The Nobelist.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2176, 24 December 1875, Page 4

The Nobelist.

By W. M. B.

A TON OF GOLD! 08,

THE NARRATIVE "'":"■" • .. OF

EDWARD OR EWE.

A Tale of Local Interest.

Chamek X. Continued.

Upon my return to the house Jael was singing to herself, whilst at the same time she was busy with the preparation of our breakfast. JAEL'S SONG. The spring is coming back again And soft the breezes blow, Whilst bright and warm the sunbeam* glance And glad the world below, But tho' the pretty flowers bo rife That fleck the hillocks gay They ne'er can be the same to ma Since mother's passed away. O lonely was tbe MaoriVland, And weary was the day, 0 lonely was the Maori's land, , When mother passed away. Too late, too late, the pleasaiat sun Hath touched the bills with gold, It's beams had been'a boon of life Amidst the winter's cold When keen the Boutli wind searched our shed 5 Pear mother sinkiDg fast. A flower upon the winter's ekiris That quailed beneath the blast. O weary was the Maori's land, &c. For me, in blosaom'd sweets of spring Ifo more may gladness dwell; We ÜBed to gather flowers for mother, Aye ! she loired them well. But now they aro not like the 6arae, K"o happy thoughts they wake, The lips are cold that used to smile And kiss them for our take. 0 weary was the Maori's land, &c. 'Twas mother made the spring so bright With loving looks and hind, And I'll be little mother now To all she left behind ; To little brothers—sisters—all— Be mine such lovo to briug, That mother's gentle spirit still May glad each sweet life's spring. O lonely was the Maori's land, &c,

Did we say grace before this or any other meal ?

No, we did not, and we were so far in the right, and advanced members of society, for I have observed since my return to England, thatit is not the fashion.

Seth now came into the house, having been at the stockyard milking the two cows, to whom the young people had given the names of Lord - Kelson' and ' Blucher.' The former bovine female was a brute to manage, and whom it would have been impossible to milk without a " bail." To what man or country the honour of this invention belongs, who can tell ? It is in general use in the Australian colonies ; and my advice to any one troubled ■with a naughty cow, who kicks liko fury during the process of milking, is to have a bail constructed. in their cow-house. For plan and .specification of which ask the next Australian or New Zealand colonist you chance to meet, and should he be unable to give apy tenant of " a farm of four acres" a lucid description, listen with misgiving to his personal bush experiences : he has onlybeen a." new chum/ a travelling swell, or a counter-jumper when at the Antipodes. : After, breakfast, Seth and I set off for a walk up into the forest, to where the fellers lived.

The kauri began about four miles from the mill, and here, just at the outskirts of the bush, the men had built their huts.

In approaching houses of this sort it is as well to cooee, whilst still at a respectful distance, and give the inmates time to explain to the dogs, who are always loose, -in necessarily strong language, to refrain from worrying the stranger, else your welcome may be louder and warmer than is pleasant or desirable. My companion -being, in this instance, on terms of intimacy with "Lion" and " Trousers," had only occasion to mention their names and present the back of his hand for their inspection to quiet the pair of hounds, which sign I conclude to be a kind of doggy freemasonry. Here we spent the day roaming about the bush, criticising their method of driving out the logs; talking about timber prices, and other interesting topics relating to the lumber-trade. :

We also gathered a quantity of " tawero" to carry back to the mill, after we had eaten on the spot as many/ as nature would admit.

The tawero "freycinctia banksii " is the fruit of the kie-kie; the butts of the leaves is the part eaten, and marvellously good they are when you find them just ripe and no more, also untouched by rats or insects. It is a good plan to tie up the unripe tawero to keep out such intruders. The kie-kie also throws out another part eaten by "some, called uri-uri. The leaves of the kie-kie grow about two feet long, containing a flag like fibre, and are much used by the natives in the manufacture of wharikies (mats for the floor), kits, and even hats—an imitation of the " panama" and nearly as serviceable;

On our road home to the mill, I divulged to Seth Fearnleymy wonderful discovery of gold ;

He was not so much astonished as an older and more worldly man would have been.

I believe he would have been equally pleased had I proposed another trip m my boat to some new and likely huntings ground. How could he, so young and inexperienced, realise the vastness of the fortune ready to his hand.

Poor fellow! my' 1 unselfish friend was hurried to his grave, broken-hearted and bewildered, by a demon. • ... - But to return-: he readily agtfeed to assist me to Ihe utmost of his power, in utilising my great discovery, promising at the same time never to open his lips on the subject to any one. " Whatever we realise, Seth," I remarked, " you shall have half; and when', we have a considerable sum, you shall enter yourself at the College at Melbourne. You will le,arn as much in one year, with masters paid accordingly as they bring you forward, as would occupymost youths three or fear; and you shall

send Jael to the best teacher we can find in Auckland."

It was thus sanguine for the future, we reared castles in the air, strolling s'.owly on our way homeward to the mill. The following morning I returned to Auckland, taking Seth with me ; and the day after, Na Taima having discharged the Fairy's cargo, and got our stores on board, we set off on our return voyage. Is was not until Sunday came around that I ventured again to visit the gully where I had found the gold. Seth and I started after an early breakfast, Pluto and Herod with us; nominally we were supposed to be going on a pighunting expedition, and indeed, it was our intention'," all being well, not to return minus a back-load each of wild pig. The sun in New Zealand shines bright and vivifying, far surpassing that cloudobscured luminary as seen in England, and this morning when Seth and I started on our tramp, grew into one of those glorious days so common at the Antipodes. We walked on and on the track by which I returned on the day of my great discovery. Turning off the ridge where I had clambered up, we descended to the creek, and then waded or jumped from rock to rock, as we made our way up the gorge or cation to the tiny waterfall. There lay, untouched, the remains of the pig I had killed on this spot just two weeks previously. lam not altogether correct when I say his remains were untouched, Te ngaro (blow-fly) had been* there. We stayed some time at Golden Falls, for so I had named the place, and also with an eye to our future operations examined carefully the immediate locality. I was pretty sure of our position, and that we were about sixteen miles from the east coast, and decided to strike through the forest in that. direction at all events until we caught sight of the sea.

We had no compass, indeed, practically it would have been of little use in such a mountainous and broken part of the country, and through so tangled a forest. Following a straight course by compass would have led up hill and down hill, and through endless mazes of supple-jack. On tb.p summit of the ridges the vegetation is almost always scant, and often there is a pig- track, or what in days gone by may have been a native path. The Maories formerly thickly peopled the land, and a road once made does not readily become obliterated, even if unused for years and years. Marks of former occupation are constantly met with, earthwork fortifications on the hill tops, and signs showing where dwellings have been are to be seen in many parts of the country: these are mostly an oblong excavation, three, four, or more feet deep, the wood and thatch of the roof haviDg long since decayed away. In some of these old " whare puni " trees of a considerable size are found growing. Often just under the vegetable soil, the fire place is found, with the charcoal from the last fire still there. These fireplaces are formed by setting flat stones on edge, a few inches above the level of the floor, and enclosing a little hearth some eighteen inches square. The "whare puni" is still used by the Maories in some out-of-the-way places. The side view at a short distance is that of a hillock, for the thatch of tbe roof is finally covered with earth; they are gable-ended, the roof projecting in front forming a kind of porih; there is one window and one door, both small, the latter a hand-and-knee affair as you go in or out.

Suppose you are sleeping in one' of these places (I have, not a few times), before- nightfall an old slave-woman will light a fire on the hearth, with dry sticks there is only the door and sliding wooden window as an outlet for the smoke, and the old creature's eyes suffer accordingly; but who cares ? " she is old, a slave, and ugly." When the fire has burnt low, all turn in and shut the window and door; the floor is nicely spread -with Wharikies and blankets. It is hot and close, and must be tremendously unhealthy, as you can easily suppose, with six.or ten.pebple sleeping in a low-roofed hut, hot as an oven, and not a scrap of ventilation.: ~

But in days gone by, before the pakeha visited the land, the above style of house was almost a necessity, Maori mats being quite an insufficient barrier against the cold during the winter nights, with the wind in the south.

After leaving the Golden Fall?, an hour's climb brought us to the top of the dividing range of the peninsula; following this for a short distance in a northerly direction, we then turned off along and down a spur leading easterly. The forest is generally so dense in New Zealand that, when travelling, you cannot see far ahead. Perhaps the best guide is a knowledge of the course of the spurs and ranges, assuming that beforehand you have ah acquaintance with the geography of the country. On most bush tracks men follow each other— - Indian filel—and all excepting the leader pay little attention to the road they are going; those who would become good bush-men would do well; to lead when not obtrusive to do so, when you will think less of your legs or the roughness oi the path, and more of the lay of the country. A man who invariably declines the leadership will lose himself forthwith travelling in a strange country.

I have met with three or four white men whose knowledge of their whereabouts in the bush was infallible, fellows who, I believe, if let down from a ballon in the centre of the biggest New Zealand or Australian forest, would walk out pretty nearly by the str'aightest and shortest route.

After another hour's fast walking, we emerged from the bush on to open fern ranges, and still being on high ground, we had a fine view for many miles on either hand, whilst the ocean lay before us, calm, and without a single sail in sight. From where we stood the shore was, perhaps, five miles distant, where there was a spacious harbour: on our left hand we observed a fair-sized creek, having, as it became tidal lower down, a fringe, of mangroves on either bank. , ■•

„" We shall readily find a snug hidingplace for the boat in amongst those mangroves, for round by sea we must come, and you, Seth, will have to take up your lonely abode at the Golden Falls."

The means we took to avoid discovery, and how we worked our mine, I shall transcribe from my Diary.

To he continued.