LOSS OF PROFESSOR MAINWARING BROWN,

West Coast Times, 2 January 1889, Page 4

LOSS OF PROFESSOR MAINWARING BROWN,

The Otago Daily Times publishes a long account of the search for Professor Brown via Lake Manapouri. Their •peoial representative saya : — We erected ft woeden orosß'and a oairn in memory of theProfesßor, whom we now despaired of ever seeing alive again. M'Klnnonhad made the cross on the previous night out of two pieces of ribbonwood, nailed together with the prongs of one of the camp forks which he broke up f#r the purpose. On the horizontal bar he oarved with his knife the letters "R.I.P" We placed it in a prominent position on the bank just behind where the tent had stood, building a oairn around It to keep it firm and dry. In this oairn we placed a bottle containing a brief account of the lots of Professor Brown written on the baok of an old telegraph form, and running as follows : — "At this spot Professor Main waring Brown was last seen by his friends, Major Goring and Mr John White, on December. 6, 1888, These three were endeavou Ing to discover a passage from Manapouri to the West Coatt, and camped here on Dacember. 5. Next day Professor Brown want for a stroll up the gorge, and he was never seen again, It is supposed that he met with some accident or perished in a terrible storm that came on the day he was lost. His companions made diligent search, but could find no trace of him. Search wae also made by a party consisting of Ernest Mitobell, R. Murrell. jun., John Barber, and George Dore ; and by another party consisting of Thomas Maokenzie, M.H.R., Quentin M'Kinnon, Constable Griffith, Charles Brown, John M'&ty, John Barber and Maloolm Ross ; but, though every effort was made, not the slightest trace of his whereabouts could be obtained."

Just before lsavingXSunday, December. 23) Mackenzie planted a fine mountain lily at tke foot of the cross, and wreathed the cairn and the oross itself with beautiful celmesiu and the delicate flowers aid dark green leaves of mountain lilies plucked from the grove near at hand. It was ft touching tribute to the memory of the Professor, and thinking of his sad fate we were all deeply impressed as we gathered around lor a last look ot it, standing out in relief against the sombre background of the beech covered hillside, under the shade of the fine tree which marked the site of the camp. The moun« tain torrent, now swollen into formidable dimensions with Ihe rain and the melting snow rumbled by, singing a sad requiem, the trees shed tears and the dark mists wreathed themselves closely around the bare bleak mountain peaks in the solitude of the grove like a funeral pall, as we onoe more shouldered our swags and walked slowly away in Indian file down the bed of the Disaster burn towards Manapouri, the lake of the "dark influence," or " sorrowing heart."

THE NEW LAKE i'O-® Is thus described :— Before teno'olock we were on what we had been told was the saddle, but in reality proved to be only a anb-alpine plateau running in a westerly direction, We followed this, and climbing over a bluff to the southward discovered a beautiful little lake (the one seen by Mitchell's party) nestling among the mountains. It was surrounded on all sides by fine peaks covered with snow, where the rocks were not too steep for it to lie. It was fed by several creeks and waterfalls, but strange to say it had no visible outlet, and it appeared to be of great depth. It was a beautiful lake, seventy or eighty acres in extent, probably of glacier origin, and reminded 'me very much of one of the mountain tarns behind the double conf on the Remarkables, only it was ten times more beautiful, lying calm and clear, secure in a great loneliness among the mountains far from the habitations of men, and beyond the reaoh of taint or turmoil, fringed with all that is rare and lovely among alpine and sub alpine flora — beautiful great green-leaved delicate-blossomed mountain Hliu, rare celmesise just burstißg into