on the Auckland Cup, Jack the Ripper, Gladstone and jam, etc., but when a fellow biies to rub stuff of two years old into you as '* news," it sours the temper — Job-like though it bo I have been made fast with a rope to the side cf a cliff pounding a drill all day. It is time that I smeared the bald part of my head with some mosquito- battling grease, and retired to my little cot. Farewell.