MOUNT EGMONT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 192, 15 August 1931, Page 6

MOUNT EGMONT

this time of the year Mount Egmont presents to the world a most delightful scene. The snow covers the mountain peaks and falls in gentle folds, like, the wedding, dress of a bride, about the sweeping form. Half way down, the snow mingles with the stunted bush and so the mountain provides a contrast and at the same time a combination of blue, white and of green. The pioneering period in Taranaki naturally resulted in the. approaches to the mountain being denuded of their natural beauty. Such a circumstance was hardly avoidable, because dire necessity drove the men who first took up that land. But noiv the farms are becoming more developed, the signs of the struggle between man and nature- are disappearing, and the pastoral landscape carries a peaceful aspect. Here and there the wounds of the old war of man with nature still show themselves, but a benign effort is being made to heal the countryside. Along the approach to the Stratford mountain house a large number of Californian redwood trees have been planted on either side of the road . Experts declare that local conditions conform to the redwood’s natural Habitat in California. Imagination may, therefore, paint the picture of the beautiful approach to the mountain which will be available in a few years’ time when these five-year-old trees have made further progress. The lower slopes of the mountain are covered with dense foliage, but above three thousand feet, the trees are twisted and stunted by the blizzard and the cold, and here the visitor feels himself to be in the presence of a host of tortured souls. The weirdness of this distorted, moss-covered forest is singular and eery. This feeling, however, gives way to one of elation when the visitor emerges to the level of the low scrub. From the plateau a view of the surrounding country is provided, the coast lines appear with the livid lips of the sea discernable, while towering above the white eminence hold communion with High Heaven itself. Ancient people spoke of the spirit of the mountain. They were quite right. Mountains have their spirits and Egmont is no exception. It is the spirit of the mountain that ever beckons, with a constant allure. The why and the wherefore of it cannot be told: it can only be felt. The psalmist felt this same spirit when he was moved to sing. “I will lift up mine eyes to the hill, whence eorneth my strength.’’ Some may call emotion pantheism. AVhatever it is, it is a very universal human experience and most men joy in the exaltation which the hills inspire, without philosophising about it. This is, perhaps, just as well, for nature is inscrutable.