TARANAKI’S HERITAGE

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1934, Page 13 (Supplement)

TARANAKI’S HERITAGE

BEAUTY OF NORTH EGMONT

(By

Winifred Houston.)

(id We turn to make our way back after a last look at the plains beneath us. New Plymouth, Inglewood and the smaller settlements are easily seen, and far-off is the faint bulk of the triple mountains, Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, with the spiral smoke quite distinctly rising from' Ngauruhoe’s tortured crown.

As we make our way back to the main track the delicate incense from unseen flowers mingles with the cool bush scents, and the green gloom'is sun-dap-pied between the high over-arching of mossy totara, frimu, broadleaf, rata and mountain cedar. Tunnels of kotukutuku (fuchsia) make an entrancing contrast, with their fresh green leaves and bright green and reddish flowers growing side by side, soon to yipen into the sweet konini berries beloved of the birds and of small children. The bush is so full of palpitating life that it is not difficult to people it with Te Tini-o-te-Hakuturi, “The innumerable Multitude of the Wood-elves,” who guard the forest trees and ferns for Tane-Mahuta, the overlord of the forest! Maori myth and story live again in this bright gloom. We hear the sound of Rata’s axe as it bites into the totara tree and the crash of the giant tree as fit tears its way down through the undergrowth; the sweet faint singing of the Patupaiarehe as they come to gaze upon young Te Kanawa and his hunters may be heard by those with ears to hear. Yon shadowy tree may hide the form of some lurking wild man of the forest, the dreaded Maero! But myth and fairy lore are dispelled as we emerge on the wide sun-lit track and we are back in the age of speed and the twentieth century world as two high-powered cars round a bend of the track and we step hastily against the bank to avoid speedy dissolution.

This is, indeed, the month of .flowers on these high altitudes. Loveliest of all, perhaps, are the swinging curtains of puawhanganga (clematis indivisa) which hang from many a forest tree, tantalisingly out of reach of vandal hands. TaneMahuta looks after his forest flowers, and the Park Board’ rules are strict against transgressors! Rivalling the clematis as we proceed down the track Is the lovely Senecio Kirkii, the white daisy-tree which is really a parasite for it is most frequently seen growing out from the bole or from the dizzy height of some giant of the forest. It is the white representative of the family which is found in its yellow form around the cliff faces of Lyttelton and Akaroa. The rosy-pink flowers of the Mako-Mako (Wineberry) make a lovely foil for Senecio Kirkii. Along the banks the Rangiora distils a violet-like scent from its foam-cream blossoms. A heady scent has puzzled us right through the bush tracks and here in the open we suddenly find its source. It is a trumpet flower of dark crimson, about an inch in length, a member of the honeysuckle family—to the Maori, Kokoeko; but the botanist calls it Alseuosmia macrophylla. I am indebted to Dr. Home for this information.

Towai trees are in bud and some in full flower, a lovely picture. Tataramoa, the cruel lawyer-vine of the settler, hangs its creamy blossoms which will soon turn into juicy bramble-berries for the birds. The stiff-leaved Olearia (tree-daisy) is very showy, and is at its best on the open lands around the monument at the back of the old house. On the shingle slips and in the banks are drifts and mated sheets of the lowgrowing everlasting daisy with its feathery winged seeds ripening ready to fly away and establish themselves in other suitable places. Spreading trails of the small white native violet grow in the damp banks among many forms of lowly damp-loving plants and berries. Tall white Ourisias are at their best just now, and beside them one sees a little member of the sun-dew family, Drosera auriculata.

The further one proceeds down the track into the lowland forest, the more imposing and luxuriant are . the trees with their branches covered with parasitic growth and mosses of all kinds. Flowering time is mostly over and berries take the place of blossoms, so that pigeons and all manner of native birds are growing fat with good-eating. The botanist or flower-lover could spend a happy time on the native rockery established five years ago, just below the old house, by Mr. Morshead, New Plymouth. It is worthy of more than the cursory reference which can be given here. The magnificent Ranunculus Lyallii, or Mt. Cook lily, has now shed its shining white flowers, but the visitor who has never seen this plant will still be interested in the beautiful. saucerlike leaves. Growing side by side with this lovely stranger from the south, Is our own Ranunculus Nivicola with Its yellow buttercup-like flowers. Some day, perhaps, these two cousins will be found growing together high up on the snow-covered slopes of our own mountain, and thus the lily of far-off Aorangi and its relative of Taranaki will delight climbers interested in the inter-relation-ship of mountain flora. The mists have cleared away from Egmont’s crown and the glow of sunset tinges the snowy peak. The sky is ablaze with colour, all the range of the spectrum fading to pale, opalescent tints. Night draws on, and now is witnessed another wonderful picture which the mountain has for us, for it throws its mammoth shadow across the plains below and soon it stretches out almost to the horizon as though it would enfold the plains in its loving embrace. One sees in it a gesture, simple, maternal, watchful, and we realise anew the love and reverence of the old-time Maori for Taranaki, the sacred mountain. Night shuts out the purple shadow all too soon. To witness a dawn from these great heights is the second marvel which none who experiences it can ever forget. It will, I think, remain with one when all else of loveliness arid joyous promise is forgotten, that birth of a new day as witnessed from the heights. Whatever life holds of joy or sorrow for the beholder, this picture will I am sure come stealing back to him. The whole sky is ablaze with crimson and orange, the stars fade gently from the night-blue which is being so swiftly engulfed by the embrace of the Dawn Maid, Hinetitama. Slowly the colours fade to violet, mauve and primrose. The faroff mountains of the East Coast appear in momentary white splendour as the sun lights up the trees of the forest lands and throws its pale torch along the far coast-line and across the heights and hollows of the awakening plains. Behind us, the mountain of Taranaki, austere guardian .of the province, rises in imperial splendour. The snow is stark and white in the ravines, a tiny mist-like cloud-wraith encircles the crater and is presently lit from the eastern sky by the fires of dawn. Birds have already awakened the forest, the sky-colours fade gently into the blue of morning-, and another day is bom.