THE EXPERIENCES OF A TRAVELLER IN THE MACKENZIE COUNTRY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 3413, 4 September 1885, Page 3

THE EXPERIENCES OF A TRAVELLER IN THE MACKENZIE COUNTRY.

A gentleman in the Mackenzie Country, well known for his rambling proclivities, was one day lust week seized with the idea of taking a journey from Lake Tekapo to Timaru on foot. To vary the monotony of travelling all the way along tha road, he resolved to cross the range of hills which separates the civilised country from tho comparatively uncivilised, and' which aro immediately at the back of Silverstream. These hills or ranges are at present covered with two or three feet of snow, and a walk up one 5000 or 6000 feet high with a coating like that just mentioned is by no means a joke for an amateur climber. Starting from Tekapo early in tho morning, buoyed up no doubt by the joyous elasticity of tho atmoßphere which on a fine morning in Spring is simply delightful in that place, after a few miles' walk tho foot of the range was reached, and then began his troubles. After getting a few feet up the range the enow deepened, and at ono time he was wading through it above his knees. Climbing in this manner he reached the summit of the Tekapo Saddle, and was rewarded by having a splendid panorama suddenly placed before him. In his own phraseology it wns " superbly grand," and worth alt the trouble underwent during the ascent. Indeed, the view must have bad some fascinating grandeur about it, for standing on this summit, and surveying the stretch of country from the sea to Mount Cook, and from Ashburton to Oamaru, he became utterly ignorant of tlio fact that a small portmanteau which he was carrying, had slipped from his hand, and was siowly but surely making for tho bottom of the glaciallooking range. Aroused from his reverie by the (light and screech of a body of keas, who had espied the portmanteau, and with I heir usual curiosity were making for it, ho looked down and noticed his loss. Aa it at first was going vei-y slowly, lie believed he might easily catch it, but Buch did not prove to bo the case. Balancing himself as well as ho was able on the steep and slippery slope, he gained a few yards on the renegade portmanteau, but in the eicitement of tho chase, just as he was in the act of grasping it, he stumbled, and pursuer, head first, was soon following the pursued. Words can hardly describo the awful sensation felt by the soliloquist of a {cw minutes ago as on he went in his involuntary course. Down, down he slid to llu' tune of screeching keas, completely distancing them in his rapid descent. Gradually the pace slackened, and the gentleman quite unconsciously shot down into a soft though prickly bed of Spaniards and tussock, having taken but a few seconds to descend 300 feet. After dreaming for a few hours about delightful walks and superbly grand views, ho woke up to find tho night had far advanced, and that he must hnvo been lyinq there for a good length of time. Looking around, all he could see through the darkness were black rocks, which led him to tho conclusion that ho had found one of Dante's conceptions a dreadful reality, and that he had taken up his abode with " fallen " men. However, he thought the best thing to be done was to tear up some tussocks, make a "lair," and creep under it, after the fashion of a Mount Cook pig. Awaking some time next day, he found he would have to climb up the rango to find where he was. This, after an hour or two's hard work — for lie was naturally feeling very stiff — he accomplished, and after reconnoitring the place came to the conclusion the best way to get out of his difficulty was by following a creek running through a part of Ashwick run, and known as Firewood Gully. This is an exceedingly rough creek, as it tumbles between and over huge boulders and its banks are covered with dense scrub, lawyers, and various kinds of stuff which entangle and tear any unlucky being who has to go through them. After travelling two or three miles along this creek, he struck the main road at a plaoe called Horseshoe Bend, four miles from Burke's Pass. Two ladies riding along tho road received a fright on seeing the nomad in his tattered and torn state, which, to ear the least, was more effective than picturesque, and noting his discomfiture also, (for he is very punctilious in these mutters), completely put him at his ease by telling him his costume charmingly suited him to tho scene he had gone through. It began to dawn upon him as ho walked up the road to the Pass that he could not go through that place until his wounds were bound up and a vacuum that had received ail immenso amount of knocking about had been refreshed. Fortunately, knowing the owner of the first house ho came to, he succeeded in getting fixed up for his journey back to Tekapo, preferring to take tho main road rather than undergo the possibility of another slide. Any idea of beating the Rev. Mr Green's feat on Mount Cook which he had entertained — previous to this walk or slide — had vanished i» toto. He says, however, that he would " neither loso nor undergo the tamo experience for anything."