OPENING UP THE KING COUNTRY

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4, 28 January 1905, Page 36

OPENING UP THE KING COUNTRY

IN THE WAKE OF A SURVEY TARTY

One does not require the attributes <>f a seer to prophecy a great future for the King Country, that tract of land which spreads away inland from tin* North Taranaki Bight. Slowly, hut surely, tin* broad bush-clad lands of the ‘‘Ringite” Maoris are yielding tc the indomitable energy of the* British

colonist. The glorious New Zealand hush is tailing before a.xe and tire to give place to homesteads dotted about the face of the country —.picturesque in their roughness and full of promise for the future. In the solitudes where once echoed the rich notes of the tui and the soft eoo of 1 he pigeon, may now be heard the lowing of cattle, tin- tinkle of cow bells and the crack of the stock

whip. It is tough work this pioneering. but it has its recompenses for the Intrdy settlers who go to win a home and fortune amid the primeval forest. There is a freedom about the life which appeals to some natures in a manner that can but faintly be imagined by those who live in close cities and tramp prosaic asphalt pavements all their

Before the pioneers came the surveyors. a plucky, hard-working body of men. whose lives are full of incident. Away from civilisation for months at. a time, they are thrown on their own resources when the larder has to be replenished, with the natural result that the calling of Nimrod fills in many of the hours which are not occupied with sines, an I eo sines, and the other

mysteries of the eraft. We give this week some very interesting snapshots from the album of Mr V. L. Jackson, an Aucklander whose party lias done a lot of work in the King Country, particularly in the Kinohaku, which runs from Kawltia, on the north, to Mahoemii. in the south. This tract contains some of the finest land in the district, and is being rapidly settled. Mr Jack-

son’s photographs give a good idea of the class of country which lies around here, and of the eventful life lived by surveyors in the Held. Butchers’ shops are naturally somewhat scattered, but fortunately for these forerunners of settlement wild eattle and pigs, not to mention plenty of leathered game, are numerous. Good pig and eattle dogs are a most important part of the eamp entourage,

especially —as was the case with Mr Jackson’s party in the incident we illustrate —where there are no guns. The bull, of which a photograph is given at bay in a stream, was a magnificent beast, who had nevgr seen a white man before, and did not know what grass was. He had been a denizen of the bush from his earliest days, and, like the rest of bush cattle, was in splendid

fettle. To secure a beast of this size, and so wild, requires a nerve that would probably be wanting in the average city man. While the dogs are engaging his attention in front, one of the party, knife in hand, slips up behind, and, with two rapid cuts, hamstrings both hind leos. After being hamstrung, the bull in question galloped half a mile —a fact which gives some indication of his enormous strength. When the party got

him at bay they lassooed him with sup-ple-jacks and gave him his coup de grace. To the squeamish reader this description may sound somewhat cruel, but necessity knows no law. Collies are used to find the pigs and cattle, and as soon as they give tongue the “holding’’ dogs are slipped, and they quickly fasten on to ear and nose with a grip that is only released when one or other party gives way. A cross between a mastiff and a bull is the ideal breed for this work. and. strange as it may seem, these tenacious dogs are among the best of good-tempered canines. One day when the party went

out with both guns and dogs the “bag” included four pigs, six brace of pheasant, and about forty pigeons. The Marokopa river is some 20 miles west of Hangatiki station, on the Main Trunk line. There are some fine falls on this stream, and in the vicinity are some caves which are said to equal those at Waitonio, but. like many other things in this still very imperfectlyknown district, not one person in a hundred has ever heard of them. The photograph of a bushman on a ‘‘jigger” felling a tree gives another instance of the sort of nerves a man

wants before he tempts fortune in virgin country. In clearing bush off a section it is not necessary to get every foot out of a tree, as in the case of timbergetting, so. instead of cutting through near the roots, where the trunk is often much greater in diameter, the bushmen drive in stakes, as seen in the picture, and choose a spot higher up where the girth is less, and so save themselves hours of work. These temporary stages are only a few inches wide, and it requires a man with a cool head and a steady hand to stand up there and swing a ten-pound axe. The pretty Wairere Falls are on the

Mokau river, some forty miles from the mouth. The right fall was very nearly the scene of a tragedy one day. A little Maori boy was poking about in the water at the top. just like all youngsters. brown or white, and he went too near the edge. In a minute he was amongst the foam, and the next thing his astonished parents saw was his little black head bobbing up and down in the pool at the bottom. By some miracle he escaped without a scratch. Two pictures we give might !>•» mistaken for views inside the reef of one of the coral islands in the Pacific. Wo

refer to those at the mouth of the Keret a here. 15 miles south of Kawhia. There is nearly always a big roll along the West ('oast, and the Maoris sometimes have an exciting five minutes pad dling out to the fishing grounds in their shallow canoes. Just off this river mouth the fishing is phenomenally good, and the ground is a great favourite with the natives. The reader will observe that the lone fisherman seen ne gotiating the surf in the first picture has come to grief in the second but. lieing

just as much at homo in the water as out of it. he escaped “without mishap, save for the temporary inconvenience of his involuntary immersion.” as the newspapers say when reporting the dive of the unstable one who falls over the wharf into the tide. Between Marokopa and Kawhia the pack track follows the sea beach, and it makes a. much better road than many of the Government-maintained highways in this, one of the newest parts of New Zealand. The track is a clear one. except for about ten chains at Tauhna Point, some 14 miles to the

south of Kawhia. This is a ticklish spot, as the rocks are left very slip pery when the tide has gone out. and only the surest footed horses are of any use on the track. If the reader refers to the pictures he will sec what the point is like when the tide is in and also the style of obstacles the pack horse has to surmount before he strikes decent going again. In the background of the photograph, where the horses can be seen going through the gap. there is a nasty narrow, slip-

pery ledge which makes a biped pick his steps with much discretion. To a quadruped with a heavy load on its back the task must be a very severe one. 'Hie ponies arc unshod, ami they pick their way along this ledge just like a cat on a doubtful fence top. A rather curious photograph is that of Maori remains at Hauturu cliffs. The bodies placed in holes in the limestone cliffs are exposed to wind and sun. but protected from the rain, with the result that they are quite mummified, not only skeletons. but skin and hair being in tact.