NEW ZEALAND 
 
 ROBERT PAULIN
 
 -? ~E IR, IR, A. T 
 
 Page 7. for " Loby I." 
 ,, 15, &c. for " Totura " - 
 ,, 18. for " new settlers " 
 ,, 31. for 
 ,, 32. for 
 ,, 39. for 
 ,, 44. for 
 ,, 59. for 
 
 in tufts on stones" - 
 
 Herves " 
 
 There is a lighthouse 
 
 of chalk " 
 
 Revolution I." 
 ,, 93, &c. for " Hawrenny " 
 ,, 109, &c. for " Wakalipu " 
 
 read " Toby I." 
 
 "Totara" 
 ,, " few settlers " 
 ,, "in tufts on stems " 
 ,, "Howes" 
 
 " There is to be," &c. 
 " like chalk" 
 ,, " Resolution I." 
 ,, " Llawrenny " 
 "Wakatipu"
 
 GAER ARM, BRADSHAW'S SOUND, N.Z.
 
 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 A Summer Cruise in the "Rosa." 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT PAULIN. 
 
 WITH A FRONTISPIECE FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 THOBURN & CO., 
 
 136, SALISBURY SQUARE, FLEET STREET, E.G. 
 
 1889. 
 
 All Rights Reserved.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OUR DEPARTURE FOR THE WILD WEST COAST. MY COMPANIONS. 
 PORT CHALMERS. THE VOYAGE TO THE BLUFF. THE 
 WRECK OF THE "TARARUA." i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT BLUFF HARBOUR. THE CAPTAIN OF THE "ROSA."- 
 THE START FOR PUYSEGUR POINT. A ROCKY AND PERILOUS 
 COAST. A STIFF GALE. SAFE ARRIVAL AT HORSE-SHOE BAY. 
 THE SAND-FLY PEST 9 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A VISIT TO HALL-MOON BAY. NEWS OF SEASHORE GOLD. THE 
 INTERIOR OF STEWART ISLAND. A PISCATORIAL COMPETITION 
 IN HORSE-SHOE BAY. LOYALTY AT THE ANTIPODES. PRO- 
 SPECTING FOR GOLD. ARRIVAL AT PORT WILLIAM. AN 
 ABANDONED SETTLEMENT. A VERITABLE ROBINSON CRUSOE. 
 AN OLD GOLD MINER'S YARNS. A WET AND ABORTIVE EX- 
 PEDITION AFTER GOLD . . . . . . . .17 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE THUNDERSTORM. STORMY WEATHER. A QUIET SABBATH AT 
 DEAF DICK'S. THE RETURN TO HALF-MOON BAY. A LITTLE 
 TOWNSHIP. PATERSON'S INLET. THE HONEST STOREKEEPER 
 OF ULVA ISLAND. AN INTERESTING ISLAND HOME. THE 
 STEWART ISLAND MAGISTRATE, DOCTOR, AND MINISTER. AN 
 ISLAND COURT OF JUSTICE . . - 28 
 
 1546335
 
 VI. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AWAY FROM STORMY STEWART ISLAND. RAGGEDTY POINT. AN 
 IRISHMAN'S SEA YARNS. PATSEY'S SLIDES. THE SOUTHERN 
 OCEAN SWELL. SEA-SICK VOYAGERS. AN ANXIOUS NIGHT. 
 STRANDED GOLD SEEKERS ON THE GREEN ISLETS. WE MAKE 
 PUYSEGUR POINT. PRESERVATION INLET. A PICTURESQUE 
 COAST. CORMORANT COVE -38 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EXPLORING CORMORANT COVE. A MAJESTIC SCENE. PROSPECTING 
 AT HEN COVE. TOM THE SAILOR'S ADVENTURES WITH A GUN. 
 AN UNSUCCESSFUL SPORTSMAN. THE FEATHERED SONGSTERS 
 OF THE NEW ZEALAND SOUNDS. DEPARTURE FROM CORMOR- 
 ANT COVE. THE " ROSA " BECALMED, AN ENCHANTING 
 ARCHIPELAGO. A WELCOME BREEZE. THE ANCHORAGE IN 
 DUCK COVE 47 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ANOTHER TRIP ASHORE. THE DEADLY TUTU PLANT. FURTHER 
 PROSPECTING FAILURES. REMAINS OF AN EARLY NAVIGATOR. 
 THE OLD WRECK IN FACILE HARBOUR. THE TRADITIONS 
 CONCERNING IT. PHENOMENAL Ol.D AGE, A MAORI LEGEND. 
 THE CAVE OF THE DEAD ON ANCHOR ISLAND. MAORI SUPER- 
 STITION 55 
 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM DUCK COVE. A BOATING EXPEDITION. IM- 
 POSING MOUNTAIN SCENERY. VISIT TO DOCHERTY'S HUT. 
 A HERMIT LIFE. MORE PROSPECTING AND UNREQUITED 
 LABOUR. A HARD PULL IN A HALF GALE. THE SEARCH 
 FOR THE " ROSA." WET -JACKET ARM AND ITS GIANT MOUN- 
 TAINS AND CASCADES. A GORGEOUS SUNSET. ONCE AGAIN 
 ON BOARD THE CUTTER . 63
 
 VII- 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FEATHERED SONGSTER'S CONCERT. A CHAT ABOUT NEW 
 ZEALAND BIRDS. AN EXPLORATION PARTY. A MOUNTAIN 
 RAIN-STORM. A NOVEL FRESH-WATER BATH. FISHING UNDER 
 DIFFICULTIES. A PANORAMA OF MOUNTAIN CATARACTS. 
 PRODIGIOUS RAINFALL. THE VOYAGE OF THE " ROSA " 
 is RESUMED. SABBATH REFLECTIONS. BEATING DOWN- 
 CHANNEL 72 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FAREWELL TO DUSKY SOUND, THE FUTURE HOME OF THE TOUR- 
 IST. SOME GENERAL REMARKS ABOUT THE SCENERY OF THE 
 SOUNDS. BREAKSEA SOUND. DEEP SOUNDINGS. AGAIN ON 
 THE OPEN SEA. THE MOUNTAINS AS SEEN FROM THE OCEAN. 
 A NETWORK OF SOUNDS. THE HERMIT OF DOUBTFUL 
 SOUND. BRADSHAW'S SOUND AND GAER ARM. NATURE'S 
 GLORIES. THE MIGHTY RANGES OF THE WEST COAST. A 
 VISION OF MOUNTAIN GOLD FIELDS. 80 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE "ROSA" FETCHES THOMPSON'S SOUND. A PROSPECTING 
 PARTY DRIVEN BACK BY SANDFLIES. THE FRUITLESS SEARCH 
 AFTER GOLD. A PROBLEM STILL TO BE SOLVED. CASWEI.L'S 
 AND GEORGE SOUNDS. A SUGGESTED OVERLAND ROUTE TO 
 MILFORD SOUND AND ITS SUBLIME SCENERY. THE BANKS OF 
 THE POSEIDON. LAKE ADA. SOME HINTS ABOUT TROUT AND 
 SALMON REARING, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEST 
 COAST. BLIGH SOUND. A MARINER'S OPINION OF A DOG- 
 MATIC GEOLOGIST. POISON BAY. ARRIVAL AT MILFORD 
 SOUND 89 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OUR ANCHORAGE IN ANITA BAY. THE GLORIES OF MILFORD 
 SOUND A MARVELLOUS PANORAMA. A PULL UP THE FAMOUS 
 SOUND. THE FIRST GLIMPSE. STORMY WEATHER. CUTTING 
 A TRACK TO TRANSIT BEACH. IDLE MOMENTS, ... 96
 
 VIII. 
 
 CHATTER XIII. 
 
 THE CAPTAIN AND THE DANES DO NOT EXACTLY HIT IT. DELAYED 
 BY THE WEATHER. ANOTHER DELUGE. A NIGHT ALARM. 
 A GIANT LANDSLIP. CONTINUATION OF THE GALE. WE 
 
 MAKE FOR THE HEAD OF MlLFORD SOUND AND THERE ANCHOR. 
 
 A GOODLY PROSPECT. ENTERPRISING MR. SUTHERLAND. A 
 DUBIOUS TRANSACTION AND ITS TRAGIC END. THE FUTURE 
 OF MII.FORD SOUND. HERMIT JEALOUSIES AND NEIGHBOURLY 
 WRANGLES 104 
 
 CHAPTER XTV. 
 
 SUTHERLAND'S HOME. A VISIT TO BOWEN FALLS. STUPENDOUS 
 SCENE. ANOTHER SUNSET IN MILFORD SOUND. THE SOUND 
 BY MOONLIGHT. HARRISON COVE. A NEAR GLIMPSE OF THE 
 GLACIER WORLD. OUR BAKERS STILL A FAILURE. THE DE- 
 PARTURE FROM HARRISON COVE. GOOD-BYE TO MILFORD 
 SOUND. M'KINNON'S NEW TRACK TO LAKE TE ANAU. A 
 PARTING TRIBUTE TO MILFORD SOUND SCENERY . . -113
 
 AN EXPLORATION TO NEW ZEALAND- 
 WEST COAST, SOUTH ISLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OUR DEPARTURE FOR THE WILD WEST COAST. MY COMPANIONS. 
 PORT CHALMERS. THE VOYAGE TO THE BLUFF. THE WRECK OF 
 THE "TARARUA." 
 
 ON the 5th of November, 1886, C., O., and self left 
 Dunedin by the 2.30 p.m. train for Port Chalmers. 
 A good many friends were on the platform to bid us good-bye, 
 for we were bound for what to most people, even in Dunedin, 
 is almost an unknown land, a part of the West Coast of the 
 South Island, as yet but little known and seldom visited. 
 The rest of our party, consisting of E., M., and three hired 
 men (Danes) had preceded us to the Bluff taking with them 
 the stores and provisions; and at the Bluff the cutter "Rosa," 
 20 tons, which we had chartered for six months, was waiting 
 to convey us and our belongings to the wild West Coast. 
 For some days past we had been busy collecting stores, which 
 chiefly consisted of flour, oatmeal, rice, sugar, candles, 
 salt, tinned-meat, and a few dozen tins of marmalade, jam, milk 
 and fruit the luxuries to be used for high-days and holidays. 
 We had also 20 Ibs. of tobacco, and, in addition, 1,000 
 cigars, which I had recently received from a friend ; a few 
 cases of bottled London porter, which we hoped to find 
 customers for; picks, shovels, hammers, cradles, sluice-box, 
 tents, axes, blankets, cocoanut-matting, drills, fuse-coils, 
 blasting-powder, guns, ammunition, fishing-lines, hooks, frying- 
 pans, billies, porridge-pot and camp-ovens, tin mugs or 
 panikins, as they are called, holding about a pint, and last, 
 but not least in importance, anyway matches. We 
 
 B
 
 2 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 had also a case of chemicals and blow-pipe for testing 
 minerals. Our oatmeal was in tins containing 33 Ibs. each, 
 and our flour in tins of 28 Ibs. each a precaution rendered 
 necessary on account of the damp climate and the numerous 
 ruts which infest the West Coast. 
 
 Before proceeding further with the history of this journey I 
 will give you some slight sketches of the individuals composing 
 the party. M., C., E., O., and self went shares in the expenses, 
 and there were in addition the three Danes who were paid 
 wages. M. was almost a colonial, having come out to New 
 Zealand when very young and being now about 27. He stood 
 5 ft. 10, was strongly built, had blue eyes and fair hair, long 
 face and large nose, liked to be clean shaved with the exception 
 of a small moustache, and possessed plenty of that self- 
 reliance often met with in young colonials. His family 
 occupied a good position, and he was quite at home either in 
 stable, saw-pit, sheep-yard, stock-yard, or drawing-room. He 
 was shrewd and very observant, and had had a good deal of 
 camping-out experience both in bush and open country. Of 
 him it was often observed " That chap knows his way 
 about." He had a defect, which as far as my experience goes, 
 is more common among young colonials than British youth, 
 and which is somewhat against their success as prospectors he 
 would work like a Trojan, and bear any amount of roughing, 
 if he could see that good would come of it ; but if the result 
 seemed doubtful he would soon say it was not good enough 
 and move off for something else not exactly the stamp of 
 man required for a forlorn hope. I have noticed this in many 
 young colonials. Perhaps it is on account of their superior 
 intelligence, which prevents them wasting their energies in 
 vain ; but certainly they soon loose heart unless speedily 
 rewarded. They will not work long at poor claims on the 
 chance of things getting better. If things go badly, and they 
 get poor sport, it is more than likely they will not turn out again 
 unless they hear of someone else's success. I had several 
 instances of this during the trip, even when our circumstances 
 were such that one or two birds would have been a welcome 
 addition to the larder. Perhaps the reason is that New 
 Zealand has been hitherto a land flowing with milk and honey ; 
 but now that the milk seems dried up and the honey is not 
 easy to find, it remains to be seen how they will hold their 
 own with others hailing from less favoured lands.
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 3 
 
 C. was an Englishman of Scotch parentage, an old Chel- 
 tenham boy, and had done a good deal of globe-trotting in 
 Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia. Some few 
 years back he and a partner took up a sheep run in New 
 Zealand, he having the money and his partner the experience. 
 Alas, in a couple of years, let us hope he had the experience, 
 but he certainly had lost both his money and his partner. He 
 stood over six feet, was rather loosely built, of fair complexion, 
 well educated, quiet, and gentlemanly, and as plucky as 
 need be. About 30 summers had passed over his head and 
 left it bright and shining without any parting a state of 
 things the sand-flies and mosquitoes so seemed to appreciate 
 that our friend when in camp generally found it convenient, for 
 reasons of personal comfort, to sport a woollen night-cap. 
 His brother E. was very unlike him, short, dark as a gipsy, 
 quick as a needle, full of life and fun, wiry, energetic, not at all 
 likely to pay too high a premium for his experience, a capital 
 worker, and very useful in camp. He was always pottering 
 about doing something or other, dusting, cleaning, or tidying, 
 and observing that he was troubled about many things 1 
 called him Martha, and his brother I dubbed "the Squire." 
 It is by those appellations I shall for the future speak of them. 
 O. w r as a New Zealander of Scotch extraction. He was a hard 
 worker, without a jib in him, not given to saying much, and a 
 hard sticker to what he did say. He had the same fault as 
 M. If good results did not appear quickly, he was for trying 
 elsewhere. He gained the sobriquet of "Rameses," on account 
 of an Egyptian-looking blanket that he slept in. He stood 
 about 5 ft. 10, and was as strong as a bull. 
 
 Of the men, the eldest went by the name of Uncle Julius. 
 By birth he was a Dane and had fought against the Prussian 
 and Austrians. He left his country in consequence of the 
 results of that war. He was a wiry, good tempered old fellow, 
 of about six feet. Then there was Peter, a Fin, a strong young 
 bullock of 20 years ; and lastly Samuel, a talkative, 5 feet 4 
 inches, wiry specimen of Danish humanity. He had previously 
 been in my employ in survey work, and on that account he was 
 now with us, but away from home he turned out a very bad 
 bargain. In fact, as will be seen hereafter, the lot of them 
 were rather chicken-hearted, and when they did not find 
 nuggets on the beach to be picked up, commenced to sing so 
 loudly for " Dnlce Duiiiuin!" that a fortnight after we arrived
 
 4 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 at our destination we were glad to pay them off and send them ' 
 home. 
 
 And now to return to Dunedin Railway Station. On 
 the 5th of November, 1886, time 2.30 p.m., the last God-speeds 
 are uttered by our friends, (a representative of the Press, I 
 may mention, had the last word, for he stood on the step 
 when even the train was in motion to offer me \ a column 
 for an account of our journey and adventures) and we are off 
 to Port Chalmers a distance of about six miles as the crow 
 flies and nine by railway. The line follows the contour of the 
 Bay all the way to the Port, save for about half-a-mile, the 
 rails being laid only a few yards distant from high-water 
 mark. By a succession of extraordinary curves the train skirts 
 numerous Bays and the intervening Bluffs. On one side the 
 traveller sees the Bay, about one-and-a-half-miles wide, and 
 the Peninsula, with hills rising to an elevation of between a 
 thousand and eighteen hundred feet, stretching beyond it. The 
 hills of the Peninsula are of verdant green, dotted with houses, 
 gardens, bush, and farms, and have a very pleasant appearance, 
 especially on a fine day. The soil of the district is fertile, and 
 enormous quantities of fruit and dairy produce could be 
 obtained from it, were the land properly settled with an 
 agricultural population. On the other side steep hills, mostly 
 bush clad, come close down to the railway. The highest of 
 them attains an altitude of close upon 2,000 feet. Occasionally 
 a small valley opens out, shewing a few wooden houses, 
 gardens and fields, but this side of the Bay is very much 
 exposed to the south, and in winter is almost sunless. As a 
 consequence vegetation is much later than on the Peninsula 
 side. The Bay is very shallow, and at low water shews 
 extensive mud-banks. The Dunedin Harbour Board have 
 spent about half-a-million of money in dredging a channel 
 from Port Chalmers to Dunedin, which is called Victoria, and 
 in reclaiming acres of land about Dunedin, most of which is 
 as yet useless. At present there is a depth of sixteen feet 
 in this channel at low water, with a six to eight feet tide. 
 Retaining walls are constructed outside the channel. When 
 the Board started this work it was supposed that the channel 
 would bring all the home ships up to Dunedin, but they did 
 not calculate on the home trade being done by 4,000 and 5,000 
 ton steamers, and many people think it would have been much 
 better to have spent the money in improving the Bar to the
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 5 
 
 main ocean at Port Chalmers, an opinion in which I concur, 
 for, had they done so, by this time the largest steamers could 
 have come into Port Chalmers in perfect safety. As it is they 
 now fight shy of it, and have almost given up coming to 
 Dunedin, and go instead to Wellington, Auckland, and 
 Lyttleton, much to the detriment of Dunedin. No one is to 
 blame for this but the greedy merchants of Dunedin, who 
 were anxious to have everything at their own doors, and 
 terribly afraid of anything stopping at Port Chalmers. As the 
 Harbour Board is composed almost entirely of Dunedin men, 
 and only a small minority from Port Chalmers, the former 
 had their own way, and succeeded in getting nearly all the 
 money, some ^"800,000, spent in and about Dunedin and the 
 channel. At all events, they now have their reward. 
 
 It took us 45 minutes to do our nine miles, and we arrived 
 at Port Chalmers only to find our steamer did not sail for the 
 Bluff till 7 p.m. As we get out of the train we see her at an 
 adjoining jetty a 2,000 ton boat, with a little black smoke 
 wreathing upwards from out her huge red funnel. It was 
 the " Manupeuri," one of the Union Steam-Ship Company of 
 New Zealand's numerous and well-appointed fleet. We go on 
 board, carrying our belongings, pass through the Social Hall 
 with its piano and handsome couches and fittings, and 
 descend to the elaborately fitted dining saloon, with its numerous 
 tables and crimson-seated chairs, which, fixed to the ground, 
 turn half round from the table to enable people to get in and 
 out of them more easily. The saloon is nearly full of all sorts 
 of people, many with bags and parcels in their hands, talking to 
 the stewards about their berths, and to friends and others on 
 the same subject. I am an old traveller, and know my way about 
 the Union Company's boats as well as I know it about my 
 own house. I asked my companions the number of their berths, 
 which we had taken the precaution of getting marked on our 
 tickets at the Dunedin office, and without troubling stewards 
 or anyone, we went straight to them, and put our bags, &c., on 
 our bunks. Then we had several hours to kill. So we left the 
 steamer and wandered about the Port, " Rameses" going off to 
 visit some friends who lived near at hand. There is not much 
 to see at Port Chalmers. The town has a population of about 
 1,500, but things are very bad just now with the Portites. 
 Since the Victoria Channel has been dredged, most of the coast 
 steamers and home ships, which used to discharge and load at
 
 6 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 the Port, go up to Dunedin, although I don't believe, if the 
 truth were known, it pays them to do so. There is a substan- 
 tial graving dock, capable of holding vessels up to 2,000 tons, 
 and Government has authorised a loan for constructing 
 a larger one, to accommodate the ocean-going steamers. 
 When that is done the Portites hope for better things; 
 meanwhile they have not much but hope to live on. The Squire 
 and I wandered through the almost empty streets, went into a 
 stationer's shop and made a few purchases, talked a little with 
 the proprietor, and then finally subsided into an hotel and had 
 a glass of beer a-piece. Here we remained, sitting in a some- 
 what doleful frame of mind, till six o'clock, when we went 
 aboard our craft and had dinner. While we were engaged in 
 this more pleasant and very necessary occupation, the steamer 
 was getting under weigh. The dinner was good, and we 
 enjoyed it perhaps rather more than we should have done had 
 we not mournfully reflected that it was perhaps the last 
 civilized dinner we were likely to sit down to for many months. 
 Is it to be wondered at that, with such a prospect before us, 
 our little party was extravagant ? The Squire and I divided a 
 bottle of claret between us, costing 45., very much ordinaire, 
 but infinitely better than any you are likely to obtain at the best 
 hotels on shore in that clime at a much higher price, for the 
 drink of the Colony of New Zealand is really the most abhorrent, 
 noxious trash, whether taken in the form of beer, wine, or spirits. 
 All are more or less chemical compounds, having but a slight 
 acquaintance with the hop, the malt, or the grape. This, it is 
 only fair to state, is a condition of things entirely brought about 
 by the heavy import duties levied by Government, and the 
 quality has far more to do with the numbers drink destroys 
 out there than the quantity consumed. This is no exaggeration 
 but a true bill, for the writer has seen and tasted through the 
 length and breadth of New Zealand for the last twelve years. 
 The breweries are full of brewer's crystals and glucose, 
 and very little malt or hops do you see about the premises. 
 Recently, when discussing the subject with a Dunedin brewer, 
 he told me the chemical they used made their beer keep and 
 gave it a better flavour, while at the same time it was very 
 wholesome, and had much the same effect as dandelion. 
 Likely enough, but let me ask who has any desire to drench 
 himself with dandelion ? Every wine, spirit, or beer merchant, 
 in my opinion, ought to be forced to give an analysis of the
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 7 
 
 article he sells, and be heavily fined if found that the article is 
 different from the analysis. After dinner we walked about the 
 deck, the evening being fine and the sea smooth. We cleared 
 Otago Heads at sunset, and when darkness set in were 
 gliding along over the rippling surface of the water, the coast 
 of New Zealand, with its gloomy -looking hills, looming to our 
 right, and to the left nothing but the open sea, or, to use the 
 language of Byron : 
 
 The sea, the sea, the open sea, 
 The blue, the fresh, the ever free. 
 
 I repaired to the smoking-room and smoked a meditative 
 pipe before turning in thinking chiefly of the wife and baby- 
 boy I had left behind. The little one was just beginning to 
 speak a few words. 
 
 Next morning at 6 a.m. found us just off Waipapapa 
 Point, near to where the steam-ship "Tararua" was wrecked a 
 few years ago. This point has to be rounded by steamers 
 going to the Bluff from Dunedin. If they keep on too long 
 before altering their course they will run on rocks about what 
 is called Loby Island ; whereas, on the other hand, if they alter 
 their course too soon, they will run foul of the mainland. 
 It is, in fact, to the unskilful mariner, a choice between Scylla 
 and Charybdis. The "Tararua" did the latter, and became a 
 total wreck. Early one fine morning she struck the reef off the 
 point about 300 yards from shore. No danger to life was 
 anticipated at first, and two boats were lowered and sent to 
 look for a landing place ; but the swell rose with the sun, and 
 when the boats, having failed to find a landing, in an hour or 
 so returned, the rollers were breaking all round the steamer and 
 they could not get near her. A lamentable ignorance of the 
 coast on the part of those aboard was responsible for the loss 
 of life which followed; for, had the captain or his officers 
 known it, there was, only a few miles off, a small harbour, where 
 the boats could have landed passengers in safety; and as the 
 steamer carried boats sufficient to hold all on board, all might 
 have been saved by taking to them directly the steamer 
 struck and making for the harbour. Again, as the weather 
 was fine, had the boats been lowered at once and the 
 passengers and others put into them and just pulled out to sea 
 clear of the reefs and ground swell, (about a mile would have 
 sufficed) and waited till help came, which would not have been
 
 8 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 more than six or eight hours at the most, as the accident was 
 known on shore soon after it occured, and steamers were sent 
 off at once from the Bluff, not thirty miles distant had this 
 been done, there would have been no loss of life. The life- 
 boats, finding they could not reach the steamer, left her to her 
 fate. One of them pulled out to sea, the proper thing to do, 
 seeing they were on the direct track of vessels passing between 
 Dunedin and the Bluff, and got picked up in a few hours by 
 a steamer sent to render assistance. They fell in with a 
 coasting craft our cutter the " Rosa" sometime before the 
 steamer came, and would have been taken on board by her had 
 there been any need. The other boat tried to land through 
 the surf and got upset, one man being drowned. Meanwhile, 
 things went from bad to worse on board the steamer. The 
 sea began to break right over her, and by one's and two's and 
 three's, as the day wore on, the unfortunate people on deck 
 were swept away, to struggle without avail for a few terrible 
 minutes, ere all was over, with the cold, green, rushing, roaring 
 water, the choking white foam and the clammy, clinging, 
 fathom-long sea-weed. Thus they were swept away in full 
 view of many on shore, who, powerless to help, watched the 
 last struggles, and heard the last cries of their fellow beings as 
 roller after roller broke over the doomed ship. Before sunset 
 only one out of nearly a hundred souls was left. He was a 
 Maltese, and when nearly all was over, he took a child on his 
 back, sprang into the sea, and swam ashore. Unfortunately 
 the child was washed away as he came through the surf, and 
 drowned. Truly a dreadful tale of the deep an awful 
 premium paid to inexperience ! Immediately after the wreck 
 the Government put up a lighthouse on the point ; had they 
 done so sooner the loss of the "Tararua" on Waipapapa point 
 would never have been chronicled. Fine and calm was the 
 morning as we passed the scene of the wreck and proceeded 
 to the Bluff, the mainland to the right and Stewart Island a 
 ahead. After a comfortable breakfast, I passed the time 
 yarning to the Captain and others, and playing quoits made 
 of rope about six inches in diameter, the object of the game 
 being to see who could pitch the most into a bucket at a given 
 distance. At about 10.30 a.m. we made fast to the wharf 
 in Bluff Harbour.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ARRIVAL AT BLUFF HARBOUR. THE CAPTAIN OF THE " ROSA." THE 
 START FOR PUYSEGUR POINT. A ROCKY AND PERILOUS COAST. 
 A STIFF GALE. SAFE ARRIVAL AT HORSE-SHOE BAY. THE 
 SANDFLY PEST. 
 
 THE Bluff is capable of being made a good Harbour. It is 
 the chief Port for Invercargill, a town of about 6,000 
 inhabitants, 1 8 miles distant, with which it is connected by rail. 
 At present the channel from the sea is narrow and winding, with 
 nasty reefs in places, which, combined with strong currents 
 and the hurricane squalls to which the place is subject, make 
 it not so safe as it might be, as one or two remnants of stranded 
 vessels I have seen in passing up the channel testify. 
 
 Beautiful as was the morning, I expected a heavy gale before 
 long, nature having all her signals for a storm out. I was 
 anxious to get away at once so that we might make Port 
 William in Stewart Island before it came on ; and my first 
 question to M., Martha, and the Danes, who met us on the 
 wharf, was: "Is all ready for a start?" All was not ready. 
 It turned out that the Captain and his men had no stores on 
 board as yet, and, in fact, had no money to buy any, and were 
 waiting for my arrival to get the necessary s. d. before 
 they could procure them. Captain Hanning, our future sailing 
 master, now made his appearance. Although I had seen his 
 testimonials, which were very satisfactory, and had sailed in 
 his cutter before, I had never seen him. He was a tall man, 
 who would admirably perform his function as a model for 
 Hercules. He possessed a well-formed head, covered with 
 dark curly hair, a high, broad forehead, and a quick, dark-grey 
 eye. I noticed he was lacking three fingers on his right hand, 
 the result, I afterwards ascertained, of an accident in a saw- 
 mill. Further, he was evidently a man of quick temper, and 
 inclined to have his own way ; had he been less so, there is 
 but little doubt that he would be much better off than he now 
 is, he having often held good appointments and lost them 
 through giving his employers too much of his mind. He 
 proved a magnificent seaman, with pluck which never
 
 io THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 counted the odds, combined with a thorough knowledge of his 
 craft. He explained that he had no money, and that though 
 he knew he could not claim the money for which he had 
 chartered his cutter, self, and crew till the six months were up, 
 still he had a wife and family at the Bluff, and he wanted to 
 leave them something to go on with, as well as get some 
 stores for himself and crew. I gave him what he wanted, and 
 he went off to spend it. There are many men like him now 
 about New Zealand hardly able to make a living, who are 
 owners of or working coasting craft. A few years ago, before 
 railways connected the chief towns, and when steamers plying 
 between the different ports were much fewer than at present, 
 a good paying trade was carried on by small coasters, chiefly 
 cutters and ketches ; but now their trade is gone, and their 
 owners and those who lived by them are more or less reduced 
 to poverty. It took some time to get the stores ; so long that 
 we had a mid-day meal at a shabby hotel the best in the 
 Bluff and were waited on by smart-looking half-cast young 
 women, for though Maories are rapidly dying out, there are 
 still a good many about this part of the South Island, and 
 many a British sailor has taken to himself a dusky-hided and 
 supple-jointed aboriginal. 
 
 It was three p.m. before we weighed anchor. A few 
 people on the Jetty gave us a cheer, which we heartily 
 returned as we sailed away. The Captain's wife called out 
 as we left the shore : " Good-bye Papa, bring back plenty of 
 gold!" The crew consisted of an Irishman nick-named Patsey; 
 a Dane, familiarly known as Tom ; and an Englishman also 
 called Tom, who sailed as cook. To properly distinguish them 
 the last two were respectively known as Tom the Dane and 
 Tom the Cook. Patsey was a comical little cuss ; had a 
 joke for everything, and also an inexhaustible stock of most 
 astounding yarns. With our own party we numbered twelve 
 rather a crush for a 20 ton cutter and I wondered how they 
 would all shake down should we be many nights at sea. The 
 wind was fair and fresh, and we were soon clear of the 
 Harbour and dancing along over the green waters of Foveause 
 Straits at the rate of about six knots an hour, having about 
 twenty miles to go on a south-south-west course to Port 
 "William, Stewart Island. Our reason in going there was that 
 we could make a much better offing from there to the West 
 Coast than from the Bluff, for before we could get to the
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. n 
 
 West Coast Sounds we had to round Puysegur Point on the 
 mainland. This point is about ninety miles from the Bluff 
 and nearly due west, and the same distance from Port 
 William, but nearly north-west ; and as the prevailing winds 
 are west or south-west, we could sail from Port William, 
 where we should have a dead beat from the Bluff. Then again, 
 there are no safe harbours on the mainland between the Bluff 
 and Puysegur Point. So that once out to sea we had no 
 alternative, should the wind be against us and a gale come 
 on, but to fight it out or run back for shelter. There is also 
 a strong current setting through the Straits from the west, 
 and as nasty a sea gets up in a hurry as anywhere on the New 
 Zealand Coast, and that is saying a good deal. Seeing the 
 number we had on board, and most of them not sailors, the 
 Captain and I agreed our most prudent course was to make 
 Port William, and then wait a slant to run to Puysegur. I should 
 myself have been inclined to have gone right round Stewart 
 Island, and then, had a favourable wind blown up from the 
 south, we could have run before it right up to Puysegur Point, 
 which, from my old experience of the "Rosa" I knew she was 
 well able to do, and as matters turned out I believe we should 
 have saved time had we done so. 
 
 Truly, the coast between Puysegur Point and the Bluff is 
 as ugly, and rocky, and dangerous as the world can shew. 
 Washed by strong and varying currents, and swept by almost 
 incessant south-west gales, and with enormous rollers, ema- 
 nating from the South Pole itself, eternally thundering on its 
 iron rocks, but few days in a year pass here without visitations 
 in the shape of sudden squalls accompanied by heavy showers 
 of rain always approaching to and often consisting of hail and 
 snow. Woe betide any vessel that gets becalmed a mile or 
 two from that shore! Each mighty wave, as it sweeps along, bears 
 her nearer and nearer to destruction, till at last she is among 
 the breakers, and then God be merciful to all on board, 
 for forming a back-ground to this uninviting sea-board, 
 shapeless, gloomy-looking mountains often for miles rise abruptly 
 from the sea, clothed to above 2,000 feet with dark bush, their 
 peaks seldom free from mist or clouds, but when seen shewing 
 snow and glaciers. It was wise to give this coast a wide berth, 
 and await at Stewart Island for fair wind and weather. 
 
 We sailed along merrily till the Bluff was about six miles 
 behind us, when the wind chopped from north-west to south-
 
 12 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 west, and came on to blow with hurricane force. Sail was 
 shortened and the cutter stood up to it well. The white 
 horses grew rapidly, and the "Rosa" was soon swept from stern 
 to stern by the salt sea foam. An unhappy expression now 
 gradually stole over the faces of several of the company, and 
 one by one they leaned their heads over the bulwarks. The 
 sailors had been having more nips than were good for them 
 before starting, and there was a good deal of confusion. The 
 captain, who was at the helm, often fairly danced with rage as 
 the men muddled the ropes. Once or twice he lashed the 
 helm, dashed like a cat across the deck, did what the men were 
 trying to do, and was back at the helm before you could say 
 Jack Robinson. We were towing a good-sized whale-boat, 
 which ought to have been taken on board before starting, 
 and which now got full of water and kept us almost at a 
 stand-still. So serious did matters at length look that the 
 sailors asked the captain to run for shelter to the Island ol 
 Ruapuke, which was a few miles to leeward. In language 
 more forcible than polite, he told them he would take the 
 cutter to Stewart Island himself if need be, and I believe he 
 could have done so if the necessity had arisen. Just then a 
 heavy sea tore the whale-boat adrift, and we saw her no more. 
 I was glad when it happened, for we immediately began to make 
 progress. It was evident we could not make Port William, 
 but the Captain said he would make for Horse-shoe Bay, a few 
 miles to leeward of it ; that we were just getting out of the 
 worst of the weather, and would shortly be under the shelter of 
 Stewart Island, when the sea would get less. This soon came 
 about, and knowing that the Captain had the vessel well in 
 hand, and that both wind and sea were going down, I did not 
 see the force of sitting up on the wet deck amidst occasional 
 shower baths, and so sought the seclusion which the cabin 
 afforded when we were about 10 miles from Horse-shoe Bay. 
 I lighted a pipe being quite proof against sea sickness and 
 busied myself with my note-book, occasionally putting my 
 head up to see how we were getting on. Some of my friends 
 tried to keep me company, but if the motion on deck was bad, 
 that in the cabin was worse, and they did not stay long. They 
 again sought the deck. All save Martha apparently became 
 fixtures against the bulwarks, and their heads were occasionally 
 to be seen hanging over the sides of the vessel. They were 
 already having a surfeit of the pleasures of mal de mer. The
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND, 13 
 
 cabin was about 8 feet by 12 feet, fitted with two bunks on each 
 side, one on either side being a good, square compartment, 
 while the remaining two tapered off to nothing close to the 
 rudder. The cabin-fittings included a small locker and a 
 looking-glass nailed over it, and a little stove the chimney of 
 which pierced through the deck. In this locker were some 
 bottles containing whisky, and the crew kept coming down in 
 their dripping oilskins so often for a nip, that at last I had to 
 interfere, and the grog was locked up. As we approached 
 nearer to the wood-clad hills of Stewart Island the sea became 
 smoother and our progress faster, and at 7 p.m. we got 
 inside Horse-shoe Bay, and after a few tacks into still water. 
 Here we dropped anchor, and no one seemed sorry. 
 
 Horse-shoe Bay is quite land-locked, and has all the 
 appearance of a Devonshire cove, with its fringe of firm white 
 sand and wood-covered hills encircling it. Scattered along 
 the beach are about twenty wooden huts, most of them empty ; 
 at one time all were occupied, when the timber trade was 
 better than it is now. By the time the anchor was down and 
 the sails stowed it was getting dusk. All but the captain, 
 cook, and myself went on shore, taking blankets, provisions, 
 &c., with them. They took possession of an empty hut, made 
 a roaring fire, and proceeded to fill the inside man and dry their 
 externals. On board things were not quite so comfortable, for 
 the cabin-floor was a few inches deep in water the well 
 having overflowed. The explanation of this was, of course, 
 that the " Rosa " was not tight and taut as she once was. A 
 good deal of water had also come through the ceiling, and 
 everything was more or less wet. ' We pumped out the water, 
 swabbed the floor, &c., started a fire in the stove, fried some 
 beef-steak, and had a comfortable meal, washed down with 
 London porter of the M. C. and P. brand. After the meat 
 the Captain and I lighted our pipes and started yarning. I 
 first told him my mind about the exhibition of grog-drinking 
 we had had, and he was entirely of my opinion. The fact 
 though is that in these small craft the Captain is more a mate 
 with his crew than their master, the crew being in reality 
 partners, getting their wages out of the profits. However, 
 we secured what grog there was left, and I had not to complain 
 again on that score. The Captain shewed me his log, one 
 entry being to the effect that when he picked up the boat of 
 the ill-fated steamer "Tararua," he was positive that had the
 
 i4 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 boats put out to sea all on board would have been saved. 
 His log shewed that the day was fine. He also said, as 1 
 have before mentioned, that had those on board known of 
 it, there was a good boat harbour five miles from the 
 wreck, where all could have been landed in safety. After a 
 good yarn, he took one of the best bunks and I the other, and, 
 rolled in our blankets, we were soon sleeping the sleep of the 
 just. Next morning was Sunday, the yth of November. I was 
 up early and found it to be a beautiful morning, but with wind 
 south-west and squally, a big sea running outside, and a low 
 glass. I got into the dingy, jumped overboard, and had a 
 delicious swim, the water being clear and warm. After getting 
 into the boat again and dressing, I pulled ashore. I noticed 
 the Captain watching me rather anxiously while I was in the 
 water. He told me afterwards he wondered how I was going 
 to get into the boat again without upsetting the small craft; 
 but it is long since I learnt how to get into any boat when I 
 could get my hands on to her stern. I had a pull of about 
 half-a-mile to the shore, and landed under a rocky point, on 
 the top of which was an old building once used for curing 
 fish, but now deserted and tumbling to pieces. It was about six 
 o'clock, and from the bush came the pleasant songs of numerous 
 birds. Very sweet, bell-like, and musical are the notes of the 
 New Zealand birds, sometimes having such an effect as you 
 might expect to be produced from millions of tiny anvils 
 hammered by fairies with silver hammers. After making the 
 boat fast, I sauntered along a firm, white sand, which 
 glittered with scales of yellow mica having the appearance of 
 gold. It is sometimes called New Chum Gold, as, seeing it for 
 the first time, one can hardly believe it is not the precious metal 
 itself. There were numerous pretty shells lying about, of 
 which I gathered a few for those at home, thinking little 
 George would like them. 
 
 I soon became aware of the presence of those curses 
 of New Zealand called sand-flies insects black in colour, 
 with two small wings, shorter and thicker in the body 
 than a mosquito, in fact something like large midges. They 
 fly slowly and without any noise, settle on you, and driving a 
 hollow spear into your skin, suck away till their bodies are 
 swollen to bursting-point with blood, and then they go away. 
 Their bite is very irritating, especially if one is not accustomed 
 to them. All along the south and west coast, by the sea and in
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 15 
 
 the bush, they exist in countless swarms. Our tents were 
 often black with them, and the misery they inflicted was very 
 great. Their working hours are from the first ray of light to 
 the last. I soon had a cloud of them about me as I walked 
 along. I passed several huts, all empty but two, and entering 
 one of the empty ones sat down for a few minutes and made 
 a rough sketch of the Bay, which looked very pretty with its 
 dark-blue water fringed with white sand, and encircled with 
 green timber-clad hills between two and three hundred feet 
 high, and the "Rosa"' at anchor about half-a-mile from 
 shore, with a little white smoke curling from her galley chimney. 
 I next proceeded to the hut occupied by our party, and 
 pushing open the door saw various forms lying about the floor 
 two in bunks rolled in blankets, and asleep. I gave a cry 
 to wake them up, and in a few minutes several half-dressed 
 figures sallied out, and made their way to a small creek 
 handy for the morning's wash. Their ablutions were rather 
 hastened by the attention of the sand-flies. A fire was soon 
 blazing and breakfast attended to. There were plenty of 
 planks about, and we speedily rigged up forms and tables, 
 and made ourselves very comfortable. After breakfast, 
 clothes were hung out in the sun to dry; some pottered about 
 the beach ; and others, including myself, walked over to Half- 
 Moon Bay, a distance of about three miles, the track some- 
 times going round pretty little firm sand coves, and sometimes 
 inland over hills from 300 to 500 feet high all covered with 
 thick bush or furze, and trees that were from 60 to 100 feet 
 high. The bush chiefly consisted of red and black pine, 
 iron, totura-wood, gowai, tree-ferns, with a thick undergrowth 
 of ferns and supple-jack. The beach glistened with yellow 
 mica. The red pine or remu is a very graceful tree, with 
 drooping foliage, something like that of the deciduous cypress 
 which grew by the river at Beaulieu. The wood is a good 
 deal used for house building, takes a fine polish, and furniture 
 made from it has a fine appearance. It is not a very lasting 
 timber. Black pine is one of the best of the New Zealand 
 timbers, being strong and durable, and well adapted for piles, 
 bridges and piers. The rata or iron-wood is a very hard, 
 lasting wood. The tree starts life as a creeper; its vines creep 
 up some other tree, and cover it from top to bottom, their 
 leaves and flowers being so intermingled with the branches 
 and foliage of the tree, that they can scarcely be distinguished.
 
 16 THE WILD WEST COAST. 
 
 The vines increase in size, and the tree they encircle decays 
 and dies. The vines then unite and form a large tree with a 
 solid heart. I have often seen huge rata trees with portions 
 of the old tree they have killed not yet rotted out of the coils 
 of rata vines around them. The rata has a small, pointed, 
 glossy leaf, and a bright red flower. Some of the West Coast 
 ranges of hills at that time of year when the rata blooms 
 look crimson with its blossoms. Gowai, or kowai as it is 
 called in the North Island, has something the appearance of 
 a wattle, having a yellow flower. The timber is good and 
 tough, but, as a rule, too small to be of much use. Totura is 
 a large heavy timber, very lasting, and much used for piles 
 and telegraph posts. The timber has a reddish appearance 
 something like cedar. It has a small prickly leaf. The tree- 
 ferns varied in height, some of the tallest being 30 feet, and 
 the fronds six or seven in length. The supple-jack is of the 
 bramble family ; it grows in vines of about an inch in diameter, 
 very supple and terribly strong, for you can hang on to them 
 with perfect safety. Cattle often get tied-up by them, and un- 
 less cut down die of starvation. We had a pleasant walk, the 
 day being warm with a nice breeze. Such out-crops of rock as 
 we noticed were mostly of a decomposing grey granite, 
 with veins of quartz a few inches in thickness shewing here 
 and there. Under the glass some of the quartz shewed masses 
 of beautiful red, purple, and emerald crystals, with a speck or 
 two of gold.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A VISIT TO HALF-MOON BAY. NEWS OF SEASHORE GOLD. THE INTERIOR 
 OF STEWART ISLAND. A PISCATORIAL COMPETITION IN HORSE-SHOE 
 BAY. LOYALTY AT THE ANTIPODES. PROSPECTING FOR GOLD. 
 ARRIVAL AT PORT WILLIAM. AN ABANDONED SETTLEMENT. A 
 VERITABLE ROBINSON CRUSOE. AN OLD GOLD MINER'S YARNS. A 
 WET AND ABORTIVE EXPEDITION AFTER GOLD. 
 
 HALF-MOON BAY has much the same appearance as 
 Horse-shoe Bay, except that there are about 100 people 
 living about it, and a good many houses standing, some of them 
 being of decent size and having a comfortable appearance, 
 with paddocks and gardens attached. There is a church and 
 school, a saw-mill, and a small ship-building yard, where 
 cutters are chiefly built. One of about 8 tons was on the 
 slips at the time of our visit. Most of the inhabitants were 
 in church when we arrived, but a few were about. One of 
 them, a half-cast, having a smart, well-to-do appearance, got 
 into conversation with us. He was known as Captain Steven 
 West, and had been a great deal on the West Coast gold dig- 
 ging and sealing. 
 
 He said that at a place he knew of, near Jackson's Bay, 
 he and another man once made twenty ounces of gold in a week. 
 They worked with a cradle and trough, filling the trough with 
 water at high-water, and washing out the sand which they 
 got at low water. This they carried up to the trough and 
 passed it through the cradle the gold being in the sand. 
 At one place, he assured me, they could rely upon getting 
 six or seven ounces of gold after every heavy sea and high 
 tide. He guessed who we were, as the fame of our West- 
 Coast party had got noised abroad. On hearing of the loss of 
 the whale-boat he said we could not do much without one, and 
 
 c
 
 i8 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 that he had a good one he would sell. I knew one would be 
 very useful, and told him I would talk it over with Captain 
 Hanning and let him know. The gold he got was mostly in 
 thin flattened pieces, sometimes weighing as much as half dwt., 
 but he said they could only get it on the beach ; as soon as 
 they went inland they found none. We returned to Horse- 
 shoe Bay after chatting with several other inhabitants. At 
 one house we went to I tried to raise a drink, but they 
 viewed us with suspicion and would supply nothing but water. 
 On returning, the sun was quite hot, and I could not resist the 
 temptation of having a swim at a pretty little cove we came 
 across. It was most enjoyable, and a breeze from the sea 
 had put to flight, for a time at least, the brutal sand-flies. The 
 wretches go into the bush directly a sea-breeze comes on ; 
 but reappear the moment it dies away. We got back to our 
 quarters at about 3 p.m., and wandered about talking to the 
 new settlers who live around Horse-shoe Bay. Their lot did 
 not seem a happy one. They had no gardens, and lived by 
 doing a little wood-cutting and fishing, and sometimes going 
 over to the mainland when shearing was on. One man, 
 however, proved to be an exception to the general rule, for 
 he was the fortunate possessor of a cow or two. The hills 
 round the Bay are chiefly composed of decomposing granite. 
 The tracks through the bush are well made, being formed of 
 trunks of tree-ferns, placed crossways, and packed close 
 together. The steep gullies and creeks were all bridged. A 
 heavy south-west gale came on in the evening, the wind 
 raising columns of spray in the harbour. I returned to the 
 cutter about 6 p.m., having a hard pull back, and spent the 
 evening in the cabin writing and talking to the Captain. 
 
 The next day was fine but squally, and a big sea outside ; so 
 after breakfast we started to explore the interior. We walked 
 through the bush for five hours, following a well-made track, 
 laid with wooden rails. The numerous gullies were spanned 
 with well-constructed bridges, now very much decayed and 
 rather dangerous to cross. There are many of these tramways 
 in Stewart Ireland, constructed for the purpose of bringing 
 timber down to the coast for shipping; but the timber trade, as 
 I have previously remarked, has almost ceased, and the 
 tramways have fallen into decay. An immense amount of 
 labour has been expended on them. I doubt if they have ever 
 paid for construction. One reason for this decay in the timber
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 19 
 
 trade is that railways have now opened up timber districts 
 much nearer the centres of population, those who are in 
 authority over us having, in their wisdom, constructed the New 
 Zealand railways all along the sea-board, and leaving the 
 interior alone. From Invercargill to Christchurch, a distance 
 of about 350 miles, the railway is never more than a few miles 
 from the sea, and generally close to it. At present it does 
 not pay to ship timber from Stewart Island. Some day, as 
 the other sources get gradually used up, Stewart Island will 
 be again resorted to, and her at present silent forests echo once 
 more to the sound of the axe and the saw. 
 
 All this day we were never out of the bush, which, indeed, 
 covers nearly the whole of the Island. We came upon several 
 intrusive dykes of hard grey basalt, but got no traces of 
 minerals other than iron-sand, which seems to be present 
 everywhere. We shot a few pigeons and kakas. The 
 pigeons are fine birds, larger than but having much the same 
 plumage as the British wood-pigeon. The kakas are parrots ; 
 their bodies do not weigh more than that of the pigeon, though 
 from the amount of feathers they have you would think they 
 were larger. The plumage is brown relieved by red about the 
 wings and tail ; like all the nesters they are good eating. They 
 go about in flocks, and should you wound one of them it will 
 probably start screeching. Thereupon all its companions will 
 come round, apparently to see what is the matter, and you can 
 shoot at them as long as you like without driving them away. 
 Some people can imitate their cry well enough to bring them 
 round about them, should there be any within hearing. 
 
 We returned to our quarters at about 6 p.m. A heavy 
 thunderstorm came on, and I amused myself by fishing from 
 the cutter. I caught a dozen of white-fish and a lot of fine red 
 cod. The white-fish are in shape like a roach, with small 
 heads and mouths, white scales, and a brown stripe across the 
 shoulder. They bite very shy like roach, and are caught best 
 with a small hook. Their flesh is white and firm, and they are 
 excellent eating. When caught they make a peculiar noise, 
 something akin to the squeaking of a mouse. They ran from 
 -jib. to 4 Ibs. weight. At the outset I was-the only successful 
 angler, for my companions, accustomed only to the coarser sea- 
 fish, could not hook them. I think my roach fishing at Beaulieu 
 may have had something to do with my success. In a day or two 
 the others got into the knack of catching them; but at first they
 
 20 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 got rather riled when they saw me pulling them up and they 
 themselves meantime solely occupied in losing their bait. 
 Rock-cod are very much like rock-cod at home, with dark 
 scales on the back, white belly, red fins, and enormous heads 
 and mouths. Their flesh is soft, but they are not particularly 
 good eating. Furthermore, we found them rather a nuisance, 
 as when they were about no other fish except a dog-fish or 
 young shark had a chance of getting at the bait, and after 
 awhile, when we found red-cod about, we left off fishing. They 
 are extremely voracious. They often weigh eight or ten pounds, 
 and sometimes even more. Fortunately they did not come on 
 the feed as a rule so early in the evening as the w r hite-fish. 
 
 A very stormy night, with thunder and lightning and heavy 
 rain (barometer 29-00), ushered in the following morning, which 
 was the anniversary of the Prince of Wales's birthday. The 
 Captain hoisted what bunting he had, and we drank his Royal 
 Highness's health in London porter. The weather was still very 
 wild, with a strong south-west gale and cold showers. I had 
 my usual swim and enjoyed a breakfast of white-fish very much. 
 I stayed on board till about 2 p.m., and then landed and took 
 one of the men with me prospecting. Prospecting, I may 
 explain, generally consists in digging a hole till you come on 
 solid clay or rock, and washing the stuff you get out in a flat, 
 shallow, iron or tin dish you wash away the mud and earth 
 and pick out the stones, and at last the minerals, if there are 
 any, remain at the bottom. The formation about Horse-shoe 
 Bay was so broken and loose that we found it difficult to get 
 on any firm bottom. Wherever we tried we got large 
 quantities of magnetic black iron-sand ; on many beaches about 
 Stewart Ireland there are considerable deposits of it. It is 
 often called Titanic iron-sand, and is said to contain nearly 
 seventy per cent, of pure iron. It owes its origin, I should 
 say, to decomposed volcanic masses. There are large 
 quantities of it at various places in New Zealand, perhaps the 
 most extensive known deposit being at Taranaki, on the West 
 Coast of the North Island. It is chiefly found there round 
 about the base of Mount Egmont. Egmont itself is a beautiful 
 volcanic cone 8,000 feet high, and the sand has, I think, 
 doubtless been washed out of the mountain. A good many 
 attempts, costing large sums of money, have been made to 
 smelt it, and although fine metal has been obtained, the 
 process has been too costly to allow the works to be continued
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 21 
 
 with any prospect of profit at present. Some day, I have no 
 doubt, it will be utilized. I believe there are enormous deposits 
 of the same mineral in Iceland. 
 
 The loth of November opened with a howling gale after a 
 night of heavy rain, some of which found its way through the 
 roof of the cabin. We spent the morning in overhauling the 
 cargo and having things properly stowed, so that we might be 
 ready to start as soon as the weather moderated. The 
 Captain went over to Half-Moon Bay to inspect West's whale- 
 boat, and came back and reported it to be a good one. So I 
 bought it, the price being 6. The Captain deposited i, and 
 signed an agreement to the effect that the boat was to be 
 mine as long as I wanted it, and that he would take it off my 
 hands at cost price when my requirements ceased. He and 
 three men walked over to West's carrying oars with them, and 
 rowed back in the boat. She is a pretty model and pulls very 
 easily. I shall take care that this one is properly looked after. 
 During the day I started the men sinking a shaft, I examining 
 the stuff every now and again with a magnifying glass and 
 washing it in a tin dish. We sank down 10 feet and got on 
 granite, soft at first and hardening as we went on, but found 
 nothing but a few small pieces of soft white metal which cut 
 easily and looked liked bismuth. The formation is a likely one 
 for tin. It has always been supposed that there is tin on 
 Stewart Island, but as yet it has not been found. Later on, the 
 glass rising and the weather looking finer, I instructed those on 
 shore to have all their swags packed up, and to be ready to go 
 on board by daybreak. Then I went on board and spent the 
 evening fishing, and again succeeded in catching a large 
 quantity of fine white-fish. Not an unpleasant life this, but 
 as we were anxious to get to Big Bay as soon as possible, 
 this delay was annoying, and besides the men were getting 
 wages and doing nothing for the money. These Danes did not 
 seem to know how to do the simplest cooking, and their attempts 
 at baking were simply horrible. 
 
 The nth of November broke cold and fine. The hills of 
 which Mount Anglem, 3,200 feet, the highest hill on the 
 Island, is the centre were covered with snow to within 1,500 feet 
 of sea level. I had my swim before the sun was up, and we 
 all got on board and up anchor at 7.30 a.m. The glass was 
 30-16 and we hoped we might get right away to the West 
 Coast ; but we were not well out of Horse-shoe Bay before il.
 
 22 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 came on to blow hard from the south-west, so we had to 
 reef sail and make for Port William, arriving at 10.30, after a 
 hard beat. 
 
 Port William is a beautiful white-sanded bay, encircled by 
 bush-covered hills, closely resembling those to be found at 
 Half-Moon and Horse-shoe Bays. As we entered its still 
 waters we saw before us, fronting the shore at the head of the 
 bay, a long, low, wooden building and a small house to the 
 right of it, the only buildings to be seen. We anchored and 
 went ashore. The long building we found to be empty, and 
 in a dirty, delapidated condition. It was put up some years 
 ago by the New Zealand Government as barracks for 150 
 Shetland and Orkney Islanders, who were brought here at the 
 Government expense. They were given land, tools, and pro- 
 visions for eighteen months, and it was supposed they would 
 clear and cultivate the country, and form a flourishing settle- 
 ment, developing, among other things, a fishing industry, as 
 the sea round Stewart Island swarms with fish. The scheme 
 did not work well. The settlers did a little clearing very 
 little and then nearly all of them left, and made once more 
 for the main land. Thus the place was abandoned. 
 
 Garden flowers, fruit trees, and berry bushes still flourish 
 among the wild growth that has sprung up around them, and 
 show, by their healthy vigour, that with a little cultivation they 
 would give good returns. About half-a-dozen gum trees that 
 were planted by the islanders are now large ones, and will 
 soon tower above the surrounding timber. Gum trees 
 (Eucalyptus) grow at an amazing rate in New Zealand. I 
 have seen them cut down when but ten years old, and measure 
 ninety feet. 
 
 We were proceeding to clean out one of the rooms in the 
 barracks, preparatory to occupying it while we remained in the 
 Bay, when a ragged-looking individual, with red hair and 
 beard, light blue eyes, and a pleasant expression about his 
 face, made his appearance. He besought us to take up our 
 quarters at his house the one we had noticed to the right 
 where he said we could use his kitchen, and be clean and 
 comfortable. I did not like to intrude so many on him, but he 
 seemed to wish it so much that I consented. So we took our 
 swags to his house, which consisted of two rooms, one with a 
 large open fire-place at the end of it. He was known as Deaf 
 Dick, and was the one solitary inhabitant of Port William.
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 23 
 
 His only companions were an old-fashioned-looking Skye 
 terrier and a cat. They sat one on each side of him, and 
 seemed almost as if they were conversing with him. We 
 dubbed them " The Familiars." I may here say that the 
 Captain and his men owned two mongrel retrievers, one called 
 Jack, a splendid swimmer ; and our party had a tiny little 
 wiry-haired Scotch terrier called " F'an." This little animal M. 
 and " Martha " had bought for five shillings just before leaving 
 Dunedin. She had evidently been a ladies' pet, could walk on 
 her hind legs, and do other tricks. Probably the man who 
 sold her to them had stolen her. She was always shivering, 
 and had a hard time of it. At first she would not eat fish, and 
 evidently expected more dainty fare. She attached herself to 
 me, and followed me about like a shadow. Dick gave us food 
 and tea, and shewed us his household gods. He is a bit of an 
 artist, and produced a " picture," representing CHRIST on the 
 Cross, of which he was the manufacturer. The outlines of the 
 figures were cut out of cardboard, with a background of 
 colored tissue paper, so that when you held it up to the light 
 the Cross and CHRIST stood out, surrounded by various colors, 
 the whole having a very pleasing effect. He also shewed us a 
 bridle of plaited hide, very soft and strong, made in Mexico. 
 He had lived in that country, and we were informed by him 
 that such bridles were in common use out there. They are 
 made from the skin of unborn foals, the mares being killed to 
 obtain them. The workmanship was very fine, and the 
 strength something remarkable. Dick has been most of his 
 life a gold-seeker, and has sought the precious metal in 
 America, Australia, and New Zealand. He is now, I should 
 say, quite sixty, and worn and feeble-looking. His life would 
 make an interesting book. Although he has had thousands of 
 pounds in his hands, like many other old diggers I have met, 
 he could not keep it, and now has nothing. He gets a little 
 gold about the beaches near Port William, and with that and 
 a little help from chance visitors ekes out his lonely existence. 
 After dinner the whole crowd went prospecting on the beach. 
 We got a few colors of gold in every dish we washed out. The 
 entire formation is a broken-up jumble, and did not strike me 
 as being likely to contain much of anything, although it might, 
 and doubtless does, contain specimens of various minerals. 
 Dick's garden, which he keeps in good order, is about half-an- 
 acre in size, and contains apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees.
 
 24 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 currant and gooseberry bushes, potatoes, onions, peas, lettuce 
 and cabbages, all looking well and healthy. He spoke of two 
 gold reefs he knew of, but said he was a poor man, and offered, 
 if I would give him I2s. a week, to drive a tunnel into the hill 
 where they were, and open them up. I asked him if he had 
 ever seen any gold from them ? He said no, but he knew those 
 who had. I did not close with his offer. We found the reefs 
 ourselves afterwards, and could discover no signs of gold in 
 them. There were, however, masses of coarse-grained granite 
 everywhere, intersected with veins of quartz and bands of 
 fine-grained granite. Sometimes, too, we came across a 
 crystalline metamorphosed sandstone. It is very hard, and 
 would doubtless take a fine polish. It resembled very much 
 the criffel stone in Scotland, of which curling stones are made. 
 The day closed wet and stormy, with violent westerly squalls 
 which made the water whistle and the cutter swing at her 
 anchor half round the compass. All our party, except myself, 
 slept at Deaf Dick's, and were made as comfortable as he 
 could well make them. One drawback to comfort in the day- 
 time in Dick's hut was, that if you shut the door, you w r ere 
 soon half choked with smoke ; while, if you left it open, 
 swarms of sand-flies came in and stung you. Dick gave our 
 Danes lessons in cooking and baking, but they either could not 
 or would not learn. I have come to the conclusion since that 
 they did not want to, thinking that we would do the baking 
 ourselves sooner than eat the awful abortions in the shape of 
 bread produced by them, and so we did. We, however, sent 
 our Danish friends about their business as soon as we had a 
 chance. 
 
 Dick told us a number of yarns during the evening. He 
 speaks with a loud voice, somewhat like a street preacher. 
 The moral of his yarns was "that no one, however much 
 his experience in prospecting, should ever leave a new place 
 untried, even though its appearance little warranted the hope 
 of finding gold." One yarn was to the effect that, once in 
 Australia, he and a lot of other men, mostly old hands, were 
 working in a gully. Dick's own mate was a new chum, who 
 had had no experience whatever in gold seeking. They were 
 getting very little gold, and the old hands had come to the 
 conclusion that there was very little gold left in the gully, and 
 had decided to leave it and try their luck elsewhere, Dick 
 amongst them. Dick's mate, before they left, told his com-
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 25 
 
 panion he was determined to go and try a slip he could see on 
 a hill face across the gully. The only encouragement he had 
 from the party was to be informed that he would be a fool for 
 his pains. However, the man was obstinate and went by 
 himself, and started working on the slip. In a very short 
 time he came on gold in large quantities. Instead of keeping 
 his good luck to himself, and making a considerable pile before 
 his discovery was found out, which he might easily have done 
 for no one would have troubled to go near the so-called 
 fool he at once went back and told the others of his find. 
 A rush was at once made for the reef, and this find of the 
 obstinate new chum proved to be one of the richest finds in 
 Australia. I returned to the cutter as night came on, leaving 
 the others still listening to Deaf Dick's interesting yarns. It 
 .was rather hard work pulling off to the cutter, some of the 
 squalls being very violent. 
 
 The 1 2th opened fine, but with a falling glass, barometer 
 standing at 29-70, wind hot and puffy from the north-west. 
 We walked to a place called Maori Beach, distant about five 
 miles, Deaf Dick accompanying us as guide. A good deal of 
 gold is said to have been found about this beach. There was 
 no distinct track, and after wandering a good bit our party got 
 separated, the "Squire" and "Rameses" keeping with me, 
 and the rest going with Dick. I had taken the bearings of 
 Maori Beach before we started, and, finding no track, steered 
 a bee-line for it by the help of the compass. At first we had 
 a little hard work forcing our way through the bush, which, as 
 usual, consisted of pines, totura, ironwood, broadleaf tree- 
 ferns, and a dense carpet of ferns and creepers, rotten moss- 
 covered timber helping to make the way rougher; but presently 
 we found ourselves on a very good track, and came to the con- 
 clusion that Dick did not know much about the country, for it 
 was evident that this track came from near where we had 
 started and went to Maori Beach. All was now plain sailing, 
 and we soon found ourselves by a river which bounds one end 
 of the beach, and crossing it by a bridge about a mile from the 
 sea, we arrived at Maori Beach, which proved to be a sandy 
 flat, covered with scrub extending inland some miles, and 
 lying between two small rivers which enter the sea about two 
 miles apart. We had our lunch, but were very much troubled 
 by swarms of bloodthirsty sand-flies. We were presently 
 joined by the rest of our party, who had not been so fortunate
 
 26 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 as to discover the track, but managed to do without it. We 
 proceeded to the further end of the beach, but no sooner had 
 we reached the river than the rain came down in torrents. 
 Some were for going back. However, we decided to wait an 
 hour or two and allow the tide, which was nearly high but 
 ebbing, to go out, so that we could try a prospect in the bed 
 of the river. Along the sandy flat by the beach we found 
 several patches of strawberry plants growing among the grass, 
 looking very healthy, and with plenty of fruit as yet quite 
 green. We also saw signs of civilisation indicating that not 
 long ago there had been a few settlers on the beach. The 
 rain kept on steady and heavy, and, being unable to find any 
 cover, we were soon drenched to the skin, and stood against 
 such small timber as there was for shelter. In this fashion we 
 patiently waited in wet misery for the water to fall. Suddenly 
 we were hailed by a cheery voice, and saw an oil-skinned 
 figure, with a cheerful, amply-bearded face, emerge from the 
 bush close to us. It proved to be a Mr. Thompson, from 
 Half-Moon Bay. He was looking after some cattle which had 
 gone astray, and doing a little prospecting at the same time. 
 For the latter purpose he carried a pick on his shoulder. He 
 told us he had heard of our party, wished us every success, 
 asked us over to see him, and then giving us a cheery good- 
 day, went about his business. We heard him singing away 
 for some time after he had disappeared in the bush. In a 
 couple of hours the tide had run out sufficiently for our purpose, 
 and we commenced operations. Veins of quartz a foot thick 
 and more were common enough, but it all seemed blind, nor 
 did we get the colour of gold in washing. The rain kept on, 
 and after an hour's steady work we gave it up and returned 
 to Port William. We went home quicker than we came, at 
 one place saving about a mile by walking through a river 
 instead of going up its banks till we came to a bridge, as we 
 had done in coming. For my part, seeing I could not possibly 
 get any wetter, I would have swam the river if need be, sooner 
 than wade the extra mile through the soaking bush and 
 slippery ground. It is decidedly hard work climbing a steep 
 bush track in New Zealand, when that track partakes of the 
 nature of a watercourse ; when your well-soaked clothes cling 
 to your limbs with the weight of lead ; and when the surface 
 is greasy, and your feet slip about in dark, squashy, peaty soil, 
 mixed with clay, wet rocks, and rotten decayed timber. It is
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 27 
 
 indeed hard work, especially when one is not used to it, and 
 so many of us found it to be, for drops of perspiration mingled 
 with the streams of rain which trickled o'er many a manly 
 brow. 
 
 At last it was over, and we arrived at Port William. Wet 
 clothes were taken off and wrung out, but the lower garments 
 were so stained with the black bush soil that it was deemed 
 best to put them into clean water for the time being. I went 
 on board, and was soon in that happy frame of mind and 
 body produced by violent exertion and a soaking of several 
 hours' duration in the cold, pitiless rain, followed by dry 
 clothes, a comfortable seat and a good meal, all of which, 
 with the help of the Captain and cook, I soon enjoyed in the 
 " Rosa's " little cabin. The rest of the party did much the 
 same at Deaf Dick's. 
 
 Over our pipes the Captain and I discussed the chance of 
 the weather clearing up, for we were anxious to get away and 
 be at the West Coast as soon as possible. We knew that, so 
 far as the object of our expedition was concerned, it was sheer 
 waste of time staying at Stewart Island.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE THUNDERSTORM. STORMY WEATHER. A QUIET SABBATH AT 
 DEAF DICK'S. THE RETURN TO HALF-MOON BAY. A LITTLE 
 TOWNSHIP. PATERSON'S INLET. THE HONEST STOREKEEPER OF 
 ULVA ISLAND. AN INTERESTING ISLAND HOME. THE STEWART 
 ISLAND MAGISTRATE, DOCTOR, AND MINISTER. AN ISLAND COURT 
 OF JUSTICE. 
 
 "D AROMETER 29-60., and a stormy night. Next morning 
 J ' it was worse, and the whole company seemed out of sorts, 
 From Captain to cook every face looked glum, except Patsey, 
 who is one of those sons of the Emerald Isle who laugh at 
 fate. One can put up cheerfully with very little in the shape 
 of creature comforts if occupied ; but it is a different thing 
 having to be content with a minimum of comfort, a maximum 
 of idleness, and millions of New Zealand sand-flies. 
 
 A thunderstorm enlivened the scene at night. I spent the 
 evening fishing from the deck and caught a quantity of white- 
 fish, trumpeters and blue cod. The trumpeter is shaped 
 much like a white-fish, but rather darker in the scales, and 
 running to a heavier weight. It is about the best eating of 
 all the New Zealand fish, and has a flavour not unlike salmon. 
 Its flesh is too rich and contains too much oil to fry. The 
 largest I have seen caught weighed about i2lbs., but I believe 
 they are caught much larger, scaling as much as aylbs. The 
 blue-cod looks very much like the British cod, and runs from 
 two to six or seven pounds as a rule, but in the sounds they 
 often run to a far more considerable size. They have 
 enormous heads and jaws, and bite very freely. They are 
 very fine eating, their flesh being firm and white, with a good 
 sea flavour. It was a pretty sight that evening as I sat alone 
 fishing on the deck in my oilskins. Wild and picturesque
 
 THE WILD WEST COAST. 29 
 
 was the picture presented by the white sand beach, the dark 
 bush-clad hills in the background, with the heavy thunder- 
 clouds resting on their tops ; the only signs of man's presence 
 being the deserted barracks and Deaf Dick's house, from the 
 wooden chimney of which white smoke was curling upwards. 
 As night set in the land seemed to fade away. Occasionally 
 its outline could momentarily be seen as a flash of lightning 
 broke through the Cimmerian darkness and lighted up the 
 landscape around. When I turned in our little cutter was 
 swinging uneasily at her anchor, and a moaning swell, caused 
 by the heavy sea outside, was breaking on the beach. 
 
 The i4th was still stormy, with a falling glass. It was 
 Sunday. I pulled myself ashore in the little dingy, and going 
 to a small cascade near at hand, sat under it, and had a fine 
 fresh-water shower-bath, the sand-flies being unpleasantly 
 attentive meanwhile. Some of our party came along for the 
 same purpose. The morning ablutions over, we adjourned to 
 Dick's for breakfast. When the meal was finished and cleared 
 away, Dick laid on the table a Bible, some Salvation Army 
 publications, some old Good Words, and a volume of Sunday 
 at Home's, dated 1862, and taking up one of them sat himself 
 by the fire, with his animal pets on either side of him. There 
 was something in the old man's manner which induced all of 
 us to follow his example, though to some of us such a way of 
 spending the Sabbath was not usual. Thus we sat, occa- 
 sionally smoking, till 3 p.m., when we had dinner off a 
 magnificent trumpeter, weighing about I2lbs. After dinner 
 there was more reading and smoking, and about 5 p.m. I went 
 on board our craft. A small lugger, called the " Reindeer," 
 manned by one man, the owner, and a boy came in and 
 anchored alongside. She was a curious-looking vessel, with 
 high, stiff bulwarks, which looked as if they had been made 
 from planks from packing cases. She would be about three 
 tons. Her owner was a red Scandinavian, with long, rough 
 hair and a rugged face, in which eye-brows, whiskers and 
 beard seemed to blend together. He and the boy came'on 
 board the " Rosa," the boy remarking " Ah, this is some- 
 thing like a ship." They get their living chiefly by fishing 
 and oyster dredging, the Stewart Island oysters being among 
 the finest in the world, a little larger than, but in taste and 
 appearance quite equal to British natives. I noticed that the 
 other man, who remained on board the " Reindeer," did
 
 3 o THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 not return our Captain's salutation, and remarked on it. 
 " Probably not," grimly said the Captain, " I gave him one of 
 the best hammerings he ever had not long ago." There the 
 subject ended. 
 
 The wind shifted in the evening and the glass began to 
 rise, giving us hopes that the weather would mend before 
 long. The Scandinavian, however, said it would not clear for 
 some days yet. He also mentioned that the gale we had 
 encountered in coming over from the Bluff was one of the 
 most severe that had been known for some time, and that there 
 had been doubts about our safety in consequence. The next 
 day was worse, and the succeeding one, the i6th, was no 
 better. We decided, however, to change our quarters to 
 Half-Moon Bay, with a view to supplementing our provisions, 
 so we weighed anchor about 8 a.m., and after a hard beat out 
 of Port William, close reefed, we scudded down to Half- 
 Moon Bay, arriving there about 11.15 a.m. Deaf Dick, as he 
 shook hands at parting, said, " The Lord bless and preserve 
 you in your going out and your coming in. The Lord be with 
 you and guide you on your journey." 
 
 Half-Moon Bay is very like the other bays we had visited ; 
 only, as I have said before, there a small township has sprung 
 up, which likewise can boast of two boarding-houses. A steamer 
 calls there regularly from the Bluff, and a magistrate's court 
 is also held. In addition there is a school-house. The 
 population in and about the township is about 100. 
 
 We went to Thompson's boarding-house, and were wel- 
 comed by the man who had hailed us when we were enjoying 
 the rain at Maori Beach. His house was a two-storied one, 
 constructed, of course, of wood, with a number of small bed- 
 rooms up stairs, plainly but comfortably furnished, and down 
 stairs a good-sized sitting room, in which was displayed a 
 well-arranged collection of minerals and curios gathered from 
 about Stewart Island. There was also a large, long room, 
 where the boarders take their meals. A good many visitors 
 from the mainland stay here in the summer time. At the 
 time of our visit he had none, and we sat down to dinner with 
 himself and family. They had killed a bull that morning, and 
 we had some of the flesh for dinner. Being served up hot it 
 was not so very tough, but I knew perfectly well what it would 
 be like the next time it was placed on the table. After dinner 
 we had a yarn with Thompson, who shewed us about i d\vt.
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 31 
 
 of gold he had recently got from a beach near at hand, and 
 also some pieces of white metal similar to the piece we had 
 found at Horse-shoe Bay. 
 
 At about 1.30 p.m. the Captain, the " Squire," " Martha," 
 Peter the Dane, and myself started and walked over to 
 Paterson's Inlet the distance being about two-and-a-half miles 
 across a ridge about 400 feet high, covered with the usual bush. 
 The track was very good, and the walk extremely pleasant. 
 We arrived at Paterson's Inlet at a little cove called Deep 
 Bay. There we found a whale-boat which we had been told 
 of at Half- Moon Bay launched the boat, and getting into 
 her pulled over to the Island of Ulva. 
 
 Paterson's Inlet is a magnificent sheet of water 15 miles 
 long and from one to six wide. The world's fleet might ride 
 in it at safety. It is dotted with numerous wood-covered 
 islands, and it is enclosed with bush-covered hills, which 
 almost assume the magnitude of mountains at his head, 
 Mount Anglem, the highest peak, attaining an altitude of 
 3,200 feet. The waters of the inlet teem with fish ; rock 
 oysters are numerous on the shore, and bed oysters are dredged 
 up from the deep water. Twelve years ago George Thompson, 
 of Dunedin, and I went to the head of the inlet in a small 
 boat, and, proceeding some miles up a river emptying into the 
 inlet, camped out on a flat about the only flat clear of bush, 
 I may mention, that is to be found in Stewart Island. Even 
 that is half a swamp, covered with Maori-heads, flax, tussock, 
 rushes, and reeds. Maori-head is the name given to a kind 
 of grass which grows in tufts on stones, often several feet long. 
 It is always found in swampy ground, and when the swamp is 
 drained the Maori-heads disappear. Tussock is a grass 
 common all over New Zealand ; it grows in tufts, is wiry and 
 tough like Esparto grass the stock, especially horses, do very 
 well on it. 
 
 Thomson and I stayed some time with a Mr. C. Traill on 
 the Island of Ulva, which he owns. We were at the time on 
 a cruise round Stewart Island in the cutter " Rosa," then 
 owned by Traill's brother, and now at the service of our party. 
 The object of our present visit to Ulva was to call on Mr. 
 Traill. After a stiff pull of about four miles in a strong side 
 breeze and rough water all of us getting more or less wet 
 we arrived at a snug little harbour, about 50 yards from Mr. 
 Traill's abode. The latter consists of a comfortable dwelling-
 
 32 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 house, with store attached, for Mr. Traill sells provisions, oars, 
 ropes, fishing-tackle, hooks, and various other articles needed 
 by the fishing and coasting population of Stewart Island. He 
 is the only honest storekeeper I ever met in the colonies. His 
 articles are what he says they are, and his prices such as I 
 am sure must leave but small profit. I walked up the smooth 
 path from the landing place to the house, thinking of twelve 
 years ago, when Mrs. Traill, a pleasant, intellectual lady, 
 gave us a hearty welcome, and was so untiring in her efforts 
 to promote our comfort that we almost felt ashamed at the 
 trouble and inconvenience to which we were putting her. 
 Now, but a stone's throw from the house, under the spreading 
 branches of a dark-foliaged tree, that lady sleeps in the Lord. 
 She died a few years after our visit, her husband being her 
 only attendant. He had to perform the last sad offices, all 
 that the living and strong can do for the dying and dead, 
 alone, without assistance. Picture a kind, cultured, gentle, 
 Christian gentleman, whom from a position of affluence the 
 waves of adversity had washed to this wilderness, where he 
 had made a comfortable home for his wife and daughter- 
 much helped and cheered in his labours by his living com- 
 panion, helpmate, friend and wife picture him closing the 
 eyes which could smile on him no more, making the coffin, 
 digging the grave, putting the cold earth on all that remained 
 of her he loved so much, and then resuming his quiet sad life 
 alone. I have been told that he was as one in a maze for 
 long after her death, nor do I wonder. 
 
 Mr. Traill is a gentleman of considerable scientific acquire- 
 ments. He was once a flourishing merchant on the mainland ; 
 but owing to the rashness of one of his partners his firm failed, 
 and with the wreck of his fortune he retired to Stewart Island, 
 where, taking possession of the Island of Ulva about five 
 miles round he opened a store and school, his customers 
 and scholars being composed entirely of Maories. He has 
 made a beautiful garden about his dwelling, and in it roses, 
 hawthorns, apples, pears, plums, cherries, berry bushes, and 
 various rare plants collected from New Zealand, Australia, 
 Herves and Chattam Islands, including several varieties of 
 palms, flourish. His collection, I believe, could only be beaten 
 by that belonging to Sir George Grey in his far-famed Island 
 of Kawau, about 40 miles from Auckland. I found Mr. 
 Traill in his store, tall, thin, bent, and grey ; his intellectual
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 33 
 
 face very worn and weary looking. He remembered me quite 
 well, and after selling us a few things we required, including 
 a pair of sculls for the dingy, he asked us to take a walk 
 through his little kingdom. He has laid out a considerable 
 extent of land in plantations, shrubberies, &c. First he had 
 to clear away the native bush, and then, as the soil of Ulva is 
 too poor, he brought tons and tons of earth from the mainland 
 of Stewart Island. Besides the trees I have already men- 
 tioned, he had a fine collection of rhododendrons, azaleas, and 
 laburnums, now in bloom. The whole thing does him great 
 credit. He said that apples, pears, and other fruit ripened 
 very well. 
 
 Stewart Island is in the 48th degree of south latitude, a lati- 
 tude in most parts of the Southern Ocean liable at any time of 
 the year to snow, hail, and frost. Stewart Island, however, 
 enjoys a mild climate, much milder than that of the larger 
 portion of the South Island the south, centre, and east coast, 
 as far as the north boundary of the Province of Canterbury. 
 In proof of this I may state that Mr. Traill grows semi- 
 tropical trees and shrubs in the open air, and that it would 
 be impossible to do in the districts of the South Island I 
 have mentioned. Snow never lies long, and the frosts on the 
 low levels are very slight, the thermometer sometimes reaching 
 freezing point for an hour or two and no more. The reason 
 of this is the existence of a warm ocean current, which 
 washes the north-east coast of Australia, and, flowing in a 
 south-east course, strikes the west coast of New Zealand at 
 about latitude 42 south somewhere near Hokitika, continues 
 down the coast, washes round Stewart Island, and then loses 
 itself in the Southern Ocean. No doubt if this current did not 
 exist, icebergs from the Antarctic seas would ground on Stewart 
 Island. They are frequently met with in the Southern Ocean 
 much nearer the equator. Queensland timber, brought by 
 this current, is often washed up on the west coast south of 
 Hokitika; and about eighteen months ago a Queensland turtle, 
 three feet long, was caught alive in Mason's Bay, on the west 
 coast of Stewart Island. 
 
 Among the trees Mr. Traill pointed out, was what he called 
 a " Ti Mi" tree, and which he said was only found growing in 
 one place in New Zealand, that being Mokaia, on the west 
 coast of the North Island. He stated that the Maori tradi- 
 tion about it was this that the first Maories who visited
 
 34 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 New Zealand came in a large canoe built of " Ti Mi" wood, 
 and they landed at Mokaia, where there is a good harbour. The 
 canoe got broken up, and some of the planks took root and 
 grew. Mr. Traill showed us a fine collection of shells and 
 curios. He informed me that lately the Maories had been 
 getting a good deal of gold, some of it in pieces weighing 
 a couple of dwts. or so, about Paterson's Inlet. As the 
 Maories look upon Mr. Traill as a kind of father, and would 
 certainly take him what gold they got before going to any one 
 else, this statement will be correct. Mr. Traill's daughter, 
 at the time of our trip, was living on the mainland for her 
 education, so that he was all alone. 
 
 After a most interesting visit, we bade good-bye to the 
 recluse, and, pulling to sea, I steered my gallant crew from 
 Ulva's dark and lonely isle to Deep Bay. The wind had 
 gone down, the evening was fine and pleasant, and the pull 
 proved to be very enjoyable, the scenery reminding me very 
 much of the English Lakes. We had an enjoyable walk 
 over the hill to Half-Moon Bay, carrying the provisions, &c., 
 that we had bought from Mr. Traill. Most of our party 
 decided to sleep at Thompson's, and after having tea with 
 them again attacking the bull, this time so tough that one 
 came to the conclusion that he must indeed have been a 
 warrior -I returned to the cutter. Very pretty indeed looked 
 Half-Moon Bay that quiet, calm evening, encircled with undu- 
 lating bush-covered hills, its numerous white sandy coves 
 and rocky peaks, which latter, projecting from the still water, 
 form picturesque islands scattered about the bay. 
 
 The blot on the scenery was the ugly settlers' huts, and the 
 numerous dead, dying, and fallen trees which marked the 
 ravages of that animal man. I learned from Thompson that 
 he and others have about 3,000 sheep running at the head of 
 Paterson's Inlet, but they do not do very well. They get 
 some 30 per cent, of lambs, but that will barely suffice to 
 keep up their stock, inasmuch as the death rate is a heavy 
 one. Their clip averages about 4! Ib. per sheep, and they get 
 about gd. a Ib. for the wool at the Bluff. They sell most of 
 the mutton eaten on Stewart Island perhaps about 200 head 
 a-year which will give them, say 100; add s for the 
 wool, and their gross returns will come to about 600 per 
 annum. They pay 255. a ton freight for the carriage of the 
 wool to the mainland, and i8s. a hundred for shearing their
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 35 
 
 sheep, and rent, perhaps, ^40 a-year. It would cost them about 
 /"IOQO to put the sheep on the run, and if they borrowed the 
 money, interest will be at the rate of 10 per cent., or 100 a- 
 year. So that their total expenses will be 100 -f- ^"27 (shear- 
 ing), + (carriage), -f- ^40 (rent), = 77 say, ^"200 a- 
 year which leaves about ^400 to divide among them, there 
 being, I believe, three partners in the concern. I have not 
 put down anything for wages, because the partners do the 
 work themselves. This is not much but Thompson is satisfied, 
 and, with what he makes from his accommodation house, is a 
 prosperous man, earning more than he spends year by year. 
 It is a pity that very few people in New Zealand are at present 
 as well off as this Stewart islander. 
 
 The next day was wet. I went ashore and had breakfast at 
 Thompson's the old bull, of course, very tough and then 
 putting on oilskins we sallied out to spend the day as best we 
 could. Presently we saw coming round a point in the harbour 
 a small dingy with one man in it, who pulled manfully and 
 made good way against a strong wind and considerable sea, 
 his little craft dancing like a cockle shell on the choppy waves. 
 This proved to be the Rev. Mr. Deck, to whom we were 
 introduced. We soon discovered that he and the " Squire " 
 were well acquainted. He was a medium, if anything under- 
 sized, wiry, weather-beaten, grey-haired, fussy old gentleman, 
 with a good shaped head and sharp features. He is Justice 
 of the Peace, doctor, and minister for the Island, and had pulled 
 round from a little bay where he lives, about three miles off, 
 to hold a court at the school-house, Half-Moon Bay. He 
 owns a pretty little cutter of about two tons, called the 
 " Foam," which we could see at anchor in the Bay. This he 
 uses to go about to the different settlements of Stewart Island, 
 the crew consisting of himself captain wife, mate, and a boy. 
 
 Having nothing else to do we attended the court a wooden 
 building of about 20 feet by 12 feet in extent, with a few plain 
 deal forms in it, a desk and a blackboard. Under the black- 
 board the Bench, consisting of Mr. Deck and the school- 
 master, a solemn, melancholy-looking individual, took their 
 seats. There were besides ourselves about a dozen lookers- 
 on hanging about the court. The only case was a summons 
 for debt. The defendant was ordered to pay 305. a month, 
 whereupon plaintiff bluntly said, "that's not enough; he 
 makes 10 a month." " Thirty shillings a month is the order of
 
 36 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 the court," said Mr. Deck. A difficulty then arose about 
 making out the order, the R. M. of the Island having gone 
 away, and taken all the forms with him. While the matter 
 was being discussed, a man put his head inside the door and 
 called out, "the tug's coming, sir." (The tug was the steamer 
 which calls at regular intervals from the mainland, and her 
 arrival is the excitement of life at Half-Moon Bay.) In a 
 minute the court was cleared of all but Bench, the policeman 
 and plaintiff. His worship got up and said, "as I want to 
 meet the steamer, I will adjourn the court, and we will settle 
 this matter afterwards." Thereupon the court adjourned, and 
 everybody went to the jetty to meet the steamer. 
 
 She was soon alongside a powerful little boat of about 150 
 tons. She landed the mails, a few stores, and two or three 
 passengers, one of them being a Dunedin gentleman with 
 whom I have a slight acquaintance. The steamer took some 
 freight on board in the shape of timber and wool, and again 
 steamed away after a stay of about half an hour. 
 
 It was now dinner time, and w r e all repaired to Thompson's, 
 where we found Mr. Deck and his wife, and the Dunedin 
 gentleman and a friend of his, who were going to stay a few 
 days at the establishment. The tough bull was again served 
 up as the piece de resistance, and seemed rather to nonplus the 
 Dunedin men. After dinner newspapers brought by the tug 
 were put upon the table. They were the first papers we had 
 seen since leaving the Bluff, and we read in one of them a 
 flourishing account of the departure of our party to the West 
 Coast in charge of Mr. R. Paulin, C.E. 
 
 About 3 p.m. Mr. Deck said to his wife, "it is time we 
 started, Kate ; so while you are getting ready, I will go and 
 get my yacht in trim." He then went on board with the boy 
 and got all ready for sailing, returned and fetched his wife, and 
 in a few minutes the "Foam" was gliding out of the harbour. 
 
 The heavy rain had been accompanied with a change of 
 wind, which, if it held, would suit us to a T. So we settled up 
 with Thompson, and our party, shouldering their swags, 
 marched down to the beach, and were taken on board the 
 " Rosa," the Dunedin gentleman and others wishing us luck as 
 they shook hands and said "good-bye." 
 
 It was the first night we had all slept on board, and four of 
 us found it a tight fit in the cabin, there being only two bunks 
 one could get a stretch in. The Captain went forward, and the
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 37 
 
 "Squire" took his bunk. I kept my own. "Martha" and 
 " Rameses" made up a shake-down, their heads and shoulders 
 being stowed away somewhere near the rudder case, and the 
 rest of their bodies and limbs supported by the top of the 
 stove, an empty case, and a gun case. 
 
 The next morning, the i8th, found it blowing hard from 
 the old quarter, but we determined to try and make Port 
 William at any rate, for that would be so much on our road. So 
 up anchor and away soon after daylight. It blew so furiously 
 though that, with close-reefed sail, it was all we could do to 
 make Horse-shoe Bay, and some of us were not at all sorry 
 when at n a.m. we dropped anchor in that snug little harbour, 
 and the men took up their quarters in the hut they had 
 previously occupied. 
 
 Thus a fortnight had passed and we were no further forward, 
 and so we decided to supplement our store of provisions. 
 Accordingly, in the afternoon, several others and myself walked 
 over to Thompson's at Half-Moon Bay, got what we wanted, 
 and carried the goods back to Horse-shoe Bay. The night 
 closed in with a heavy south-west gale, barometer 30-02, and 
 very cold. 
 
 The igth was a fine, summer-like day, but what wind there 
 was blew in a wrong direction, and as a heavy sea was running 
 outside, we did not attempt to continue the voyage. 
 
 I started the men sinking a shaft ; they went down about 
 eight feet, and came on granite in a decomposed state, but 
 found no mineral save a little white metal -native bismuth 
 probably.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AWAY FROM STORMY STEWART ISLAND. RAGGEDTY POINT. AN IRISH- 
 MAN'S SEA YARNS. PATSEY'S SLIDES. THE SOUTHERN OCEAN 
 SWELL. SEA-SICK VOYAGERS. AN ANXIOUS NIGHT. STRANDED 
 GOLD SEEKERS ON THE GREEN ISLETS. WE MAKE PUYSEGUR POINT. 
 PRESERVATION INLET. A PICTURESQUE COAST. CORMORANT 
 COVE. 
 
 THE next morning was what we wanted. Barometer 30-14, 
 weather fine, wind east, and light. So we started, hoping 
 that at last we should get away from stormy Stewart Island. 
 At 8 a.m. we slipped out of Horse-shoe Bay, passed the 
 entrance to Port William, just getting a glimpse of Deaf Dick's 
 house, and shaped our course for Puysegur Point on the 
 mainland. 
 
 The day w r as beautiful, with moderate south-east wind and 
 smooth sea, and we went comfortably along at about five knots 
 an hour. All hands w T ere on deck, lying about yarning, and 
 enjoying the warmth and sunshine and little motion. The 
 wind was so steady that the man at the wheel was the only one 
 who had anything to do. Till noon, by which time we had 
 progressed about 20 miles, we kept close to Stewart Island on 
 the left. A white mist rested on Mount Anglem, said to be the 
 sign of easterly weather. Away to the right and north the 
 Bluff Hill, about 20 miles distant, looked like an island, and in 
 the same direction snow-capped peaks could be seen in any 
 quantity, being the summits of various lofty ranges on the 
 mainland. We could see numerous little white sand coves and 
 bays dotting the Stewart Island coast some of them at a
 
 THE WILD WEST COAST. 39 
 
 distance standing out so distinct against the dark bush as to 
 have the appearance of sails. 
 
 Newton's Beach, about four miles from Port William, is said 
 to be haunted by Newton's ghost, and the Maories will not go 
 along it at dark. All I could learn about Newton was that a 
 man of that name once lived about that part of the world, 
 fishing, sealing, &c. About i p.m. we were nearly clear of 
 Stewart Island, and began to feel the heave of the Southern 
 Ocean. 
 
 As we left Stewart Island we passed close to Raggedty Point, 
 the most north-west point of the Island, and from which our 
 course to Puysegur Point was about west-north-west magnetic. 
 
 Raggedty Point is about the roughest piece of coast scenery 
 I have seen for some time. Here a series of granite needles 
 rise from the sea for a distance of several miles ; one might 
 fancy it the sunken jaw of some huge monster, with the sharp- 
 pointed teeth projecting above the ocean. At 4 p.m., as we 
 cleared Stewart Island, the swell from south grew heavier a 
 long, regular, rolling swell, so big as to prevent all view when 
 we were in its trough. No other land than Stewart Island was 
 now in sight, as a mist to the north shut out the mainland. 
 The breeze kept steady, and our little craft went on bravely, 
 climbing up and sliding down the huge green rollers, and at 
 4 p.m. we were within 24 miles of Puysegur Point, and could 
 see the mountains of the mainland looming in the distance. 
 Stewart Island looked like a fog bank on the horizon behind us, 
 being nearly 40 miles off. Nearly due south and about 12 
 miles distant, the Solander Islands showed clear and distinct. 
 These islands are two isolated masses of rock, several hundred 
 feet high (the largest one, I was told, was 6ooft.), bearing 
 south 24^ east, 30 miles from Puysegur Point. There is a 
 lighthouse on one of them. A New Zealand Government 
 steamer calls once every three months with provisions, &c. 
 and they are occasionally visited by parties of seal hunters. 
 
 The wind began to get light and shew signs of shifting as 
 evening came on, and we commenced to get a bit anxious lest 
 we should not weather the point before it shifted ; for, had it 
 come on to blow from the west, we should have had to run 
 again for Stewart Island or the Bluff. 
 
 At 6 p.m. we were about 12 miles off the mainland, and could 
 see the coast very well. A most univiting one it looked, with 
 its iron-bound rocks and huge mountain masses rising imme-
 
 40 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 diately behind, clothed with dark, thick bush for about 2,000 
 or 3,000 feet, and snow-covered peaks above that rising to 
 over 6,000 feet above sea level. 
 
 These form part of the Billow and Princess Mountain ranges, 
 in the vicinity of Lake Hauroto, which lake was explored and 
 surveyed at least the upper portion of it by George and 
 James Thompson and myself in 1882. 
 
 As the sun set the wind got lighter and lighter, heavy clouds 
 and masses of white mist rested on and hung about the moun- 
 tains, occasional showers of rain fell, and the southerly swell 
 was getting heavier. I had several times before been in this 
 part of the world in different steamers, and always found it 
 raining or snowing. 
 
 At nightfall we were beclamed about 12 miles from Puysegur 
 Point and four off the coast, with a tremendous swell from the 
 south setting us on shore, and our prospects looked a little 
 glum. 
 
 Patsey, the sailor, enlivened us with some tales. I would 
 back him against most for pitching a yarn. One was that 
 once he and another spent some weeks on the large Solander 
 Island, and finding time hang heavy on their hands they 
 amused themselves by sliding from the top of the highest peak 
 to the bottom on a piece of seaweed. 
 
 From the base to the summit of this peak is a vein of rock 
 which, seen from the cutter, looked smooth and shiny as though 
 it had been polished by friction. I noticed this while Patsey 
 was telling his yarn, and when he had finished I pointed to it 
 and said, " I quite believe you. I can see where you and 
 your seaweed have worn the rocks smooth, even from here." 
 Whereat there was a laugh, and as similar veins of rock were 
 afterwards observed about the sounds, they got the name of 
 Patsey's slides. 
 
 Another yarn ran thus : A man named Price once went to 
 the Solanders, meaning to help himself to a lot of seal skins 
 which he knew the Maories had stored there. Price thought 
 the Maories were away, and not likely to come back for some 
 time, but unfortunately for him, while he was helping himself, 
 the Maories returned and caught him. They smashed his 
 boat, took all the provisions and skins there were on the island, 
 including his, and left him to get on as best he could. But 
 Price was equal to the occasion. He killed some seals, which 
 furnished him with food, and, making a raft of the skins, sailed
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 41 
 
 to Price's Harbour on the mainland, where there is a Maori 
 settlement. Here he found a goodly store of seal skins, and 
 the Maories all away. Price was in luck this time. He took 
 all the skins and got clear away with them before the Maories 
 returned. 
 
 As night drew on apace we crept nearer and nearer to the 
 shore, looking in vain for Puysegur lighthouse light, which 
 Patsey, who was supposed to know the coast, said we were 
 bound to see until within a mile from the coast, when the land 
 would shut it in. The Captain, although he had not been 
 there before, did not think from the appearance of the coast, 
 as shewn by the chart, that this was the case ; and it turned 
 out afterwards that we needed to have been at least six miles 
 from the coast to have seen the light. 
 
 At midnight we were not more than a mile-and-a-half from 
 the shore, every roller giving us a lift nearer. The sea was 
 like glass, but the swell was tremendous, and its thunder as it 
 broke upon the rocks too loud to be pleasant. The cutter 
 would not answer her helm. We had the spanker set, and it 
 swept the deck from side to side as the cutter rolled and jumped 
 about in the swell. 
 
 All our party, myself excepted, were below, more or less 
 sick, one of them having a bucket fixed up in his bunk. I was 
 most of the time on deck discussing the situation with the 
 Captain, and we occasionally went below to consult the chart. 
 Though put out a bit at not seeing Puysegur light which, 
 according to Patsey, we ought to have seen from where we 
 supposed ourselves to be, the Captain had, as we found after- 
 wards, a correct notion of our position, and expressed his 
 opinion rather forcibly as to Patsey's information, inasmuch 
 as relying upon it, he had come nearer the shore than he meant 
 to do. 
 
 We were off one of the most treacherous parts of the New 
 Zealand coast, where it is never long without a gale or squall, 
 and always swept by strong and varying currents. 
 
 Not long ago a cutter was caught just where we were 
 becalmed, washed ashore by the swell, and ground to pieces in 
 a few minutes. It was not a cheerful look out, and one of the 
 sailors was in a funk. "Oh! Lord, isn't that awful," he kept 
 on saying, as the breakers sounded louder and louder. How- 
 ever, shortly after I a.m. a squall came up from the west, and the 
 " Rosa " was soon pushing along, with her stern to the shore
 
 42 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 and her nose nearly due south-half-west, as if she meant 
 business. It did not last long, but when it died out we were 
 out of danger from the surf and in a position to round Puysegur 
 Point should a blow from the south-west, of which there were 
 strong indications, come on. 
 
 The south-wester did come up at daylight, but only a fresh 
 breeze, and when the sun rose we were bowling along with a 
 fair wind almost round the wished for point. 
 
 Some dangerous-looking rocks off the mainland to the north- 
 west, about eight miles off, were pointed out as being Green 
 Islets boat harbour, where there is good shelter for boats. 
 From Puysegur Point, 10 miles west, to beyond the mouth of 
 the Waiau, 45 miles to the east of Green Islets, gold has been 
 found, sometimes in considerable quantities, along the beach 
 and at the mouth of the rivers by different parties of adven- 
 turous explorers. 
 
 The inaccessibility of the country and difficulty of obtaining 
 provisions has hitherto prevented more than short visits being 
 made to it, a few men going with a month or two's provi- 
 sions, and having to return as soon as their provisions were 
 exhausted. 
 
 I am of opinion that some day a considerable gold field will 
 be opened up in this district. I form this belief from what 
 men who have been there have told me, and from specimens of 
 gold brought by them. 
 
 A few weeks before we left the Bluff a party with provisions 
 for several months had started from the same port in a large 
 whale-boat. There were, I believe, five men, and they pro- 
 ceeded to Green Islets, and there landed, intending to spend 
 some months prospecting. We could see no sign of them, and 
 wondered if they could see us, as we heard afterwards they 
 did, and were wafching our movements with the utmost anxiety. 
 They tried unsuccessfully to attract our attention, for they had 
 met with disaster. They had not properly secured their boat, 
 and, leaving her too far down the beach, a violent storm 
 smashed her to pieces, with the result that they were left with 
 very little provisions and no means of getting away. Seeing 
 we kept on our course they hoped we were going into Preserva- 
 tion Inlet, and, starting oft, made their way with great difficulty 
 over a very rough country to the Inlet a distance in a straight 
 line of about 12 miles only to find we were not there. They 
 then made their way to the lighthouse and got provided for, 
 until a vessel calling there took them home.
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 43 
 
 At 8 a.m. we were just abreast of the lighthouse placed on 
 Puysegur Point, and soon got our first view of a West Coast 
 sound, as we opened up the entrance of the most southerly of 
 them named Preservation Inlet. 
 
 I can well imagine the mariner who named this sound after 
 fighting his way through one of the storms so common in these 
 seas, perhaps being nearly lost on the harbourless coast we 
 had just passed, and at last, finding himself in the perfect 
 shelter of the sound, naming it from the bottom of his heart 
 " Preservation Inlet." We had a good view up the sound as 
 we sailed across its entrance, which extends from Puyseger 
 Point on the south to Gulche's Head on the north, a distance 
 of about five miles. 
 
 The sound or inlet extends inland about 20 miles, having 
 various smaller arms branching from the main one, which is 
 called Long Sound. There are numerous islands about the 
 entrance, the largest of which Coal Island contains about 
 2,500 acres. It is so named from coal having been found on 
 it, but not as yet in any quantities. For about seven miles up 
 the sound is about five miles wide. After that, to its head, it 
 varies between one and two miles in width. The coastline is 
 picturesque and varied in the extreme. Both the main inlet 
 and its branches are hemmed in by steep mountains, covered 
 with dense forest, which almost everywhere take their rise 
 very abruptly from the water's edge, their peaks averaging 
 close on 4000 feet, some of them being more, and the forest 
 extending 3000 feet up their sides. The streams flowing from 
 them into the inlet are all more or less cascades and torrents. 
 
 Soundings taken about this inlet shew a depth of from 15 to 
 20 fathoms across the entrance and for two miles inward ; beyond 
 that to within a mile or two of the head about 50 fathoms is 
 the general depth, as much as go being met with in the vicinity 
 of Coal Island. The waters teem with fish, and the air with 
 sand-flies. This sound has, perhaps, had more explorers in it 
 than any of the others. A little gold has been found and a 
 few thin seams of coal. We did not go up the sound, but 
 could see a good deal of it as we sailed across its mouth. 
 
 A broken mountainous peninsula with peaks over 4,000 feet 
 high, 15 miles long and 5 wide at its greatest width, and 
 connected with the mainland by a hilly ridge about 2,000 yards 
 across, separates Preservation Inlet from Chalky or Dark 
 Inlet. The mouth of Chalky Inlet extends from Gulche's
 
 44 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 Head to Cape Providence, a distance of about seven miles. 
 A large island of chalk, called Chalky Island, lies right in the 
 centre of the entrance to the inlet. Close to the north of it is 
 another island called Passage Island, a 2o-fathom channel 
 intervening. This channel is about half-a-mile wide. At 
 about 10 miles from the entrance the sound divides into two 
 branches, one called Canaris Sound, and another to the north 
 of it called Edwardsoh's Sound ; Canaris being about five and 
 Edwardson's seven miles in length. The shores of this sound 
 and its branches are not so indented as those of Preservation 
 Inlet. It is much broader and very deep at the entrance. 
 Between Gulche's Head and Cape Providence the depth 
 averages about 20 fathoms, and that increases on proceeding 
 up the inlet. Inside Chalky Island, almost up to the head of 
 the water, the depths vary from 50 to 150 fathoms. We passed 
 close to Chalky Island, its white stratified cliffs having a fine 
 appearance, and, with a fresh fair breeze and big following 
 swell, were soon round Cape Providence and running up to 
 Dusky Sound. 
 
 The panorama as we sailed past Preservation and Chalky 
 Inlets was very fine. The deep blue inlets penetrating the 
 gloomy, wall-like mountains, snow peaks in the distance, the 
 white mass of Chalky Island in the foreground, and the bright 
 sunshine sparkling on the rippling waters around about us 
 all combined to produce a grand, pleasing, and most enjoyable 
 picture, across which we glided in comfort and delight. 
 
 All on board were on deck and well, save M. and the 
 " Squire," the latter still being in his bunk with a bucket. 
 The Captain, who had been on deck until we were safe round 
 Puysegur Point, a stretch of twenty-four hours, was also now 
 having a sleep in the forehold. Tom, the Dane, was at the 
 helm ; the rest, mostly sitting or lying, were scattered over the 
 deck, chatting about the scenery and discussing last night's 
 experiences. Patsey, too, occasionally came in with some of 
 his yarns, at which everyone laughed and no one believed. A 
 year previously he and three others had, he said, gone to the 
 West Coast in a whale-boat, landed on a beach near Milford 
 Sound, and got 85 ozs. of gold in a couple of months. Then 
 they had a row and separated, Patsey and one man sticking 
 to the boat and making their way down to the Bluff, where 
 their gold did not trouble them long. Poor, improvident Patsey 
 is at present carrying about all his worldly possessions on his
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 45 
 
 back. The other two men made their way over to Martin's 
 Bay Settlement. Patsey disposed of the boat to the party we 
 have already mentioned. They took it to Green Islets, where 
 it was smashed to pieces. 
 
 This was Sunday morning, and I went below for a bit, and 
 read the ngth Psalm from my wife's Bible. As I read, I 
 suppose I must have dozed off, for I distinctly seemed to hear 
 the sound of an organ and the voices of a congregation repeat- 
 ing alternate verses; yet, at the same time, I knew I was sitting 
 rather uncomfortable and cold in the old, damp, dark, small, 
 not very clean cabin of the " Rosa," as she drove along over a 
 heavy following swell off Preservation Inlet sitting on the 
 starboard side, while the "Squire," past speech,, lay on the 
 bunk opposite me. 
 
 The appearance presented from the sea by the sound district 
 so far seemed this the land seems at first to rise at a uniform 
 grade, then comes a valley, and then abrupt mountains. At 
 2 p.m. we were entering Dusky Sound, the water getting 
 smoother every minute, and the scenery superb and improving 
 as we advanced from the sea. 
 
 Dusky Sound has one long arm running due east for nearly 
 twenty-five miles. This arm is about three miles wide for 
 nearly the whole length. It is nearly divided into two by a 
 series of islands, which are almost continuous, the two largest 
 being called Long Island and Cooper Island. Long Island is 
 about seven miles long and one across, while Cooper Island 
 has a length of some five miles and a width of about two. 
 
 These Islands extend up the middle of the sound from the 
 sea to its head. They are mountainous, forest-clad, and 
 extremely picturesque. At a point about ten miles from the 
 head of this arm, another arm branches off, and extends 
 nearly due north for about twelve miles, when it enters Break- 
 sea Sound ; while about half way up it yet another inlet, called 
 Wet-Jacket Arm, branches to the east for a distance of seven 
 miles. The arm connecting Dusky Sound with Breaksea Sound 
 makes the land to the west of it an island. This island is 
 called Resolution Island, and is about 10 miles by seven in 
 extent, besides having attached to its north-west corner a 
 long, narrow peninsula, nine miles long and two wide, extending 
 in a south-westerly direction. This peninsula goes by the 
 name of Five Fingers, and the basin between it and the main- 
 land of Resolution Island is called Five-fingered Inlet.
 
 46 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 The entrance to Dusky Sound is about five miles across, 
 extending from South Point on the mainland to Five-fingered 
 Point on Resolution Island. It is studded with islands, the 
 largest of which Anchor Island is about four miles by one, 
 forest clad, and having hills between one and two thousand feet 
 in altitude. There is also a small lake on this island. 
 
 We sailed round the west of Anchor Island, and proceeded 
 up Five-fingered Inlet, keeping about half-a-mile off the shore 
 of Five-fingered Peninsula, our destination being Cormorant 
 Cove, a little bay on the mainland of Resolution Island near 
 the head of the Inlet. 
 
 Very beautiful was that Sunday afternoon, as with our sails 
 stretched before the breeze which followed us in from the 
 sea, we sped over the blue waters of the inlet, the swell getting 
 less and less till it became imperceptible. Numerous penguins 
 were seen standing on the rocks which everywhere lined the 
 shore, and heard calling with harsh notes from numerous caves 
 and holes. Gulls, ducks, cormorants and divers were flying 
 and swimming about in all directions. To the left rose the 
 forest-clad heights of Five-finger Peninsula; in front of us 
 mountainous Resolution Island, some of its peaks reaching 
 4,000 feet, towered majestically out of the waters ; while to 
 the right and behind us stretched an ocean studded with 
 picturesque, hilly, wood-covered islands and rocky peaks. 
 Behind all stood out in bold relief a range of huge bush-clad 
 mountains, many of the higher peaks clothed in a mantle of 
 eternal snow. 
 
 Over the deep blue water just rippled by the breeze, past 
 fairy-like, rocky, and densely-wooded islands, under the shadow, 
 as it were, of overhanging and magnificently-timbered moun- 
 tains, we bowled along, and at 4 p.m. dropped anchor in Cor- 
 morant Cove in about 10 fathoms of water. It was a truly 
 beautiful spot, completely shut in by lofty hills with mountains 
 behind them. Many cataracts could be seen and more heard, 
 those in the distance having the appearance of silver streaks 
 tumbling over steep rocks and winding through the dark forest. 
 The sound of falling waters blended pleasantly with the trilling 
 of the land songsters and the harsher notes of the feathered 
 denizens of the deep.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EXPLORING COMORANT COVE. A MAJESTIC SCENE. PROSPECTING AT 
 HEN COVE. TOM THE SAILOR'S ADVENTURES WITH A GUN. AN 
 UNSUCCESSFUL SPORTSMAN. THE FEATHERED SONGSTERS OF THE 
 NEW ZEALAND SOUNDS. DEPARTURE FROM CORMORANT COVE. 
 THE "ROSA" BECALMED. AN ENCHANTING ARCHIPELAGO. A 
 WELCOME BREEZE. THE ANCHORAGE IN DUCK COVE. 
 
 THE soundings between South and Five-fingered Points 
 run between 50 and 60 fathoms, and in Five-fingered 
 Inlet between 20 and 70. Up the main arm they average about 
 55 fathoms, but for three or four miles off the south of Resolu- 
 tion Island depths of from 100 to 162 fathoms are met with. 
 Up the North Arm they vary between 50 and 100, and in 
 \Yet-Jacket Arm from 27 to 112. 
 
 It being a fine evening, as soon as the anchor was down and 
 the sails furled, both the whale-boat and dingy were lowered 
 and the cutter deserted. I went in the whale-boat with most 
 of our party, and pulled about three miles to the head of the 
 cove, where we found a torrent pouring into the cove through 
 a steep gorge. 
 
 The scenery here beggars description ; it must be seen to be 
 properly appreciated. The wind had died away, and the water 
 into which we dipped our oars was like a sheet of glass ; 
 and the beautiful picture formed by forest-clad mountains and 
 islands, cascades and rocky, snow-flecked, sun-gilded peaks 
 was mirrored with a softer, even more bewitching beauty in 
 the still surface of the deep. Stately black swans, many of 
 them with cygnets, ducks, teal, divers, and gulls were gliding 
 about or floating, shadow-haunted, on the blue waters ; while
 
 48 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 on shore colonies of penguins sat bolt upright among the rocks 
 and roots of trees near to the water's edge, calling to each 
 other, and seeming to screech defiance to the intruders. About 
 half-a-mile away I see the Captain and his men approaching a 
 group of swans. Puff, bang ! and a loud report goes echoing 
 over the still waters and away up the mountain sides, followed 
 by a tremendous splashing of birds' wings, as, in all directions, 
 the feathered denizens of this majestic and usually silent region 
 rise from the water, filling the air with their notes of alarm. 
 The heavy black swans strike the water violently two or three 
 times, and then getting into motion, sail not ungracefully 
 away all save one, whose wing is broken, and who is soon 
 rowed down and secured by the Captain. We go slowly 
 along, keeping close to the shore, and find a swan's nest con- 
 taining four fresh eggs. This pleases the " Squire " greatly, 
 and he loses no time in appropriating them. He blew two for 
 his collection, a step some of us rather regretted afterwards, 
 when we found the remaining eggs to be remarkably good 
 eating. We see several fish swimming about, some of them 
 being groper, or hapuka as the Maories call them. They are 
 a voracious, coarse-fleshed fish, sometimes weighing close on 
 100 Ibs. They do not resemble any English fish of which I 
 am aware. They are something like cod, but deeper from the 
 belly to the back, in proportion to their length, and not nearly 
 so good eating. Their flesh is white, very firm and insipid. 
 Groper cutlets (the best way of cooking them) are tolerable 
 with good sauce when one is hungry and has not tasted fish 
 for some time. 
 
 It was sunset as we rowed back to the cutter, the last rays 
 of the sun tinting the sky and lofty peaks of the mountains that 
 enveloped us with glorious colours. The gorgeous scenery 
 around us was perfectly reflected in those clear blue depths, 
 and as our oars dipped and we sped onward we seemed to glide 
 over the polished surface of some marvellous painting. It was 
 getting dusk when we got on board, and as the light of a 
 beautiful sunset died away, bright stars shone over the dark 
 mountains from out Heaven's unclouded canopy. The screech 
 of the kakapo (big ground parrot) and the penguin, the 
 whistle of the kiwi (wingless night bird) and the kaka, the 
 wailing weird cry of the weka (Maori or wood hen), and the 
 hushed murmur of many waterfalls all mingled in a delightful 
 musical babel which was in full chorus when we turned into
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 49 
 
 our bunks. And so ended our first day in the Sounds of 
 New Zealand. 
 
 The 22nd was a very fine morning, with a cloudless sky and 
 no wind, and, again manning the two boats, all hands left the 
 cutter at 7 a.m., and proceeded to the head of the Five- 
 fingered Inlet. We in the whale-boat easily rowed away from 
 the dingy. We had Jack, the big retreiver, with us, and also 
 little Fan, who had taken a fancy to me and would follow no 
 one else. 
 
 The weather was glorious and the superb scenery, the tem- 
 perature being between 60 and 70. The hot, bright sunlight 
 made everything cheerful. The water was like a mirror, re- 
 flecting the bright sky and lofty hills and mountains to perfec- 
 tion, its surface dotted as on the previous day with black 
 swans, gulls, ducks, cormorants, penguins, and divers. We 
 were soon out of sight of the cutter, and, emerging from the 
 snug little cove, proceeded up the inlet here about two miles 
 wide and distant four miles from the head. A slight swell 
 from the sea was perceptible, and could be seen breaking on 
 the shore of Five-fingered Peninsula. 
 
 When we were yet three miles from the head and about one 
 from the nearest point on shore, one of our party aimed a gun 
 at a bird, whereupon Jack the dog, who has a mortal dread of 
 guns, sprang overboard and made for land. It was useless 
 calling him back and I declined to go after him, as I knew, 
 from what I had seen of his swimming powers, he would make 
 the land easily enough. So we pulled on, and soon could only 
 just make out the ripple caused by Master Jack as he made 
 for a point about three miles below our destination. 
 
 As we progressed, the mountains on either side assumed the 
 appearance of cliffs which had been rent asunder, leaving a 
 rift between them about a mile wide; the sea flowing through 
 this rift transformed Five-fingered Peninsula into an island. 
 In the middle of the rift is an accumulation of sand and timber, 
 raised a few feet above high water mark, about half-a-mile 
 across, and joining the Peninsula to Resolution Island. About 
 two miles from the head we began to see the bottom, and at 
 about a mile found ourselves in shallow water, passing over a 
 mud flat strewn with sunken snags. As it was high water, we 
 concluded that at low water the flat would be bare. We found 
 the head of the inlet low and swampy, and we had to wade 
 from our boat to firm ground. This flat is covered with low 
 
 E
 
 50 THE^WILD WEST COAST 
 
 bush, flax and Maori heads, and having secured the boat, we 
 started to make our way across to Hen Cove, being well 
 provided with picks, shovels, axes, slashers, and prospecting 
 dishes. The slashers are like small bill-hooks on one side and 
 a chopper on the other, and are very useful for cutting through 
 the dense undergrowth of creepers, vines, and ferns so common 
 in the New Zealand bush, especially on the West Coast. We 
 made our way through the scrub for about half-a-mile, and then 
 arrived at the head of Hen Cove. 
 
 Hen Cove is a small inlet from the sea about two miles long 
 and three-quarters wide. It has evidently been joined to Five- 
 fingered Inlet, the passage having been blocked by the 
 accumulation of drift forming the flat we had just crossed. 
 Emerging from the bush, we found ourselves on an enormous 
 pile of drift timber some of it wreckage extending right 
 across the head of the cove, and about 50 yards deep. The sea 
 comes close up to it at high water, and, I have no doubt, washes 
 among it during storms. Scrambling across this drift we got 
 on firm, hard sand, which, however, did not extend down 
 either side of the coVe. At low water there is about a quarter 
 of a mile of sand, bare at the head, but below that, on each side, 
 the mountains descend almost precipitously into the sea. 
 
 Everyone was soon busy with pick and shovel, some going 
 one side of the cove and some the other, sinking holes, 
 scraping rocks, and washing out stuff in the dishes. As far as 
 I could see, a uniform granite formation everywhere prevailed ; 
 but where the surface is so covered with carpets of forest, bush, 
 and fern, it is difficult to form an opinion of what the formation 
 really is. There were no signs of slates or schist. There were, 
 however, a few small fragments of marble, and numerous veins 
 of quartz and quartz fragments about the rocks. We did not find 
 a trace of gold, but came across one small piece of galena, and 
 large quantities of what I believe to be almandite, a variety of 
 garnet composed of silicate of aluminium and iron. Most of 
 it had a brownish red appearance, rather opaque ; but a little 
 was fine transparent red, having almost the appearance of 
 precious garnet. We also found much mica, and a good deal 
 of iron pyrites. 
 
 At about 5 p.m. we knocked off work, and returned to the 
 head of Five-fingered Inlet. The tide was out, and a good 
 mile of soft mud intervened between our boats and the water, 
 save for a little creek which coursed in a zig-zag direction
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 51 
 
 down the middle of the flat, and which, 400 yards away, was 
 deep enough to float the dingy. We also found Jack the dog 
 asleep in the whale-boat. He must have had a hard scramble 
 from where he landed to have reached the boat, and, indeed, 
 seemed quite knocked up. 
 
 The Captain," Martha," M., "Rameses" and myself carried 
 the dingy over the mud for 400 yards, till the creek was deep 
 enough to float her. We went up to our ankles in the yielding 
 mud at almost every step we took, and often deeper. Having 
 accomplished our task, "Rameses" and I returned to the 
 whale-boat to wait for the turn of the tide. The occupants of 
 the dingy, however, started on their return journey to the 
 cutter. 
 
 It was now about 5.30 p.m., and as there was no chance of 
 the whale-boat being afloat before 7 p.m., I made my way back 
 to Hen Cove, the sand-flies annoying us terribly about the boat, 
 where the Danes were washing. These insect pests, however, 
 proved to be quite as troublesome at the cove, where Patsey 
 and Tom the sailor had remained. Tom was trying to shoot 
 Maori hens, while Patsey made a fire and tried to snare 
 some, which would have been welcome, for we had eaten 
 nothing since morning. Although there were any quantity of 
 both black and brown ones hopping about the piled-up drift 
 wood, all our efforts to catch them failed, so we gave up trying, 
 and smoked and yarned by the fire, standing in as much of the 
 smoke as we could bear to keep off the clouds of sand-flies. 
 Presently we were joined by the "Squire," who had been for 
 some hours away looking for something to kill with his walking- 
 stick gun. He had not had much success. 
 
 We were much amused watching Tom the sailor, who, with 
 an old fowling piece, was blazing away at everything without 
 any material result. I do not think there was a mortality 
 of 20 per cent, from his discharges. He was doing his best to 
 shoot a Maori hen, of which there were numbers pecking about 
 the drift timber. They would let him get to within a few feet 
 of them, for they are very tame, especially in out-of-the-way 
 places. I have thrown stones at them and hit them, and even 
 then they would only run a few steps and come back again. 
 We saw Tom crawl to within a few feet of one, take aim and 
 fire. The hen looked at him, and quietly moved a step or two 
 further along the dead log she was on. Tom loads, gets into 
 position a little nearer than before, and fires again. The hen,
 
 52 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 unhurt, walks slowly away, and disappears among the drift 
 timber. Tom gave it up and came back to the fire. He 
 laughed at his non-success, and said that a hen was looking 
 down the barrel once when he fired, and yet he missed her. 
 
 We stayed by the fire till nearly 7 o'clock, the "Squire" 
 wearing a coloured handkerchief round his head to keep the 
 flies off. We then returned to the whale-boat, and the tide 
 being in, started off for our floating home. I steered, and we 
 had a most enjoyable row to the cutter, for it was another 
 glorious, calm evening, and swans, grey, blue and paradise 
 ducks, cormorants, gulls, divers, &c., were disporting them- 
 selves on the glassy water, made like a sea of molten gold by 
 the reflection of the setting sun. As we got down the inlet 
 and crossed over to Cormorant Cove, there was a gentle swell 
 from the far-off ocean which could be felt and no more, and 
 just heard as it broke in murmuring wavelets on the rocks of 
 Five-fingered Peninsula. Numerous penguins lined the shore 
 close to the water's edge, and their harsh notes were to be 
 heard at intervals breaking on the silence of the night. It was 
 dusk when we reached the cutter a little tired and very hungry. 
 
 The 23rd was calm, clear, hot. We weighed anchor at 
 8 a.m., and rowed the cutter out of romantic Cormorant Cove. 
 Lovely it is, with a beauty that surpasses even the scenery at 
 the head of Ulswater. The water here was only half salt, a 
 fact to be accounted for by the numerous cataracts and torrents 
 pouring in from the surrounding mountains. We always found 
 this to be the case at or near the heads of the inlets. In some 
 instances the water was quite fresh, and there was always a 
 downward current perceptible. Slowly we drew out of the 
 cove, and headed down the inlet. 
 
 Beautiful and enchanting, indeed, was the last view we had 
 of the cove the little harbour smooth as a mill-pond, a blue 
 sapphire gem resting at the base of a stupendous emerald 
 casket. The bush on the hills and mountains consisted chiefly 
 of birch, with a good sprinkling of pines (chiefly the handsome- 
 foliaged remu or red pine), iron-wood, kewai, and tree-ferns, 
 with the usual undergrowth of ferns, supple-jacks, moss, and 
 vines. The birch, the chief timber of the West Coast as far as 
 quantity goes, is a very fine tree. There are several varieties 
 of it namely, the red, black, and white birch. Of these, the 
 black is the best timber. Seen from a distance, they all have 
 much the same appearance. The foliage is a small, round 
 leaf, with a bright lustre, which, when the sunlight catches it, 
 has a very pleasing effect.
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 53 
 
 The bush teems with feathered songsters notably the tui, 
 bell-bird and robin. The robin, I think, may be called the 
 most accomplished singer, for the other birds, though very 
 musical, possess far fewer notes, and do not sustain their efforts 
 at melody nearly so long as the robin. The tui is about as 
 big as the blackbird, quite black, with projecting white 
 feathers under its throat, which gives it the appearance of 
 wearing a tie. It is sometimes called the parson bird on that 
 account. The robin is just like an English robin, only that it 
 has a brownish-black body and white breast. The bell-bird 
 has a most musical bell-like note ; it is a little smaller than a 
 thrush, with a longish beak. Small yellow canaries were 
 numerous ; they are sometimes to be seen in large flocks, 
 chattering like sparrows. This is always considered a sure 
 sign of rain. Native crows were also numerous ; they are more 
 like magpies than crows in shape, are black in colour, about as 
 big as a moorhen, and have long legs and yellow wattles. 
 They do not fly, but hop to a great distance. 
 
 We made but slow progress down the inlet. For one thing 
 we had no proper sweeps, and were compelled to fall back 
 upon the whale-boat oars a poor substitute. About 10 a.m. 
 the water began to be ruffled with catspaws, and accordingly 
 we took in the oars and drifted along with all sail set. We 
 thought at one time we were in for a fine breeze, but it never 
 once got beyond the light puff stage. Sometimes our sails 
 would fill, and we would hear the welcome ripple as the cutter 
 began to move ; but it soon ceased, and we would again be 
 becalmed. 
 
 However, the marvellous beauty of the scenery made me, 
 for one, quite reconciled to our slow progress. \Ve were steal- 
 ing through the most beautiful archipelago imaginable. The 
 deep blue water was studded with islands and islets too numerous 
 to count all of them rocky, forest-clad and picturesque in the 
 extreme ; many of them mountainous, and varying in size from 
 three miles across to rocks just projecting above the water. The 
 whole picture, except between south-west and north-west, was 
 set in a frame of majestic mountains covered with luxuriant 
 foliage, and capped with snow-covered peaks, and, above all, 
 the bluest of skies imaginable. We passed between Pigeon 
 and Parrot Islands, and then between Anchor and Resolution 
 Islands, and eventually found ourselves in the main arm of the 
 sound.
 
 54 THE WILD WEST COAST. 
 
 Parrot and Pigeon Islands are both lofty and clothed with 
 forest growth. The former contains about 300 and the latter 
 600 acres. Anchor Island is about four miles long and half-a- 
 mile wide, its highest point being about 1,400 feet above sea 
 level. There is also a lake about three-quarters of a mile long 
 in the centre of the island. 
 
 I may here mention that yesterday, returning to the cutter 
 from the head of the inlet, the party in the dingy saw the 
 ruins of a hut in the bush, some distance from the water. They 
 landed and inspected it. In it they found 60 Ibs. of beeswax, 
 a bible, dictionary, a book on surveying, logs, mathematical 
 instruments, stuffed birds and skins, glass eyes, tea and flour, 
 all save the eyes much damaged by the weather and rats. 
 This hut is supposed to have been occupied by a man named 
 Wheeler, who went about collecting bird's skins. He dis- 
 appeared, and all efforts to trace him failed ; it is commonly 
 supposed he met an untimely end. They brought away the 
 instruments, wax, and glass eyes, and I wished they had 
 brought the books, but did not hear of it till it was too late. 
 
 It was now i p.m. Hitherto the day had been almost calm 
 and the sun so hot that the pitch on deck melted in the seams ; 
 but just as we emerged into the main arm we encountered a 
 breeze from the sea so strong that we 'had to reef sails, and 
 then scudding along at a merry pace for about three miles, 
 finally entered a snug little harbour, called Duck Cove, on the 
 south coast of Resolution Island. 
 
 When fairly into the cove it was quite calm. We could see 
 the waters of the main arm we had just left lashed white with 
 the wind, while we had hardly enough to take us to our anchor- 
 age. Our progress was rather jerky, for at one time we would 
 be quite becalmed and almost stop ; then a puff of wind would 
 come whirling down the mountain side, filling our sails with a 
 bang, and off we would start. The puff would be over in a 
 minute, and then we would gradually come almost to a stand- 
 still until another puff started us off again. We proceeded in 
 this fashion for about two miles, and at 2 p.m. came to an anchor- 
 age at the head of the cove, opposite to, and about 200 yards 
 from the mouth of a small river.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ANOTHER TRIP ASHORE. THE DEADLY TUTU PLANT. FURTHER PRO- 
 SPECTING FAILURES. REMAINS OF AN EARLY NAVIGATOR. THE 
 OLD WRECK IN FACILE HARBOUR. THE TRADITIONS CONCERNING 
 IT. PHENOMENAL OLD AGE, A MAORI LEGEND. THE CAVE OF THE 
 DEAD ON ANCHOR ISLAND. MAORI SUPERSTITION. 
 
 BOATS were at once lowered, and all hands went ashore. 
 The Danes started washing and baking, the baking being 
 done in what is called a camp oven, a circular iron vessel, 
 about 6 inches deep, and sometimes 14 across, provided with 
 a close-fitting lid and a loose handle attached to the oven. 
 We generally baked by hanging the oven over the fire by the 
 handle, and covering the lid with hot ashes. The rest of us 
 went prospecting. 
 
 Duck Cove is an indentation on the south of Resolution 
 Island, extending about two-and-a-half miles. It at one time 
 evidently extended much further, but the debris brought down 
 from the surrounding mountains has filled the upper portion of 
 it. This filling-up process is going on in all the sounds. At 
 their heads are level, swampy flats, evidently deposited by 
 floods ; and I saw on several occasions what had been islands, 
 now joined to other islands and the mainland by level alluvial 
 deposits. The river which flows into the head of Duck Cove 
 rises in the heart of Resolution Island, and is about six miles 
 long. Its whole course is between steep forest-clad mountains, 
 from 3,000 to 4,000 feet high. In ascending this river we 
 found its bed to be composed of hard mountain gneiss, impreg-
 
 56 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 nated with hornblende and garnet and numerous quartz veins, 
 some of the latter shewing a little galena. We landed near the 
 mouth of the river, and found ourselves on a level alluvial 
 deposit composed of sand, peat, boulders, and timber. This 
 deposit had filled up the gorge, here about three-quarters of a 
 mile wide, and extending inland some two or three miles. It 
 is covered with timber and bush, and a dense undergrowth of 
 ferns and creepers. This undergrowth, intermixed as it was 
 with large quantities of fallen and decayed timber, made 
 progress through it very slow ; the explorer having, in fact, to 
 carve his way with the help of his slasher. The timber was 
 much the same as previously described, with large quantities 
 of tutu (pronounced tute), and fuchsia. 
 
 The tutu, a poisonous bush, is common all over New Zea- 
 land. It has strong light stems, generally about eight feet 
 high, sometimes much less, but on the West Coast much more, 
 20 and 30 feet being met with. The berries, which grow in 
 clusters, are reddish brown in colour, juicy, and have a tempt- 
 ing appearance when ripe. Cattle, horses, and sheep are 
 sometimes killed by eating the shoots, going mad, and dying in 
 convulsions. However, stock brought up among tutu do not 
 seem to be injured by it. I know many places in New Zea- 
 land where there is any quantity of tutu, and yet the stock 
 feeding about get no harm from the plant. There have been 
 several cases of children being poisoned through eating the 
 berries, yet, if the berries are put in a piece of muslin and 
 sucked, no harm will result. 
 
 The fuchsia is everywhere to be found in New Zealand, 
 wherever, in fact, there is any bush. It grows to the propor- 
 tions of a respectably sized tree. I have seen fuchsia trunks 
 two feet in diameter. It has a light brown fibrous bark, which 
 is constantly being shed in large strips, giving the trunk and 
 branches of the tree a ragged appearance. I have an idea this 
 bark might be utilised for commerce. The flower has green calyx 
 and pinkish green petals. The berries are about an inch long, 
 in shape like a date stone, soft, pulpy, and juicy, of a reddish 
 brown colour w r hen ripe ; rather nice, and said to be harmless. 
 I, however, doubt if they are, at least if eaten in large quanti- 
 ties, inasmuch as one hot day in summer, when I was making 
 a survey and superintending the cutting of a line through the 
 bush along a hillside, both my assistant and myself got very 
 thirsty, and being unable to find any water and there being
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 57 
 
 plenty of fuchsia trees about with ripe berries on, we ate a 
 considerable quantity. That same evening and part of the 
 next day we both felt a heavy sensation in the head, accom- 
 panied with slight fever, caused, I have not the slightest doubt, 
 by our partaking of the berries. 
 
 M. told me the following story about the tutu : Once an 
 elephant belonging to a menagerie camped near the Waitake 
 River, in Canterbury, was turned out in a paddock by the river 
 side to amuse himself. There were numerous clumps of tutu 
 about, and the elephant tore up large armfuls with his trunk 
 and devoured them. Someone saw what he was at, and went 
 and told the proprietor, warning him of the danger to which 
 the elephant was exposed. The proprietor rushed o*t to bring 
 him away, but it was too late. When he approached the 
 animal the poison had already commenced to work, and the 
 gigantic beast, lifting his trunk, let off a series of terrific 
 trumpet-blasts. Next, he began to dance and spin round in a 
 marvellous manner, and, finally, he charged into the river, 
 where, after lashing the water furiously and trumpeting for a 
 few minutes, he spun round again several times and dropped 
 dead. 
 
 Our prospecting was carried on, as usual, with pick, shovel, 
 and dish. We found no gold, but large masses of what 
 "Dana," in his "Text-book of Mineralogy," calls " Avanturine 
 Quartz," spangled with scales of mica. We also discovered a 
 few pieces of white quartz, with small specs of very soft 
 malleable white metal. 
 
 We returned to the cutter at sunset. Our Danes had once 
 more proved their utter ignorance of the most elementary know- 
 ledge of baking by producing a dreadful, solid, damp substance, 
 in the preparation of which they had consumed an enormous 
 amount of flour. Such as it was, we ate it, making our 
 evening meal off it and tinned meat, which we washed down 
 with some excellent tea. 
 
 As the day passed away, we had from the deck of our little 
 cutter a magnificent, romantic panorama. To the north and 
 looking up the cove we saw a deep gorge between steep, 
 wall-like mountains, clothed with dense bush and forest, and 
 looking almost black in the evening light. At the head of the 
 gorge rose several peaks, more than 4,000 feet above the sea 
 level, and for 2,000 feet above the bush line covered with 
 yellow tussock grass. The rays of the setting sun falling on
 
 58 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 these yellow, grass-encumbered peaks, made them look like 
 burnished copper, and they stood out in extraordinary contrast 
 to the dark, sombre depths of the gorge below. Forest-clad, 
 massive mountains, rising to the height of about 3,000 feet, 
 with a quarter of a mile of water intervening, barred further 
 view to the east and west. To the south, gazing down the 
 cove, was a glimpse of the main sound, here about two-and-a- 
 quarter miles broad. 
 
 There was a gale blowing up the sound, and its waters 
 could be seen, dark and angry-looking, flecked with foam from 
 the cresting waves. Then came the wooded hills of Long 
 Island, and, towering above and beyond, the mighty mountain 
 masses of the mainland, their peaks attaining in places an 
 elevation of 6,000 feet, but utterly devoid of vegetation above 
 the bush line 3,000 feet. These peaks appeared to be hard 
 granite rock, with quartz veins showing here and there. On 
 the face of one of these mountains was a mass of white material 
 shaped like a mare's tail. It seemed to break out from the 
 mountain-side about 2,000 feet above sea level, and then to 
 flow for several hundred feet down through the bush without 
 vegetation of any kind on its surface. From the distance it 
 looked not unlike a huge cataract. Some said it was water, 
 but the glass showed it to be a fixed body ; it was, perhaps, 
 mud, maybe, decomposed quartz or felspar. We could hear 
 the waves breaking in the open sound and the wind roaring 
 round the mountain sides ; but save for an occasional gust, 
 which made our little craft sway at her anchor and which 
 passed as quickly as it came, and for a slight swell, which we 
 scarcely felt but could hear surging on the beach close to us, 
 we were perfectly still. The night turned very dark, so that 
 the faintest outline of the mountains could not now be distin- 
 guished ; but through the darkness occasionally came the call 
 of the wood hen and the kiwi. 
 
 Dusky Sound has, from time to time, during the last hundred 
 years and more, been a harbour of refuge for whalers and 
 storm-tossed mariners. Captain Cook stayed here some time, 
 and grew vegetables for his crew with the object of curing 
 them of scurvy, which, at the time, was making ravages 
 amongst them. Evidences of the bush having been cleared 
 can still be traced in places, and these clearances are said to 
 have been made by the great navigator. He reports that some 
 of his men, when staying here, saw a long, low-bodied, brown-
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 59 
 
 coloured animal with a bushy tail, in the bush ; it is generally 
 supposed to have been an error on the part of Cook. Recently, 
 however, Bishop Neville, of Dunedin, gave an account of a 
 long-backed, bushy-tailed animal seen near one of the inland 
 lakes, and two men assert that they shot an animal like an 
 otter on Lake Hauroto. Another individual, I hear, reported 
 seeing a long-backed, thick-tailed animal by the side of the 
 Pyke River, near Big Bay in 1886; and, a year later, I myself 
 saw clear tracks of an animal in the sand, by one of the tribu- 
 taries of the Pyke, which were certainly not made by dog, cat, 
 bird or rat. There are also Maori traditions of an animal like 
 a beaver on the West Coast, so that, perhaps, Cook was right 
 after all. 
 
 Not long ago, a coffin was found containing a skeleton, with 
 some remnants of clothes about it, and a pig-tail on the skull. 
 So far as could be judged, the clothes and pig-tail were similar 
 to those worn by officers in the days of Cook. What gives 
 additional strength to this theory is that near the coffin were 
 found an old flint musket and an axe. 
 
 In Facile Harbour, a snug little shelter on Revolution Island, 
 near Cormorant Cove, can be seen an old sunken ship. She 
 is about 1 80 feet long, copper-bottomed, rests on her keel, and 
 a portion of her deck could be seen at low water projecting 
 above the surface. There is much speculation as to what ahe 
 was. 
 
 Pat, of course, was able to supply us with a tradition con- 
 cerning the ill-fated craft, for he has spent many years sealing 
 and knocking about these sounds, and few men living know 
 more about them, or have heard more of their traditions. Pat 
 can pitch a twister, for fun, with anybody, but I have always 
 found his statements as to places and events reliable ; and I 
 believe that his version of the derelict ship is as likely to be 
 true as any other. 
 
 The ship, according to this Irish authority, was an East 
 Indiaman, called the " Endymion," which put into Facile 
 Harbour in a sinking condition. The exact date of the 
 " Endymion's " arrival is uncertain; but an old Maori named 
 Soloman, who lives at Riverton, in Southland, New Zealand, 
 says that when he was a boy he was in Facile Harbour with 
 his father when the " Endymion " arrived. 
 
 Now, the Maories are said to live to a great age, and it is 
 hard to tell how long it is since Solomon was a boy. I once
 
 60 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 saw an old Maori on the West Coast of the North Island, who 
 looked like a piece of tattooed parchment drawn over a skeleton. 
 He was the oldest-looking and most shrivelled-up specimen of 
 humanity it ever fell to my lot to see. I was shown the 
 decayed trunk of a very large pine tree, which had died from 
 old age, and was told that that self-same Maori was an old man 
 when that tree was beginning to grow. The tree had been 
 about four feet in diameter and I put that Maori down at 
 300 or 400, because it is only very young men or people who 
 have not travelled much who are so foolish as to contradict 
 what they are told. Solomon may be like this old man, but I 
 am inclined to think that what he really meant to say was 
 that, when his father was a young man, the ill-fated East 
 Indiaman came into Facile Harbour. What induces me to 
 think so is the fact that I have known the Maories to talk 
 about what their ancestors did and saw as if it actually had 
 reference to themselves. Anyhow, leaving out the question of 
 date, the tradition goes on to say, that the " Endymion " had a 
 large crew of Indians on board (Lascars), and a few white men ; 
 that she was in a very leaky condition, and that the crew hove 
 her down to enable them, if possible, to get at the leak. How- 
 ever, in carrying out this operation, the vessel unfortunately 
 capsized and sank. The crew got away in boats and rafts. 
 The white men took the long boat and left the sound, and 
 were not again heard of. Their fate to this day remains a 
 mystery, though it can easily be imagined. The Indians made 
 their way towards the south, taking much the same course as 
 we had taken from Cormorant Cove, and landed on Endymion 
 Island, as the Maories call it, and which, I think, must be the 
 island marked "Indian Island" on the chart made by Her 
 Majesty's ship "Acheron" in 1851. 
 
 Indian Island is about one-and-a-half miles south of Resolu- 
 tion Island, and three-quarters of a mile west of Long Island, 
 and would be right in the track of the Indians if they were 
 making their way south down Resolution Island and through the 
 passage between it and Anchor Island. The sound here teems 
 with islands, some of them abounding with the tutu plant to 
 which I have already referred. One of those islets near 
 Indian Island is called Poison Island from that reason, and 
 the Indians are said to have landed on it, and, eating largely 
 of the tutu berries, many of them died. 
 
 These poor castaways moved from island to island, finally
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 61 
 
 stopping on Anchor Island. From this island they would 
 stand the best chance of seeing any passing ship, and would 
 as well be able to get good shelter. It is supposed they had 
 no boats, $nd had to depend on rafts for navigating purposes. 
 That certainly would account for their making no effort to 
 leave the sheltered waters of the sound. The last of them is 
 said to have died of poison and starvation on Anchor Island, 
 and there is a cave on the island yet full of their bones. Pat 
 once went sealing with two white men and a Maori, found this 
 cave, and saw the bleaching remains of the unfortunate sea- 
 men. The skeletons were a good deal covered with earth, and 
 seemed to be lying as if the men had been huddled together 
 when death came to rescue them from their miserable fate. 
 Pat wanted to clear away the dirt and have a look at them, 
 but the Maori, like all Maories, had a dread of touching or 
 allowing to be touched anything pertaining to the dead, said 
 they were Tapu which, being interpreted, means sacred and 
 was in such a state of excitement in case they touched any of 
 the bones, and thereby aroused the anger of the spirits, that 
 they cleared out of the cave without carrying out their inten- 
 tions. Our companion said he was quite prepared to take 
 anyone to the cave. I got him to mark out its position on the 
 chart, and intend to visit it before long. 
 
 There are various other traditions about the skeletons. All 
 agree that they are those of the Indians, but some differ as to 
 the manner by which their death was compassed, alleging 
 that the Maories, who were numerous in those days, killed and 
 ate them after having taken them to the cave for the express 
 purpose of indulging their cannibalistic instincts. 
 
 Some say the wreck is not that of the " Endymion " but the 
 "Endeavour," lost in 1793, about which Dr. Hocken of 
 Dunedin, recently read a very interesting paper at Dunedin 
 at a meeting of the Otago Branch of the New Zealand Insti- 
 tute. Again, I have been told on good authority that the 
 celebrated navigator, Bass, sailed from Sydney for South 
 America in 1803. Before sailing he wrote to a friend say- 
 ing that he should call at Dusky Sound, New Zealand, to 
 take copper and other things from a sunken ship he knew 
 of there, which he would be able to sell to the Spaniards 
 in South America. Bass was never heard of again. From 
 this we may conclude that the wreck in Facile Harbour was 
 there before 1803. I afterwards visited this old wreck, and we 
 pulled some of her up. I have specimens of her timber and 
 copper in my possession.
 
 62 THE WILD WEST COAST. 
 
 In talking about Maori superstitions, Pat told me that on 
 one occasion when fossicking about in Pickersgill Cove, Dusky 
 Sound, he and his mates found what looked to be a grave. 
 The mound was neatly made and fenced in with supple-jacks 
 interlaced, their ends being fixed in the ground. At the 
 head of the mound was a wooden cross, and on this cross was 
 carved " Sacred to the Memory of Poor Old Potatoes." Pat 
 got a spade and started digging, to see, as he said, what Poor 
 Old Potatoes was like. He found nothing but the stump of a 
 tree. He heard afterwards that a prospector had hid some 
 stores there, and made a grave to keep the Maories off. The 
 Maories have a great fear of graves, and will not touch or go 
 near them in case the spirits of the departed should get angry 
 and do them harm. 
 
 Dusky Sound is seldom visited by whalers now ; indeed, the 
 industry seems nearly dead in this part of the world. There 
 are still a few seals to be found about the islands and rocks, 
 chiefly near the mouth of the sound. Its waters teem with 
 fish, more sometimes than at others. Our efforts this day 
 were rewarded with the capture of a few blue cod and soldier 
 fish. These latter are like carp, with large coarse scales, of a 
 golden red colour, but they are of no use for eating purposes. 
 
 After the candles were lighted in the little cabin, the skipper, 
 C., E., and self killed the evening over a friendly game at 
 euchre, the soothing breath of the poisonous demon nicotine, 
 and conversation of a more or less animated character, finally 
 finishing up with a glass of beer, and turning in about 10 p.m.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM DUCK COVE. A BOATING EXPEDITION. IMPOSING 
 MOUNTAIN SCENERY. VISIT TO DOCHERTY'S HUT. A HERMIT LIFE. 
 MORE PROSPECTING AND UNREQUITED LABOUR. A HARD PULL 
 IN A HALF GALE. THE SEARCH FOR THE "ROSA." WET JACKET 
 ARM AND ITS GIANT MOUNTAINS AND CASCADES. A GORGEOUS 
 SUNSET. ONCE AGAIN ON BOARD THE CUTTER. 
 
 NEXT day, the 24th November, we lay at anchor, it blow- 
 ing a strong gale of wind from the south. 
 
 I spent most of the time rowing from point to point, landing 
 and prospecting. We found large masses of white felspar 
 rock, and it is not unlikely that the mare's tail up the moun- 
 tain side which I have described is composed of it. Further, 
 a considerable quantity of iron pyrites and a few traces of 
 copper were discovered. Wherever we landed the sand-flies 
 immediately gathered around and commenced their blood- 
 thirsty attacks. On board the " Rosa " a few fish were caught. 
 The wind died away at evening, and the sky cleared, with the 
 result that we had a beautiful sunset. As the breeze died 
 away, sand-flies came on board and fed on us till darkness 
 set in. 
 
 Next day broke very fine, not a cloud in the sky, with a 
 light cool breeze stealing down from the mountains. 
 
 At 5 a.m. we weighed anchor, and were soon gliding once 
 more over the scarcely ruffled blue waters of Duck Cove. The 
 bright invigorating air was full of the musical melody of sing- 
 ing birds ; magnificent mountains towered around us, with 
 every outline standing out remarkably clear and distinct ; and
 
 64 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 overhead the atmosphere was as deep a blue as sky could 
 well be. It was altogether a very beautiful scene, one not 
 easily to be forgotten. 
 
 We had been so long delayed that we decided to push on to 
 Big Bay, just calling at Wet-Jacket Arm, Dusky Sound, and 
 having a look at Milford Sound on account of its far-famed 
 beauty. The morning breeze soon began to fail, and we did 
 no more than creep out of the cove into the main sound 
 before it fell dead calm. 
 
 It was now nine o'clock, and we had only made about three 
 miles. We got out the boats and tried the experiment of 
 towing the cutter, but soon gave it up, the result achieved 
 not being commensurate with the trouble taken. Then we 
 tried fishing, and caught some excellent blue cod. We lay 
 beclamed in the most enchanting scenery imaginable, basking 
 in a hot sun. Without a motion we rested on the still, deep, 
 blue waters of the sound, studded with its countless green 
 islands ; shut in on all sides by huge mountains, with their 
 uniform 3ooo-feet mantle of dark bush dipping into the water, 
 and their numerous rocky snow-covered peaks towering every- 
 where. 
 
 There being no signs of a breeze, C., E., O. and self, with 
 two of the Danes, started in the whale-boat to pull about eight 
 miles up the main arm of the sound to where a man named 
 Docherty has a hut, and where he has lived chiefly by himself 
 for several years, passing his time in cutting tracks and 
 exploring the mountains for minerals. 
 
 There are two or three men who lead this solitary kind of 
 life on the West Coast. Government sends a steamer round 
 the New Zealand coast once every three months to take stores 
 to the lighthouses, and also to call at any place where men are 
 staying. Stores are always obtainable from the steamer on 
 payment. The stores consist chiefly of flour, salt, tea, and 
 tinned or cured meat. But these wanderers from the centres 
 of civilisation live, as a rule, on little else except fish and 
 native birds, of which they can catch any quantity if they have 
 good dogs. Docherty, from time to time, turns up at Dunedin 
 with specimens of minerals he has found, and has often got 
 money to help him to open up the lodes, but hitherto nothing 
 has come of any of his finds. He has struck upon one vein of 
 copper ore, which, perhaps, it may pay to work some day. 
 Before I left Dunedin he had been there and reported having
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 65 
 
 found a large deposit of nickel ore, and had got a little help 
 towards testing its value. I have been asked by some people 
 interested to look at the deposit and form an opinion as to its 
 worth. For this purpose I had the plan of the hut and the 
 position of the mine in my possession. I was told that a track 
 had been cut to the mine and five tons of stuff brought down. 
 
 We left the cutter at half-past nine, it being arranged that 
 if a breeze sprung up we would turn back, the cutter meantime 
 waiting for us off the south point of Resolution Island. The 
 boat was an easy one to pull, and with smooth water and four 
 oars going we made good progress. There were six of us in 
 her, and all were used to rowing but one. He sat and 
 looked about him, while the other took the steer oar, and so 
 all were occupied. It was easy work with the steer oar, 
 and for this reason we took turn and turn about at it. We 
 passed island after island, scaring numerous flocks of ducks 
 and divers. As we advanced the high mountains at the 
 head of the sound became more conspicuous, but other- 
 wise the scenery was unchanged, the wall-like, bush-clad 
 mountains coming steep down to the water on each side of the 
 sound. Past Promontory Creek and Bay we, gaily talking, 
 pulled our way. The only thing which troubled us was the 
 heat, which became excessive. We were in 45 48' south 
 latitude, about the same distance from the equator as the 
 south of France, and within four weeks of the longest day. 
 Thus the sun was pretty high up at noon, and its rays most 
 powerful. In many places the mountains descended so steeply 
 into the water that for long distances we could not have landed 
 our boat even had we wanted to, although it would have been 
 easy enough to have tied her to the boughs of the overhang- 
 ing trees which clung to the precipitous sides. 
 
 The sound varied from two to four miles across. To the 
 right were two large islands, called respectively Long and 
 Cooper Islands, both mountainous and timber-clad to the very 
 summit ; behind and above these towered the mountains on the 
 mainland. Equally high were the mountains on our left, and 
 we were, each moment, getting closer to and more hemmed in 
 than ever by the giant masses at the head of the sound. 
 
 The weather kept still and hot, and at noon we found our- 
 selves at Docherty's. He has three well-built huts, and a little 
 above a good boat-landing, situated in a beautiful white sand 
 and pebble-beached bay through which a clear and limpid
 
 66 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 mountain stream empties itself into the sound. As we 
 approached the landing, the white sand and stones forming 
 the bed of the sound could be seen at a great depth 
 through the crystal, translucent water. Immediately behind 
 the huts the mountains are very precipitous. The view looking 
 out to the sound from the shore was as majestic a combination 
 of mountains, forest, coast line, islands and blue water as one 
 could possibly imagine. 
 
 At one point, about 1,200 feet above, and a little to the west 
 of the huts, the bush seemed to have been cleared off the face 
 of the rock for some distance, and parallel quartz veins, 
 assumed to be about two feet thick, could be seen coming 
 down the cliff in a perpendicular position. The rock and 
 stone about the beach were chiefly composed of hard, 
 laminated schist, with fragments of granite and quartz. 
 
 We found the huts empty, except for swarms of sand-flies. 
 These pests, the moment we landed, crowded round, and com- 
 menced an old colonial habit of "drinks all round" at our 
 expense. We discovered a well-made track, leading up a gully 
 through the bush behind the huts, and followed it for over 
 two miles. Here we carne upon a face of solid granite, with 
 thin quartz veins and small pockets of garnets cropping out. 
 The formation was very much the same as that we had seen 
 at Resolution Island. We discovered no trace of minerals, 
 and, a breeze setting in, we returned to the boat after a couple 
 of hours' fossicking. 
 
 Upon re-embarking, we soon became aware of the fact that 
 we had a fresh and still freshening breeze against us, and pull- 
 ing was rather stiff work. The men said the breeze would soon 
 fall, and proposed that we should land somewhere and have 
 lunch. I expected the breeze would last to sunset, but after 
 we had pulled about two miles from Docherty's, a most 
 delightful little bay induced me to consent to land for the pur- 
 pose of partaking of the mid-day meal. 
 
 I could not help thinking, as we pulled away from Docherty's 
 hermit home, that men like him, who could live year after year 
 alone in such an isolated spot, beautiful though it be, worried 
 by sand-flies by day all the year round, and for several months 
 by mosquitoes at night, cutting tracks through the dark, silent, 
 New Zealand bush, searching for wealth, which, if they find 
 it, will most likely benefit others more than themselves, 
 deserve admiration and encouragement, even though they may
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 67 
 
 work to no purpose. Our Anglo-Saxon race has produced 
 many such men, who devote their lives to sowing in the wilder- 
 ness the seeds of future wealth and greatness, the fruit of which 
 is reaped by the nations which follow in their footsteps. 
 
 We had lunch just at the edge of the bush, close to the 
 sparkling water. Spreading boughs intervened between us 
 and the hot sun ; a pleasant breeze tempered the heat and kept 
 the sand-flies away ; while numberless birds, revelling in the 
 warmth and beauty of a summer day, gave us music while 
 we ate. 
 
 We next prospected up the bed of a small creek which runs 
 into the harbour. Its bottom rock is hard, laminated schist, 
 with here and there veins of quartz, some of the latter more 
 than a foot thick and containing masses of mica. We washed 
 out several pockets, but got no trace of gold, although there 
 were what diggers call indications. The beach was strewn 
 with fragments of iron-stained quartz. 
 
 On re-embarking the wind had freshened up to a strong 
 breeze, and the sound was churned into a mass of white water. 
 Pulling under such circumstances was hard work, and steering 
 not easy. I soon saw symptoms of distress in the faces of the 
 crew, the big Dane especially, and upon my taking his oar, he 
 muttered a heart-felt "thank God!" I really believe he could 
 not have pulled much longer. 
 
 In spite of all difficulties we stuck resolutely to our oars, and 
 eventually crept up to where the cutter ought to have been, 
 but was not. I supposed that the skipper had run for shelter 
 to Wet -Jacket Arm, ten miles away, and blessed him for so doing, 
 especially as there was no real need for the shifting of the 
 anchorage. However, we had nothing to do but follow. We 
 had now come about eight miles from Docherty's, in a nearly 
 west course; and, to reach the mouth of Wet -Jacket Arm, 
 would have to pull about four miles due north, up Acheron 
 Passage, between the east side of Resolution Island and the 
 mainland ; while from the mouth to the head of the Arm would 
 be about six miles more. I was pretty certain the skipper had 
 gone to the head of the Arm, because he had told me there was 
 no good anchorage nearer than that. We had some hopes that 
 when we got into Acheron Passage the wind might be drawing 
 up it, and so be favourable; but as we entered we found half 
 a gale or more blowing right in our teeth, and causing a nasty, 
 choppy sea. The boat was a good one, and, with a trained and
 
 68 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 stalwart crew, there would have been no difficulty in accom- 
 plishing the task ; but our men were not much used to rough 
 water, and did not seem to relish the four mile pull right into 
 the black and angry sea ahead of us. The Danes were 
 anxious to land and bush it for the night. This I would 
 not hear of though. I took the stroke oar, and directing 
 the man at the helm to keep us over to the west side of the 
 passage, where we would be more sheltered, we lay to with the 
 oars. Our jackets and everything else we had on were soon 
 drenched through and through, but at last we got opposite to 
 the mouth of Wet-Jacket Arm. We had now to cross the 
 passage, about a mile wide, through a heavy beam sea in half 
 a gale of wind, before we could get into Wet-Jacket Arm, and 
 again it was proposed to land for the night. I was sure that 
 once we were in Wet-Jacket Arm, we should find smooth 
 water and a fair wind. So I took the helm, told them to pull 
 on, and away again we started. All went well. We dodged the 
 heavy seas, plunged across, tugged round a point, and entered 
 the Arm, passing in a few yards from a stormy sea and adverse 
 wind into smooth water, with the additional advantage of a 
 light, fair breeze gently setting up the Arm. We could see 
 nothing of the cutter, but far away up the Arm appeared a 
 white speck in the sunshine, looking no bigger than a pocket- 
 handkerchief, and which, as w r e watched it, glided across the 
 sound and disappeared, soon to appear again, smaller still, and 
 then vanish for good. No hull or mast could be seen, and so 
 diminutive was the white speck, that I was generally laughed 
 at when I said it was the cutter running up the Arm with a 
 fresh breeze behind her. They would not have it, and said it 
 might be the sail of some small boat, or perhaps was only a 
 sea-gull. 
 
 I may remark here, that a stranger to these sounds finds him- 
 self utterly at a loss to form any adequate idea of the heights or 
 distances ; so clear is the atmosphere and vast the surround- 
 ings that even trained eyes are completely deceived. I have 
 known waterfalls computed by experienced men at 70 feet, 
 which on actual measurement proved over 500. I have started 
 to pull to a point which looked but scarcely a mile away, and 
 after half-an-hour steady rowing in smooth water seemed to be 
 not much nearer. We found afterwards that the speck was the 
 cutter, five miles off, she anchoring at the head of the Arm 
 just when we saw the speck finally disappear.
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 69 
 
 Some of the crew were sure the cutter had not gone up the 
 Arm, but had most likely gone back to Duck Cove, and insisted 
 that our best plan was to land and pass the night in the bush, 
 and look for the cutter in the morning. By this time the sun 
 was getting low, and night would be on in a couple of hours or 
 so. " Cutter or phantom, boat or gull, or whatever that 
 speck was," said I, " I'm going to look for it, if I go to the 
 head of the Arm to night. If it's not the cutter but some 
 other boat we will find them and get a bite of something, 
 which will be better than passing the night in the bush with- 
 out food to eat or a blanket to cover us." With this, I took- 
 the stroke oar, and bade my men row on. 
 
 We were now entering one of the grandest pieces of scenery the 
 West Coast of New Zealand has to show. Wet -Jacket Arm, 
 though six miles long, is nowhere a mile wide, and the moun- 
 tains rise on each side like sheer walls to 1 a height of from 4,000 
 to 6,000 feet, 3,000 feet of which is clothed with dense forest, 
 save where, in many places, it is so steep that nothing but 
 lichen, moss, and small ferns can cling to the perpendicular 
 sides. Numerous cascades, rising from close to the highest 
 points, can be seen from near their sources, like silver threads 
 interwoven with grey rock and green bush, tumbling down every 
 face. Although appearing to the eye like the finest threads, yet 
 were you close to many of them you would find them rushing 
 torrents difficult to cross. The setting sun now tinted the 
 mountain peaks with glorious hues, and, as the breeze died 
 away, their majestic outlines were reproduced on the surface 
 of the deep still water over which we propelled our boat. 
 We seemed, indeed, to be cutting our way through a liquid 
 mirror. About half way up, and on the north side of the Arm, 
 is a little island, circular in shape, about 10 acres in extent, 
 and 300 feet high, covered with timber. So vast is the sur- 
 rounding scale of nature's grandeur, that one would hardly 
 take the island to be more than 40 feet in height, and such our 
 crew considered it to be. As we neared it, a piece of timber 
 not unlike the top of a ship's mast was discerned, apparently 
 projecting above the bush on the far side of the island, and it 
 was hailed by our men as the mast of the cutter. They were 
 confident that if we pulled round the island we should find the 
 cutter at anchor under the other side. I remarked that the 
 object was but the top of a dead tree, and that it was at least 
 200 feet above us. They got more positive it was the ship's
 
 yo THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 mast as we got nearer, and one of them declared, with all 
 seriousness, that he could see it move. I was quite certain in 
 my own mind that the cutter was at anchor three miles away, 
 at the head of the Arm, but as I had no objection to the extra 
 half-mile pull which going inside the island involved, and 
 was, indeed, not unwilling to thus prolong our journey in such 
 beautiful weather as it now was and among such imposing 
 scenery, I consented, and round we went. We found its 
 nearest point not more than 200 yards from the mainland. As 
 we rounded each point the men kept saying, " We shall see 
 the cutter round the next point ; " but point after point was 
 passed, till we had pulled round the island, and still no cutter ! 
 At nearly the highest point of the island, however, a bare, 
 branchless, pole-like trunk of a dead tree could be plainly seen 
 projecting above the surrounding bush. My surmise had thus 
 been correct. The hopeful ones now became silent, and pulled 
 on for the head of the Arm without saying much. As we 
 proceeded, the Arm gradually got narrower, and the moun- 
 tains higher and even more precipitous. Their grandeur was 
 only intensified by the golden light of a glorious sunset. 
 
 Such a scene might be painted, but the man never lived 
 who could find words adequate to its description. Could Long- 
 fellow have beheld such a scene, he would have died gazing at 
 it, murmuring " Excelsior," and trying in vain to imagine a 
 youth with a banner, fit to be in keeping with its beauty, as 
 he passed from one gilded peak to another. Tennyson would 
 break his heart, being unable to find words sufficient to des- 
 cribe its manifold glories. Too grand a frame even for his 
 picture of the " Passing of Arthur ; " too beautiful to receive 
 without detraction the saintly form of his fair dead maiden 
 drifting by on her flower-decked barge. And had any of the 
 world's greatest landscape painters, ancient or modern, been 
 present, they would have felt that their noblest works were but 
 vanity, and have prayed for a recurrence of the miracle of 
 Joshua that the sun might be stayed in his course, at least 
 till they had transferred to canvas the magnificent outline of 
 earth's masses which surrounded them, the glorious flood of 
 light which illumined this enchanting scene, and the still surface 
 of water which so faithfully mirrored this wonderful grouping 
 of the Creator's works. 
 
 But we were neither artists or poets, only very ordinary 
 mortals, and not at all in the frame of mind that would incline
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 71 
 
 us to go into raptures about the gigantic distortions of the 
 earth's crust by which we were surrounded. Even had we 
 been so minded, our raptures would have been effectually 
 crushed in the bud by the fact that we were tired, hungry and 
 thirsty; that darkness-was setting in ; and that we were uncer- 
 tain how long we might have to keep tugging away at our oars 
 before we arrived at food or shelter, or if we should even find 
 them at all that night. So we scarcely spoke, looked at little 
 save each other's backs, or the bottom of the boat, as we 
 doggedly worked at our oars, and only occasionally turned to 
 see if there was any appearance of the head of the Arm being 
 near, or the cutter in view. 
 
 Just as the last of the sun's rays were fading from the 
 highest peaks, and the shades of night were beginning to brood 
 over the waters and along the base of the bush-clad mountains, 
 we rounded a point, to find ourselves immediately after in a 
 little bay forming the head of the Arm. And there, too, most 
 gladsome of sights, not half-a-mile away, lay the cutter " Rosa" 
 peacefully at anchor. We hailed her with loud cheers, and 
 pulling with renewed vigour, were soon once again on board 
 our floating home, where a much-needed meal was hastily 
 prepared.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FEATHERED SONGSTER'S CONCERT. A CHAT ABOUT NEW ZEALAND 
 BIRDS. AN EXPLORATION PARTY. A MOUNTAIN RAIN-STORM. 
 A NOVEL FRESH-WATER BATH. FISHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 
 A PANORAMA OF MOUNTAIN CATARACTS. PRODIGIOUS RAINFALL. 
 THE VOYAGE OF THE "ROSA" is RLSUMLD. SABBATH REFLEC- 
 TIONS. BEATING DOWN CHANNEL. 
 
 HERE, at the head of the Arm, the mountains which had 
 been gradually getting higher and grander, culminated 
 in a magnificent amphitheatre of Titanic peaks, having an 
 attitude of over 5,000 feet, and forming huge walls which 
 seemed to completely envelope us. On their almost perpen- 
 dicular sides bush and rock struggle for the mastery ; down 
 countless green and rock-flecked precipices drop fairy cas- 
 cades like crystal feathers waving over walls of emerald 
 and marble; and, far away and above, snow-robed peaks soar 
 in high air. 
 
 A truly splendid spectacle, and not a breath of wind or 
 ripple on the water, save where wild fowl disport themselves. 
 A solemn stillness reigns in the atmosphere, broken only by 
 the ceaseless murmur of countless waterfalls nature's organ 
 playing at eventide in one of her grandest cathedrals. Hungry 
 as I was, I stayed on deck some time before going down to 
 tea, knowing that, ere I came up again, the mountains 
 would be almost hidden in the deepening shadows of the 
 night, and that all the glory of the sunlight would have passed 
 away.
 
 THE WILD WEST COAST. 73 
 
 I was not at all pleased with the skipper running away from 
 us as he had. He made a lame excuse about the strength of 
 the wind, and the want of good anchorage anywhere else. My 
 own opinion was he wanted to get an evening's fishing and 
 shooting at the head of the Arm. I found out to my cost after- 
 wards that one needed to keep a very sharp eye on the skipper. 
 Tea quite refreshed us after our pull of 28 miles, and as soon as 
 we had disposed of the welcome meal we assembled on deck to 
 make the most of a scene so unique one such as we might 
 never have the opportunity of seeing again. 
 
 As the darkness came on, the native birds gave us a concert. 
 The soft, prolonged whistle of the kiwi, the weird wailing call 
 of the weka, the clear whistle and harsh screech of the kaka, 
 the still harsher screech of kakapo, the scream of the penguin, 
 and the plaintiff hoot of the morepork owl were all heard in 
 discordant unison, more or less, through the early hours of the 
 night. We fired a gun, and the report came back in a chorus 
 of thunder-peals. 
 
 Our conversation turned chiefly upon the New Zealand birds 
 and their habits. M. spoke of a bird he once heard at 
 Murdering Beach, near Longbush, in Southland. It came at 
 night, and set up a most unearthly scream, weird, wild, horrify- 
 ing ; but he did not succeed in getting a view of his unwel- 
 come and uncongenial visitor. The Maories about there 
 say it is white in colour but never seen, and that it is a 
 spirit ; when they hear it, they hide themselves. In the 
 beginning of 1882 two friends and myself were camped on 
 the shore of Lake Hauroto, an unfrequented and almost un- 
 known sheet of water, surrounded by high mountains, in the 
 south-west of the South Island. One night we were roused by 
 a most unearthly noise, which, to me, resembled the screams 
 of a human being in dire agony. We went outside our tent, 
 and found the scream proceeded from high up in a tall tree 
 near at hand. I took my gun, and lay for some time under the 
 tree, trying, if I could, to catch an outline of the screamer. I 
 could detect an occasional movement of the branches at one 
 particular spot, and at last I fired in that direction. A large 
 bird then flew away, its wings making a noise resembling that 
 of a swift in its flight, and we heard it no more, nor have I ever 
 heard anything like it since. I have made inquiries among 
 some of the oldest residents on the West Coast about this bird, 
 and some have never even heard of it. Others have heard it,
 
 74 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 or heard of it. Some Maories reported that it has a long tail 
 and wings, and flies so fast that you can hardly get a glimpse of 
 it in its flight. Further, they said its plumage is most gorgeous, 
 As it is a night bird, however, I doubt the last statement. I, 
 myself, imagine it to be some kind of night hawk. We turned 
 into our bunks rather late. 
 
 Next morning was bright and warm, with electrical clouds 
 very high up passing from the north-west. The sky pre- 
 sented the same appearance as it does in Canterbury or Otago 
 when a hot north-west wind is blowing. At early morn the 
 native birds were making a pleasing chorus, conspicuous 
 among them being the bell-bird, tuis, and robin, the latter 
 singing in a style sufficient to make even nightingales jealous. 
 Although aware that the robin was no mean songster, I had 
 no idea how well he could sing till I heard him on the 
 West Coast, and the first day I listened to the sweet notes in 
 Dusky Sound I doubted if it were a robin. M. was positive it 
 was, and to settle the matter he and I got into the dingy and 
 rowed under the spreading boughs of a tree, amongst which a 
 songster was making melody. We soon got sight of him, and 
 it proved to be a robin sure enough. 
 
 After breakfast all hands went ashore. The extraordinary 
 height and steepness of the mountains seemed in no wise 
 diminished when seen in the bright light of morning, as con- 
 trasted with our first view of them at sunset on the previous 
 evening, and this was especially apparent as we rowed close 
 under them on our way to the shore. Looking up you would 
 see right overhead a silver thread, apparently thrown over the 
 rock, and could hardly conceive that it was a considerable 
 body of water tumbling over the rocks 4,000 feet above. Many 
 of the mountain sides are . sheer perpendicular walls of rock, 
 painted green with moss and small ferns for 3,000 feet, and 
 quite bare above that elevation. In many places you can 
 touch the mountain sides with the bow of the boat, and if you 
 dropped a line over the stern you would hardly find the bottom 
 at 10 fathoms. 
 
 Upon landing, our party and the Captain's joined together 
 for a good fossick, our object being to find a lagoon said to 
 exist a mile or two back in the bush. The Captain, however, 
 did not seem to care for the work, and growled like a bear, 
 but as his men were determined to go on he could not very 
 well turn back. However, after we had proceeded about half-
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 75 
 
 a-mile he gave up and went back to the cutter, the rest keeping 
 on. We cut our way about a mile-and-a-half through the 
 bush, keeping above and not far from the bed of a creek 
 which flows into the head of the Arm. The bush was com- 
 posed chiefly of moderately sized birch, with light under- 
 growth ; the chief impediment to progress being large quanti- 
 ties of fallen and rotting timber. When we ultimately arrived 
 at the lagoon we found it to be nothing but a pond situated 
 in a swamp, with a few acres of open grass country about it, 
 and a quantity of white everlasting flowers growing amongst 
 the grass. The sight of this open country so raised the spirits 
 of Tom the sailor that he immediately turned head over heels 
 several times. 
 
 Here we lighted a fire and boiled a billy which Pat had 
 brought with him, made tea, and had our midday meal, after 
 which we proceeded with our exploration. We pushed on up 
 the creek, and found that it terminated in a series of cascades 
 which tumbled in a few falls close upon 3,000 feet. After this 
 we retraced our steps, keeping mostly to the bed of the creek, 
 scrambling over large boulders, splashing through the water, 
 and occasionally having to leave the bed of the river and 
 force our way through the bush. 
 
 The day was very hot, and I had a dip in a clear deep pool. 
 I found the water very cold and pleasant, but, unfortunately, 
 the sand-flies also discovered me to be very nice, and as the 
 result I suffered a good deal before I had dressed. We 
 got back to the cutter about half-past five. During this 
 ramble we sunk several holes, and washed out many dishes, 
 but found nothing but black iron-sand, fragments of pink 
 garnet, and a few specimens of white marble. Of birds, we 
 saw blue and paradise ducks, crows, canaries, robins, wekas, 
 and one kea (flesh-eating mountain parrot). It turned a close, 
 dull, calm night, with a few drops of rain. 
 
 Next morning at 4.30 a.m. I went on deck, and heard the 
 most extraordinary chorus of singing birds I ever listened to 
 in my life. The air was full of sound as if millions of anvils 
 were being struck with tiny hammers. The effect was indes- 
 cribable, but most enjoyable. It was the bell-birds chanting 
 their morning song ; their notes bear no little resemblance to 
 the tinkling of silver bells. Judging from the volume of sound, 
 one would almost think that every tree or bush in the dense 
 forest clothing the mountain sides had one of these feathered 
 warblers for an occupant.
 
 76 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 I went overboard for my usual swim, and then about 6 a.m. 
 a tremendous downpour of rain commenced. The clouds, 
 which since daylight had been hanging thick and black, high 
 up, and apparently touching the highest of the mountain peaks, 
 seemed suddenly to burst. The mountains at first disappeared, 
 and then loomed through a thick haze, while the rain came 
 down in sheets. 
 
 Some of us took advantage of the opportunity to have a 
 fresh- water 'bath by simply standing undressed on deck. The 
 deck was soon an inch or two deep in water, caused by the 
 fact that the rain was not able to get away as quickly as it fell. 
 Unfortunately the deck seams were not very tight, and it was 
 not long before the cabin ceiling began to drip all over. This 
 necessitated buckets, pannikins, and dishes being placed to 
 catch the downpour in various places. 
 
 After breakfast E. and I put on oilskins and gum boots the 
 latter reaching up to the hips and went fishing in the dingy. 
 It was dead calm, and the surface of the water was covered 
 with large bubbles made by the splash of the heavy rain. 
 We pulled round a rocky point out of sight of the cutter, and 
 put out our lines ; although only a few feet from the shore we 
 could not bottom with 20 fathoms. We shifted into a little 
 bay, and near the centre of it, at about 10 yards from the 
 shore, got on the bottom, and immediately caught fish. 
 
 Such was the volume of water now pouring into the sound 
 from innumerable torrents foaming down the mountain sides 
 that we found a strong surface fresh-water current setting 
 down the sound at quite two miles an hour. This kept carry- 
 ing us into deep water, as we had no anchor or rope with 
 which to make our boat fast to the trees; and, as we could get 
 no fish where we did not bottom, we had constantly to sus- 
 pend operations and pull back to shallow water. Thus we spent 
 several hours not unpleasantly, E. being a first-rate companion. 
 We landed once or twice, but found the sand-flies so savage 
 that we were glad to take to our boat again. These pests 
 were apparently not in anyway put about by a downpour 
 which one would have imagined quite capable of washing 
 them all away. They seemed, in fact, to move slowly about 
 among the thick rain drops without being touched by them. 
 So heavy was the downpour that we had constantly to bale 
 the water out of the dingy, but our oilskins and long boots 
 kept us quite dry.
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 77 
 
 The mountain sides, where clear of bush, seemed in many 
 places to be positively sheeted with flowing water, and the 
 cascades thundering into the basin on all sides constituted a 
 sight ever to be remembered. We caught some fine blue cod, 
 white fish, and red soldiers, and returned to the cutter about 
 midday with fish enough for all hands. The remainder of the 
 day was spent in smoking, yarning and playing cards. Just 
 at sunset I counted 40 large cascades within a mile of the 
 cutter, falling over 3,000 feet of sheer precipice. The noise, 
 I need scarcely state, was deafening. A white mist settled on 
 the mountain as night came on, and soon after the rain 
 stopped. 
 
 I have no doubt that at least a foot of rain fell during the 
 day. I measured the next rainfall of a similar sort that we 
 had later on in Milford Sound. I then ascertained the record 
 to stand at over 20 inches between sunrise and sunset. 
 
 The cabin after this deluge of rain was decidedly damp, and 
 we had, on turning in, to put oilskins over our blankets to 
 keep the drips off. E. and O. had decidedly the worst sleep- 
 ing places. They lay with their heads close to the rudder, 
 well under, and only a few inches from the cutter's deck, their 
 upper parts resting on the sloping lining of the ship's stern, 
 and their lower extremities upon planks thrown across a couple 
 of boxes which stood on the cabin floor. 
 
 Next morning, Sunday, the 28th November, broke calm and 
 beautiful, with a cloudless sky and a few patches of white mist 
 resting here and there about the mountains. The atmosphere 
 was wonderfully clear after the rain, and showed up the mar- 
 vellous panorama to perfection. 
 
 We weighed anchor at 6 a.m., C. and I first going overboard 
 for a good swim ; we found the water quite fresh. There was a 
 dead calm, and we again had to row the cutter. In the absence 
 of proper sweeps, our progress was perforce very slow. 
 
 After breakfast and a turn at the oars I went below, having 
 the cabin to myself, and, as is my custom on Sunday, com- 
 menced reading the Bible. Somehow, as I read, I seemed to 
 drift away to Berwick-on-Tweed in company with an old 
 friend, listening to Dr. Cairns. Voices called to me over the 
 waves of time voices, when I thought I was alone, telling me 
 I, who could not see, was seen by some I knew and loved, and 
 had loved and lost, and saying that I, who walked with those 
 who walked with God, was still allowed at intervals to hear the
 
 78 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 voice which guided them to brighter worlds. A score of years 
 have rolled away, and memory, touched by the words of 
 Holy Writ, is walking in the paths my father trod ; waits in 
 his church and listens to God's word ; passes through the 
 streets which he as a schoolboy knew, and meets and converses 
 with his kith and kin. Those long dead seem speaking in 
 my ear; hands which the graveyard holds seem clasping 
 mine. Then some one comes down the steps into the cabin, 
 and the spell is broken. 
 
 Once again I come back to life in the small, damp cabin of 
 the " Rosa," riding a calm inland sea in New Zealand, com- 
 passed by towering mountains o'er which countless foaming 
 cataracts swollen by yesterday's rain are thundering down a 
 rocky descent of 4,000 sheer feet into the tranquil waters of 
 Wet-Jacket Arm. 
 
 Presently a slight breeze sprang up, and we slowly beat 
 down the inlet. Most of us busied ourselves drying wet 
 clothes, &c., and making things comfortable after the dis- 
 comforts to which we had been exposed by the wiles of 
 Pluvius. 
 
 At 5 p.m. we anchored under a small island in Acheron 
 Passage, just at the mouth and to the north side of Wet- 
 Jacket Arm. Acheron Passage is situated between Resolu- 
 tion Island and the mainland. It is about eight miles in length, 
 and joins Breaksea to Dusky Sound. It was up this passage 
 we had our hardest pull on the occasion of our visit to 
 Docherty's in the whale-boat. We let go the anchor over the 
 cutter's bow, and fastened the stern of the stout little craft to 
 trees on the mainland with ropes. As we were on the point 
 of going ashore, the Captain called two of his dogs to go 
 with him, thinking they might catch some birds. One re- 
 fused to come, and upon the Captain taking hold of her to 
 lift her into the boat the animal bit his hand. He dropped 
 the offending canine immediately, looked at his hand, became 
 profane, danced like a madman, and finished up by rushing at 
 the slut like a wild beast and flinging her far away into the 
 water, where she would have drowned had not Tom the sailor 
 got into one of the boats, gone to the rescue, and hauled her 
 out. If she had been mine, I must say I think I should have 
 put a shot in her. 
 
 We spent the evening fishing and prospecting. The rocks 
 were chiefly granite, shewing thin veins of yellow mica. This
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 79 
 
 mica is common in several of the sounds, sometimes occurring 
 in large quantities. When seen at the bottom of streams and 
 pools of water it has very much the appearance of gold ; it is 
 sometimes called " New Chum's Gold." We found three 
 varieties of marble two pure white, and the other grey- 
 veined. In one of the white pieces were small particles of 
 very white soft metal. Several blue cod w r ere caught, and M. 
 hooked a large groper which gave him a good deal of play. 
 One of the men got hold of it with a gaff and partly lifted it 
 out of the water, but let it off, and it finally broke away. I 
 should say it weighed quite 40 Ibs. 
 
 The groper or hapuka is very common on these coasts ; it is 
 generally caught about 10 or 20 Ibs. in weight, sometimes 
 much heavier. I have been told that they not unfrequently 
 attain a weight of 200 Ibs. The New Zealand Fishing Act 
 does not allow them to be killed under 5 Ibs. They are some- 
 thing like a cod in appearance ; their flesh is white and very 
 solid. Groper cutlet is not bad by any means when one is 
 hungry or has not tasted fish for some time. They are a 
 coarse fish, and about the cheapest sold in the Dunedin market. 
 I cannot say I care much for them myself. The flesh is often 
 affected with trichina, and unless it is well cooked these worms 
 remain alive in it. A friend of mine, a medical man in 
 Dunedin, one day when out at dinner, took a piece of groper 
 unobserved front his plate and placed it in his pocket. On 
 making an examination at home he found it to contain several 
 live trichina.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FAREWELL TO DUSKY SOUND, THE FUTURE HOME OF THE TOURIST. 
 SOME GENERAL REMARKS ABOUT THE SCENERY OF THE SOUNDS. 
 BREAKSEA SOUND. DEEP SOUNDINGS. AGAIN ON THE OPEN SEA. 
 THE MOUNTAINS AS SEEN FROM THE OCEAN. A NETWORK OF 
 SOUNDS. THE HERMIT OF DOUBTFUL SOUND. BRADSHAW SOUND 
 AND GAER ARM. NATURE'S GLORIES. THE MIGHTY RANGES OF 
 THE WEST COAST. A VISION OF MOUNTAIN GOLD FIELDS. 
 
 NEXT morning we weighed anchor and untied our ropes at 
 six. Then with a pleasant breeze we stood to the north 
 up Acheron Passage (named after Her Majesty's ship 
 " Acheron," which in 1850-51 surveyed these sounds), and 
 after sailing about four miles we entered Breaksea Sound. 
 
 The mountains on both sides of Acheron Passage are steep 
 and lofty, covered with the usual forest, and some fine cas- 
 cades are to be seen, especially on the mainland. The passage 
 runs about a mile wide, and for a long distance. Although a 
 small boat could be tied up to the trees, yet it was impossible 
 to land, so steeply and abruptly do the mountains rise out of 
 the water. A fine specimen of a sea tree was dredged up in 
 this passage after our visit. 
 
 The sea tree is a kind of seaweed which grows attached to 
 rocks below low-water line. It has branches, is hard and 
 black as ebony, and in shape and appearance resembles a 
 stag's horn. 
 
 We had now left Dusky Sound. I have several times 
 visited this sound since, as well as nearly all the other sounds,
 
 THE WILD WEST COAST. 81 
 
 and have come to the conclusion that this sound will ultimately 
 become far and away the favourite haunt with tourists. From 
 whatever quarter the wind may blow, there is always some 
 spot in Dusky Sound where, probably surrounded by beautiful 
 islands, the pleasure-seeker will find shelter from rude old 
 Boreas, and be able to fish in smooth water or otherwise 
 amuse himself. On the other hand, in most of the other 
 sounds, including Milford, the wind often sweeps over their 
 whole surface with such violence, for days together, as to put 
 boating on them for pleasure purposes quite out of the ques- 
 tion. The scenery is also more varied in this sound than in 
 any other, being pretty and pleasing to the eye, as well as 
 terribly grand. The mountainous head of Wet-Jacket Arm is 
 as wild a piece of scenery as anything to be found in the 
 sounds ; while nothing can be more charming and beautiful 
 than to sail among the islands to the south and about Resolu- 
 tion Island. In Cormorant Cove and Facile Harbour the 
 scenery strikingly resembles that of the English lakes, if you 
 could only imagine the Cumberland and Westmoreland hills 
 covered with dense, dark green forest. Another perfect gem 
 in the way of scenic effect is Pickersgill or Cook's Harbour, 
 about five miles from South Point as you enter the sound 
 from the south. A lofty wooded island, called Crayfish, lies 
 across the mouth of a little bay forming the harbour. The 
 passage between the west of Crayfish and the mainland is not 
 more than 50 yards wide, with high wooded cliffs on each side ; 
 on the left several hundred, and on the right over 2,000 feet 
 above the sea level. On entering the harbour through this 
 passage, a beautiful view opens itself to the admiring gaze of 
 the traveller. The harbour is a sheet of deep water about 
 half-a-mile wide, opening to the east. Looking up this open- 
 ing, one sees mile after mile of blue water dotted with islands, 
 hemmed in with huge green mountains, behind which rise pile 
 after pile of peaks robed in eternal snow. 
 
 In October, 1888, when in Facile Harbour with the Govern- 
 ment steamer, I saw the Captain succeed in raising several 
 pieces of the old wreck of which in a previous chapter I have 
 already said much. Eleven pieces being portions of the 
 upper deck beams were safely got on board the steamer. 
 The timber was teak, and some of the pieces measured 22 feet 
 in length, with a breadth and thickness of 14 inches by 12. 
 
 Breaksea Sound runs in an easterly direction 10 miles, and 
 
 G
 
 8 2 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 then branches into two forks, each fork being about six miles 
 in length and its general breadth a little over a mile. 
 
 Its waters are very deep, as much as 288 fathoms in places. 
 Almost at the head of the south fork a depth of 127 fathoms 
 is found, and 97 at the head of the north one. The head 
 water of the north fork is but three miles distant from the 
 head water of Hall's Arm in Smith's Sound. The head of 
 Hall's Arm is about 23 miles from the entrance to Doubtful 
 Sound, of which it is a continuation, while again the mouth of 
 Doubtful Sound is some 20 miles further up the coast than the 
 mouth of Breaksea. We did not go into Breaksea, but cross- 
 ing its mouth could see a long way up it. The scenery seemed 
 to be of very much the same character as that we had left 
 behind us in Dusky Sound. 
 
 We sailed to the north of and close to Breaksea Island, a hilly 
 island of about 640 acres which lies opposite the entrance to the 
 sound, and once more found ourselves out on the open sea. 
 
 It seemed almost a relief to get out into the open away from 
 the shadow of the huge wall-like mountains, with their dark 
 bushy sides, which had constantly hemmed us in for some 
 time past. The complete freedom from sand-flies was also 
 enjoyable. The sea was smooth, but as we got away from 
 Breaksea Island we found a considerable roll setting in from 
 the south-west. Indeed, this part of the ocean is never free 
 from it, and one or two of our number were soon uncomfort- 
 able in consequence. 
 
 The day was an ideal one for a pleasure trip a bright 
 warm sun, and just fair breeze enough to keep our sails full. 
 So we skimmed over the smooth blue water at the rate of 
 about three knots an hour, helped not a little by the long 
 following swell. 
 
 As far as could be seen, the coast line still preserved in the 
 main the same appearance ; bush-covered promontories stand- 
 ing out one behind the other, all much the same shape and slope, 
 with indentations between them too slight, however, to 
 deserve the name of bays. The shore was fringed with a 
 continuous line of foam, and dotted with reefs, isolated rocks, 
 and small islands some of the latter crowned with bush 
 and on them all flocks of penguins, shag, and gulls were to be 
 seen basking in the sun. There may have been seals, too, but, 
 although occasionally some one would say he could see one, 
 they were never distinctly visible.
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND, 83 
 
 The mountains thus seen from a distance presented the 
 appearance of a rampart of gigantic proportions running 
 parallel to the coast, and rent asunder every few miles to form 
 a sound. There were no rivers, only numerous cascades 
 tumbling down through the bush to within a short distance of 
 the sea. In many places the ocean rollers broke against the 
 mountain sides ; elsewhere the space between the bush and 
 the sea was piled up with boulders. Sand was conspicuous 
 by its absence. Above the 3,000 feet or so of the bush line 
 appeared pile upon pile of rocky peaks, many of them capped 
 with snow. At noon we were seven miles north of Breaksea 
 Island, about one from shore, and opposite a cleft in the 
 mountains, extending inland a few miles, which had the appear- 
 ance of being a sound. I have no doubt it was one once, 
 but it is now filled up, and a small creek called Coal River 
 flows down the filled-up bed of the old sound, making, where 
 it enters the sea, a small bar harbour workable with boats in 
 fine weather. The bar is an accumulation of boulders and 
 drift. A man named Brown, a native of Cod-Fish Island, is 
 stated to be the author of a report that some Maories found 
 coal there, and hence the name. 
 
 At 2.30 p.m. we were about fourteen miles north of Break- 
 sea Island, and crossing the entrance to Dagg's Sound. This 
 sound extends about eight miles in an east-south-east direction, 
 and has a short arm going nearly due north near the head. 
 Its depth is generally about 70 fathoms. The mountains 
 about it are extremely precipitous, and the view as we sailed 
 across its entrance was very fine. A large bluff, with luxuriant 
 forest growth, projecting across and appearing to close the 
 offing, had somewhat the appearance of a lion. 
 
 About two miles north of Dagg's Sound, shutting in and 
 forming the head of a short narrow valley, we observed a high 
 mountain, whose summit and sides, though not so steep as 
 many of the adjacent ones, were, nevertheless, devoid of 
 vegetation. The formation appeared to be nearly white, but 
 what it was I am unable to say. The contrast this white 
 mountain offered to the surrounding green heights was very 
 remarkable. The breeze freshened as the day wore on, and 
 we were soon off Doubtful Sound, 20 miles from Breaksea 
 Island. 
 
 Doubtful Sound lies between the south coast of Secretary 
 Island and the mainland, extends for about eight miles in an
 
 84 -THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 east-south-east direction, and then merges into Smith's Sound. 
 The sound is about three miles wide for a distance of three miles 
 from the mouth. There Banga Island, three miles long and 
 one-and-a-half miles wide, is met with, the passage on~either 
 side of the island being not more than half-a-mile across. 
 Seen from the sea, Banga Island appears to be the head of the 
 sound, which thus has the appearance of being nothing more 
 than an open bay. 
 
 At the south-east point of Secretary Island, where Doubtful 
 Sound becomes Smith's Sound, Bradshaw's Sound penetrates 
 the mainland in a north-easterly direction, and Thompson's 
 Sound runs north-by-west between the east side of Secretary 
 Island and the mainland. 
 
 Smith's Sound is but a continuation of Doubtful Sound, and 
 and the two sounds together extend about twenty miles in an 
 east-south-east direction. Three smaller sounds branch off 
 from Smith's Sound in a south-west direction called First Arm, 
 opposite Bradshaw's Sound; Crooked Arm, about half-way 
 up ; and Hall's Arm, at the head. 
 
 The scenery in all these sounds partakes of much the same 
 type and is truly magnificent, especially that of Hall's Arm, 
 which is considered by some to be superior to anything on 
 the coast, not excepting Milford Sound. The head of Hall's 
 Arm is, as I have said before, but three miles from the head 
 of Breaksea Sound. 
 
 Bradshaw's Sound extends about seven miles in an east- 
 north-east direction, and then branches into two arms, one 
 Precipice Cove about two miles long to the north-north-east, 
 and the other Gaer Arm extending some five miles to the 
 south-east. 
 
 Thompson's Sound, which enters the sea nine miles to the 
 north of Doubtful Sound, runs between the east coast of 
 Secretary Island and the mainland. Secretary Island is 
 triangular in shape, very mountainous, and covers about 
 twenty - four square miles. It is, like the surrounding 
 mountains, clothed with dense forests. The scenery about 
 Doubtful Sound looked very rugged and grand as we sailed by 
 on our course up the coast. It was the general opinion that 
 it was the wildest we had yet seen. The afternoon was now well 
 advanced, but the wind being fair and the weather fine we 
 determined to make Thompson's Sound our next anchorage. 
 
 In 1887 I visited Doubtful Sound in the Government
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 85 
 
 steamer "Stella." We steamed right through the sound and 
 out to sea by Thompson's Sound, thus going completely round 
 Secretary Island. The scenery was splendid. The sound 
 winds very much, and we ever seemed to be completely 
 hemmed in by the land. The result was that we could never 
 see much of the road we had come, or get but a circum- 
 scribed glimpse of the one we had yet to traverse. 
 
 We called on Mr. Seymour, a gentlemen who has deter- 
 mined to pass several years alone in this wild spot. He 
 dwells by himself in a tent, with a dog or two, and is, I was 
 told, studying the -habits of the nocturnal birds of New 
 Zealand, with the intention of writing a book about them. 
 He had certainly chosen a romantic spot for his hermitage. 
 His tent was pitched on the mainland, by the shore of a little 
 bay ; Secretary Island, with its varied outline of wooded 
 mountains, and an intervening mile of water, constituting a 
 glorious frontispiece. Behind and on both sides of Mr. Sey- 
 mour's simple abode rose lofty green hills, and above them 
 towered snow-covered peaks of giant proportions. A moun- 
 tain torrent foamed into the little bay not many yards from 
 his tent. 
 
 We arrived at the hermitage soon after sunrise one fine 
 spring morning, and sent a boat off with stores for the hermit. 
 He was an anxious-looking, middle-sized, middle-aged man. 
 He said the rats on the mainland were destroying his stores, 
 and accordingly he got the captain of the "Stella" to send a 
 boat and shift his goods to a small island about two hundred 
 yards from the shore. This island consisted of a few acres of 
 rock covered with bush. Mr. Seymour had a small boat of 
 his own, and I fancy he was searching for gold or other 
 minerals, for among the stores we landed for him was a 
 digger's cradle. We waited three hours for him to finish his 
 correspondence, which consisted of seventeen letters for all 
 parts of the world, the captain having previously had instruc- 
 tions from the Government to give the hermit every assistance. 
 After getting his letters we steamed away, leaving him to his 
 own society for another three months. 
 
 This man was once a school-master, holding a good position 
 and moving in first-class society. He has renounced all these 
 advantages for this solemn, solitary existence. As we steamed 
 away, I saw him standing watching us from the shore. A group 
 of sailors were near me looking at his solitary figure. "Ha
 
 86 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 won't see a soul for another three months now," said one, and 
 then added reflectively and audibly "poor devil," a verdict 
 generally endorsed by his hearers. The study of birds may 
 have taken him there ; but there are those who think if not 
 insanity it is love that has induced this voluntary banishment 
 from the abodes of men. 
 
 Again in 1888, one fine spring morning, we steamed into 
 Thompson's Sound. Heavy masses of white mist rested here 
 and there on the brows of the mountains, which, while partly 
 hiding, yet at the same time enhanced the beauty of the 
 scenery. One peculiarity of this sound consists in the 
 numerous lovely valleys which branch from it at right angles. 
 It has no islands to speak of, but the mountains on each side 
 rise to between three and four thousand feet. 
 
 As we passed into Bradshaw's Sound the scenery grew 
 wilder, and from there again we entered that splendid sheet of 
 water known as Gaer Arm, and, steaming slowly up, anchored 
 at its head. The views all round were superb; indeed, it is 
 doubtful if it does not rival Milford. It certainly does in 
 variety; but there are two or three views in Milford which 
 may claim to be on a grander scale. 
 
 After a stay of a few hours we steamed back and out to sea 
 by way of Doubtful Sound. The views on all sides were 
 simply bewildering by reason of their number and their 
 magnificence. W T here all was so worthy of a lingering gaze, it 
 was difficult to fix attention on any particular spot. Here we 
 have a collection of sounds, all on view at the same time, 
 each and all individually worthy of a long trip to enable one 
 to satiate his appetite with the glories of their scenery. They 
 do not possess the islands and hills of moderate elevation 
 which we find mixed with views of more imposing grandeur 
 in Dusky Sound, and which, to my mind, go far to make it 
 the most enjoyable sound on the coast ; but nowhere else will 
 you come across such a group of sounds of the Milford type, 
 all enclosed with huge mountains, as those which lie behind 
 Secretary Island and are approached by Doubtful Sound from 
 the south and Thompson's Sound from the north. On this 
 second occasion we found that Mr. Seymour had grown tired 
 of playing the hermit in Doubtful Sound, and had removed to 
 the lighthouse settlement in Preservation Inlet. 
 
 On entering these sounds one thinks, as he proceeds up 
 them, that nothing can be grander than the view he is looking
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 87 
 
 at, and yet he has no doubt as he goes on that each view is 
 finer than the last. As a matter of fact, the best views are 
 generally obtained at the head. 
 
 A celebrated New Zealand photographer on entering Doubt- 
 ful Sound was so convinced that nothing could be finer than 
 the view he saw when but about a mile from the entrance, 
 that he refused to go further. He was accordingly landed 
 with his camera on a small island close at hand, and stayed 
 there quite contented, while the steamer went on to the various 
 arms, visiting of course infinitely more majestic scenery than 
 that which had seemed to him incomparable and unsurpass- 
 able. 
 
 Passing through Thompson's Sound, the surface of the rocks 
 in many places on both sides were seen to be worn quite 
 smooth, probably the result of glacial action. At various 
 points, too, they were marbled with viens of quartz. I also 
 noticed masses of what appeared to be limestone on Secretary 
 Island. Captain Fairchild, of the Government steamer, told 
 me that pieces of obsidian had also been found on it. Secretary 
 Island has evidently been cut off from the mainland, not un- 
 likely by glacial action, Doubtful and Thompson's Sounds 
 now filling the old glacier beds. In fact, all these sounds 
 appear to me to have had this origin. The coast contiguous 
 to the sounds follows a uniform straight line running nearly 
 north-east, with scarcely any indentations of importance 
 beyond the mouth of the sounds. 
 
 The sounds and their gorge-like valleys seemed carved out 
 of a mass of the earth's crust rising abruptly from the coast 
 line to an elevation of from 3,000 to close on 9,000 feet above 
 sea level. This formation, which has in course of time been 
 worn into the valleys and mountains we now behold, rises like 
 a wall from out the ocean all along the coast from Preserva- 
 tion Inlet to Milford Sound (a distance of about 120 miles), 
 and has its highest point not many miles inland. At Milford 
 Sound it retires inland, forming a chain of mountains which, 
 to the north of Milford, run parallel to the coast, but at a con- 
 siderable distance from it, till they merge into the range of 
 mountains known as the Southern Alps. The intervening 
 stretch of country between these mountains and the sea is 
 covered with lower elevations and terraces formed from drift 
 brought down from the greater heights by glaciers and other 
 denuding forces of nature, which -have been at work through
 
 88 
 
 THE WILD WEST COAST. 
 
 countless ages. In this drift formation occur, as far as I have 
 seen, all the gold fields as yet opened up on the West Coast, 
 and it seems to be not improbable that the gold has been 
 brought down from the back ranges. If my theory be correct, 
 some day, I think, high up and deep in the masses of the 
 Southern Alps and the lofty mountains which join them from 
 the south, and which lie behind Jackson's and Big Bays, de- 
 posits of gold will be found compared to which all previous 
 finds will be but as the reflected sunlight we receive from 
 the moon is to the direct light of the sun at midday,
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE " ROSA " FETCHES THOMPSON'S SOUND. A PROSPECTING PARTY 
 
 DRIVEN BACK BY SANDFLIES. THE FRUITLESS SEARCH AFTER GOLD. 
 
 y-A PROBLEM STILL TO BE SOLVED. CASWELL'S AND GEORGE SOUNDS. 
 A SUGGESTED OVERLAND ROUTE TO MILFORD SOUND AND ITS 
 SUBLIME SCENERY. THE BANKS OF THE POSEIDON. LAKE ADA. 
 SOME HINTS ABOUT TROUT AND SALMON REARING, AND THE DE- 
 VELOPMENT OF THE WEST COAST. BLIGH SOUND. A MARINER'S 
 OPINION OF A DOGMATIC GEOLOGIST. POISON BAY. ARRIVAL AT 
 MILFORD SOUND. 
 
 TD UT to return to the " Rosa." After passing Doubtful Sound, 
 -D we sailed pleasantly alongthe west of Secretary Island till 
 we rounded its most northerly point, and found ourselves in the 
 mouth of Thompson's Sound. We decided to put in here for 
 the night, and at 5 p.m. we dropped anchor in a snug little 
 harbour called Open Cove, about one-and-a-half miles from 
 the entrance to the sound. Our day's sailing amounted to 
 about 38 miles, and had been enjoyable in the extreme. Not 
 only was the weather perfect, but the coast scenery had been 
 grand, interesting, and unique. 
 
 Thompson's Sound is some n miles long, and generally 
 about one wide. Its depth varies from 10 to 230 fathoms, and 
 it averages about 130. Over 100 fathoms of water is also 
 found far up both Smith's and Bradshaw's Sounds, 120 at the 
 head of Precipice Cove, and 68 at that of Hall's Arm. 
 
 I have already referred to the scenery and formation of 
 Thompson's Sound. The bay in which we were anchored
 
 go THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 had a boulder-strewn beach, and the skipper, self, and some 
 others landed with our tools, and started prospecting ; but the 
 sand-flies came in such swarms and were so ferociously blood- 
 thirsty that our powers of endurance gave way, and gathering 
 up our tools we absolutely fled to the boat and returned to 
 the cutter. They were soon sw T arming there, and quite thick 
 in the cabin ; but from that sanctum we speedily ousted them 
 by starting smoking. The only thing in the way of minerals 
 we found on shore were specimens of fine white marble. 
 
 We left Open Cove next morning at half-past four, and, 
 standing out to sea, continued our voyage up the coast in 
 beautiful weather, and with a fair wind and smooth sea. At 
 7 a.m. we were off Nancy Sound, and half-an-hour later were 
 close to Charles Sound, the many pointed peaks of Mount 
 Paulina a lofty mountain a little to the south of Caswell's 
 Sound forming a conspicuous object in the view ahead of us. 
 
 Nancy and Charles Sounds are two small sounds, each 
 about eight miles long, and have soundings of over 100 fatnoms. 
 They extend in a south-east direction. Nancy is four and 
 Charles eight miles from Thompson's Sound. Charles Sound 
 has an arm branching to the east about five miles from the 
 sea. This arm is called Emelius, and is about three miles 
 long. Fort Arm at the head of Nancy's is some one-and-a- 
 half miles long, and bears to the north-east. Charles Sound 
 has the reputation of being a good sealing ground. On the 
 face of one of the mountains near its head there crops out a 
 considerable deposit of marble. The position of this marble 
 could be seen from the cutter. Pat, who had visited it, told 
 me it was white in colour, and seemed to be of good quality. 
 Hitherto all the sounds we had seen had much the same 
 appearance, and seemed to be of the same formation. There 
 were no beaches, except small ones at the foot of cascades, 
 formed by the debris brought down by the rushing torrents. 
 At the head of the sounds are alluvial swampy flats packed 
 with snags. 
 
 As we neared Caswell's Sound, we noticed just to the south 
 of it several beaches and small terraces behind them. This 
 struck me as being a not unlikely looking spot to find gold, 
 if there was any about, but as yet all our efforts to find any trace 
 of the precious metal in the sounds had failed ; and, except at 
 Preservation Inlet, I have not heard of anybody finding it in 
 this region. At all events we have no reliable reports on the
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. gr 
 
 subject. I have often been told that men have found gold in\ 
 this or that sound, but they never bring it away with them ;; 
 and, what is more, they don't go back to look for it. We: 
 came to the conclusion that it is unlikely gold exists in the 
 the sounds south of Milford. We found no trace of it, either 
 free or in rocks ; but then the country is so precipitous 
 and so covered with bush that prospecting it must be a matter 
 of many years to come before anyone can state at all positively 
 that payable gold does not exist. We were opposite to the 
 entrance of Caswell's Sound at half-past eight, and the view 
 was very fine. The snow-capped Mary Peaks, nearly 6,000 
 feet high, about 12 miles off and situate near its head, formed 
 a magnificent back-ground to the sound which stretched before 
 us, with its adjacent giant mountains, among which Mount 
 Paulina, close at hand, and 4,200 feet high, towered majestically. 
 
 Caswell's Sound is about ten miles long, and thirteen miles 
 north of Thompson's. It extends in an east-south-east 
 direction, and is generally about 100 fathoms deep. The 
 surrounding mountains are very lofty. Just at the entrance 
 it is not more than 800 yards wide, but soon opens out to more 
 than two miles, and narrows down again to about half-a-mile 
 at the head. Gold is said to have been found on its shores in 
 places, as well as large deposits of white marble. The latter 
 has been worked at various times and a good deal of money 
 spent in the experiment, but nothing has come of it, and, for 
 the present at all events, operations have ceased. The marble 
 is nearly a pure white in colour, and I have seen several 
 specimens of it manufactured into vases and other ornaments, 
 which undoubtedly had a handsome appearance. It does not, 
 however, seem to exist in large pieces. The whole deposit 
 appears to have been shaken perhaps by an earthquake and 
 to be cracked all through, so that when quarried it comes 
 away in fragments. 
 
 After passing Caswell's Sound, the coast-line for some dis- 
 tance became less rugged, the immediate mountains lower, 
 and in many places extensive flat-topped terraces of a 
 moderate elevation were observed. These terraces, so far as 
 I could judge, were composed of drift and gravel, and may 
 possibly in the future become gold fields of a limited extent. 
 
 Three miles from Caswell's, we passed Tom Thumb Bay, 
 a small bay with a reef of rocks outside and said to be a fair 
 boat harbour.
 
 92 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 Four miles further on we sailed past Looking-glass Bay. 
 This bay is about a mile deep and half-a-mile wide at the 
 mouth, and has the appearance of being the entrance of a 
 sound. It is a fair harbour when the wind does not come 
 from the north-west. There is a good deal of terrace forma- 
 tion and comparatively level land around its shores, and gold 
 is reported to have been found in the neighbourhood. 
 
 About four miles north of Looking-glass Bay, we passed 
 close to House-roof Rock, a huge isolated rock rising out of 
 the water about 400 yards from the shore. The top is shaped 
 not unlike the roof of a house, and its general appearance 
 strongly reminds one of a Noah's Ark. There are a few shrubs 
 growing on the rock. 
 
 At about half-past ten we opened up George Sound, having 
 covered a distance of 28 miles since we left Thompson's 
 Sound at half past four. 
 
 From Caswell's to a few miles beyond George Sound we 
 passed a succession of terraces, not by any means an unfavour- 
 able spot for gold prospecting. 
 
 The best way to work this part of the coast would be to 
 take a cutter into George or Caswell's Sounds, and land with 
 tent, stores, tools, &c., in a whale-boat at various points. Such 
 a plan of operations could be easily carried out in fine 
 weather. 
 
 George Sound extends in a south-south-east direction, and 
 is 1 2 miles long. A considerable stream flows into its head. 
 About a mile up this stream is a small lake, the head of which 
 is said to be only two miles distant from the Poseidon River 
 which flows into Milford Sound. 
 
 George Sound is rather an open one. Its depth varies 
 from 30 to 100 fathoms. It is surrounded by lofty mountains, 
 its head waters being overshadowed by peaks of from 5,000 to 
 7,000 feet elevation. 
 
 I think a tolerably easy road could be made from the head 
 of this sound to the Poseidon River, and down the side of the 
 river to Milford Sound. If this were done, it would give the 
 tourist the most get-at-able and magnificent piece of mountain 
 travelling in New Zealand. The trip would be by steamer to 
 the head of George Sound which in itself is well worth coming 
 a long way to see and thence by ponies or on foot to the head 
 of Milford Sound. 
 
 The scenery down the Poseidon is truly marvellous. The
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 93 
 
 Sutherland Falls, near its head waters, are said by those 
 who have seen them to surpass in altitude and sublimity any- 
 thing of the kind in the world. The river is about 25 miles 
 long from its rise to where it enters Milford Sound. 
 
 About nine miles from the sound it enters Lake Ada, a 
 narrow sheet of water five miles long and surrounded by the 
 grandest mountain scenery. Taking the nearest point of con- 
 tact, the distance from Lake Ada to Milford Sound is four 
 miles. The scenic beauties of the sound, I need hardly remind 
 my readers, are well-known and far-famed. The traveller 
 could break his journey at the falls, and amuse himself fish- 
 ing, fern gathering, or mountaineering. Trout have been put 
 into the Poseidon, and if they flourish as they have done 
 elsewhere in New Zealand, the efforts of the angler will soon 
 be rewarded with the capture of monsters of 10 Ibs., 20 Ibs., 
 and even 30 Ibs. weight. 
 
 While on this subject I should like to express my firm con- 
 viction that if the introduction of salmon to New Zealand 
 waters is ever to be successfully carried out, the young fry 
 must be turned into such places as Lake Ada or Lake 
 McKerrow near Martin's Bay, and similar lakes on the West 
 Coast, and not into the unsuitable rivers of the south and east 
 coast where efforts have hitherto been unsuccessfully made to 
 rear them. I think myself it is a pity that trout should have 
 been turned into such a likely salmon river as the Poseidon, 
 for they will certainly play havoc with young salmon, and be 
 an impediment to the eventual introduction of the king of fish. 
 Where the salmon successfully acclimatised on the West 
 Coast, it could not fail to be a source of great wealth to the 
 country. Stock the West Coast Sounds with salmon, and I 
 do not doubt that this would attract a considerable population 
 in the course of time. Then by degrees we should witness 
 the development of the rich mineral resources which it is almost 
 certain are hidden in the recesses of the gigantic forest-covered 
 mountain ranges which I have so often described. 
 
 A sail of six miles from George Sound brought us to the 
 mouth of Bligh Sound. As we approached this sound the 
 mountains again rose abruptly from the sea, being very lofty, 
 with many snow-capped peaks. I noticed during this voyage 
 that snow was generally an indication of an elevation of 
 about 5,000 feet. An excellent view of the rugged heights 
 of Mount Longsight, 4,800 feet, the Hawrenny Peaks,
 
 94 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 6,500 feet, and the Mitre Peaks, 5,500 (the latter in the 
 distance) affording ample satisfaction to those who take 
 any pleasure in seeing how un-get-at-able this earth of ours 
 can be. The mountains, though higher, shewed much less 
 rock on the surface than had been the case further south, and 
 revealed traces of numerous and frequent landslips. As we 
 opened up Bligh Sound the view was very fine. Mount Long- 
 sight, which rises abruptly from the sea and forms the northern 
 boundary of the sound for many miles, impressed every- 
 body. The peaks of the huge mountains which are about 
 Milford were also at this point prominent features in the land- 
 scape. 
 
 Bligh Sound extends in a south-east direction about five 
 miles, then turns sharply to the right and keeps south-west 
 for the next five ; turns again to the left, and continues south- 
 east for three miles, when the head is reached. This zig-zag 
 contour can be traced in many of the sounds and inland lakes 
 of the South Island, and is probably the course cut by ancient 
 glaciers out of the surrounding elevated country. The general 
 depth of Bligh Sound varies from 40 to 78 fathoms. There is 
 a harbour at the head of the sound called Bounty Haven, 
 where bottom is found at seven fathoms. The mountains 
 about this sound are rugged and steep, and at its head are a 
 pile of snow-clad giants running up to 7,000 feet. It is 
 amongst these that the river Poseidon rises, the river being at 
 its nearest point about four miles from the head of the sound. 
 
 We did not go into Bligh Sound, but continued our course 
 towards Milford. Three miles from Bligh Sound we passed 
 Little Bay, an indentation in the coast line shut in by steep 
 snow-crowned mountains between 5,000 and 6,000 feet high. 
 There are some remarkable-looking rocks at the south end of 
 the bay, which is said to be a tolerably safe harbour for small 
 craft in southerly weather. 
 
 Five miles more and we came to Poison Bay. This bay 
 is reputed to be a good haven of safety in most winds. There 
 is a deep gorge-like valley behind it, which appears to be the 
 mouth of a filled-up sound. 
 
 Once when passing Poison Bay in a steamer, the Captain 
 said to me, " Ah, Poison Bay ought to have been a sound, 
 only Dr. 's ice melted before he finished it." (Dr. - is 
 a well-known but dogmatic geologist). " That man talks, not 
 only as if he knew all about how the world was made, but as
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 95 
 
 if he helped to make it. I had him round with me One trip. 
 He knew everything, and shewed how this part of the world 
 had been made, and I guess he could tell you how many tons 
 of ice it took to cut out each of the sounds. He's not always 
 right though. Once he wrote a paper proving that no gold 
 would ever be found in a certain locality ; but, as it happened, 
 very rich gold was found in that locality, and thereupon Dr. 
 immediately wrote another paper in which he ignored 
 his first, and shewed not only that the gold was there, but how 
 it came there, and how he knew it ought to be there. He did 
 exactly the same about some coal deposits on the West Coast. 
 First of all he wrote a paper asserting their was no coal worth 
 speaking about in the locality indicated, and then, when big 
 seams were found, he wrote another paper shewing when the 
 coal was put there, and why it w r as put there." 
 
 When off Poison Bay, Mount Pembroke, 6,800 feet high and 
 one of the mountains about Milford Sound, presented a grand 
 appearance. Just at this time patches of feathery white mist 
 made their appearance on many of the higher peaks, and the 
 mixture of snow, black rocks, and sun-gilded mist made a 
 very imposing picture. 
 
 A little gold has been obtained about Poison Bay. It 
 suffers, in reputation at all events, from one very serious 
 drawback viz., its atmosphere is said to be darkened with 
 sand-flies. 
 
 Sailing pleasantly along another seven miles brought us to 
 Milford Sound ; but long before we entered Milford we could 
 make out away to the north the south point of Big Bay, and 
 at last saw before us the terminating point of our voyage in 
 the " Rosa." All were happy at the thought of soon being 
 ashore, for the voyage all huddled together as we were, 
 twelve men with not accommodation for six was not improv- 
 ing our tempers. Quarrels had also taken place between our 
 Danes and the sailors, the hot-tempered skipper in particular 
 seeming to be very much down on the Dutchmen, as he called 
 them. A fortnight had been the time estimated to suffice to 
 bring us from the Bluff to Big Bay, and now the end of four 
 weeks found us still on the voyage.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OUR ANCHORAGE IN ANITA BAY. THE GLORIES OF MILFORD SOUND. 
 A MARVELLOUS PANORAMA. A PULL UP THE FAMOUS SOUND. 
 THE FIRST GLIMPSE. STORMY WEATHER. CUTTING A TRACK TO 
 TRANSIT BEACH. IDLE MOMENTS. 
 
 WE entered Milford Sound at 3 p.m., having sailed 50 
 miles since we left Thompson's at half-past four, and a 
 delightful sail it had been in all truth. Between Bligh and 
 Milford the views looking landward had been sublime. 
 Panorama succeeded panorama, each seeming more magnifi- 
 cent than the preceding one. And, indeed, this was the case, 
 for, as we neared Milford, peaks of 6,000, 7,000, 8,000, and one 
 of 9,000 feet elevation came in view. It was evident as we 
 entered Milford that to the north of the sound the high moun- 
 tains retired inland, a series of beaches, terraces and hills of 
 moderate elevation stretching along the coast as far as eye 
 could see. 
 
 On entering the sound, to the left Mount Pembroke rose 
 majestically from the sea to a height of nearly 7,000 feet, its 
 numerous peaks capped with snow, and its steep sides luxuriat- 
 ing in rich forest growth for fully 3,000 feet above sea level. 
 In front of us the mountains came down to the water like 
 sheer walls, their sides apparently absolutely perpendicular. 
 They seemed to meet about two miles from us, and one could 
 hardly concerve that there was any passage between them; 
 they seemed, indeed, to bar our further progress. To the 
 right rose forest-clad hills, above whose dark-green crests
 
 THE WILD WEST COAST. 97 
 
 towered the castellated points of Mitre Peak, the most strik- 
 ingly shaped mountain in New Zealand. Numerous photo- 
 graphs have been taken of this remarkable formation, and can 
 be obtained in nearly every large centre of British civilisation. 
 We passed St. Ann's Point, a low projecting ridge of bare 
 rocks off the south entrance, and sailing round it about half- 
 a-mile found ourselves in a snug little harbour encircled with 
 wooded hills, called Anita Bay, where we anchored. I imme- 
 diately had the whale-boat lowered, and with a party of four 
 started for a pull up the sound. 
 
 At Anita Bay the sound is about two miles wide ; two 
 miles further on, at Dale Point, it is only 500 yards, with the 
 water 60 fathoms deep, and perpendicular cliffs about 4,000 
 feet high overhanging us on either side. You can, therefore, 
 imagine something of the scenery we had in view as, on this 
 summer afternoon, over still water, we pulled our boat up the 
 far-famed Milford Sound. To the left was Mount Pembroke, 
 6,800 feet ; to the right, the tops of Mitre and Hawrenny 
 Peaks, 5,500 feet, could be seen projecting above the huge 
 green walls which rose from the waters of the sound ; in 
 front the 4,000 feet cliffs seemed to meet, and, as I have just 
 before observed, render further progress impossible 
 
 We found a considerable swell coming in from the sea as 
 we pulled out of Anita Bay, but it diminished as we pro- 
 gressed, and by the time we reached Dale Point it had died 
 away. 
 
 For two miles from this point there was nothing to be seen 
 but two huge green walls on each side of us, with streams of 
 water here and there tumbling down them. Keeping close to 
 the left wall, we could see the points of Mitre Peak above the 
 right one. 
 
 Getting through the narrows the sound opened out, and 
 rounding a point there suddenly burst upon us, as if by magic, 
 perhaps the most marvellous vision of scenic grandeur to be 
 found on the West Coast of New Zealand, if not in the whole 
 world. Maybe the observer is more struck with it on account 
 of the suddenness with which it bursts upon his astonished 
 gaze, and it is on that account I am inclined to rank it before 
 all other views. We stopped rowing as if by instinct, and for 
 a time looked on in silent rapture upon this wondrous vista 
 of beauty. It was some minutes before the dead silence was 
 broken by any of the crew. 
 
 H
 
 9 8 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 We were but a few yards from Stirling Waterfall, a magni- 
 ficent cascade of great volume, which, emanating from the 
 snows of Mount Pembroke, here precipitates itself in a few 
 falls the lowest of which is close on 1,000 feet over the left 
 w r all into the waters of the sound. 
 
 We regarded this splendid fall and the dark gorge we had 
 come through for some time with intense admiration. We 
 were so close to the base of the huge cliff it tumbles over, that 
 the fall appeared to be hanging over us. The top of the cliff 
 could not be seen ; it seemed, indeed, to pierce the sky. Next 
 turning round, before us stretched the upper waters of Mil- 
 ford Sound, still as a millpond, and from two to three miles 
 wide, with the outlines of the stupendous mountains reflected 
 on their surface. We were about five miles from the head, 
 but it hardly looked one, and the Bowen Falls, four miles dis- 
 tant, seemed close at hand. Time did not permit us to advance 
 just then any further into fairyland, and so we pulled back to 
 the cutter. 
 
 Going through the narrows we met a strong head wind, and 
 had rather a hard pull for about an hour ; but once past 
 Dale Point the breeze died away, and we rowed into Anita 
 Bay over a glassy sea lighted with the reflection of a gorgeous 
 sunset, and heaving to the dying pulse of the distant ocean. 
 
 It was dark when we got on board. As I smoked a pipe on 
 deck before turning in I could hear the moan of the waves as 
 they broke at the entrance to the sound, while the cry of the 
 penguins from all sides mingled with the voice of the land 
 birds. I felt that I had just seen a piece of indescribably grand 
 scenery. To try to imagine an increase of grandeur would be, 
 as I think Dr. Johnson somewhere remarks, " ridiculous be- 
 cause impossible." 
 
 M., who had been on shore at Anita Bay, gave me some 
 small water-worn pieces of greenstone he had picked up. 
 The stone was transparent and of a pea-green colour, an in- 
 different quality of the greenstone found at various places on 
 the West Coast, though much valued by the Maories, who 
 worked it into ornaments and weapons before they acquired 
 the manners of the Pakeha. It takes a fine polish, and is now 
 a good deal used for watch chains and other ornaments. Its 
 technical name is nephrite, a kind of tremolite, a variety of 
 hornblende ; an anhydrous silicate, composed of silica and 
 magnesia with little or no iron, commonly called jade. It
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 99 
 
 occurs usually in association with talcose or magnesian rocks. 
 It is also found in China, Mexico, and Peru. The Spaniards 
 discovered many ornaments carved from this stone in the 
 possession of the Mexicans and Peruvians when they first 
 landed in those countries in the good old days, and brought 
 the people within the fold of the Christian Church by 
 rooting out and extirpating the population for the glory and 
 honour of his Most Christian Majesty of Spain. There are 
 various varieties of jade on the West Coast, some so fibrous 
 in structure that it might almost be called asbestos ; color 
 pale green, and easily split into stiff, brittle fibres. In this 
 form it occurs in enormous deposits, but it does not appear to 
 have any commercial value, being too brittle to either polish 
 like greenstone or work up like asbestos. I have seen speci- 
 mens of what might be called all the transition forms from jade 
 to asbestos. The stone at Anita Bay is hard and compact 
 enough to take a good polish. There is a quarry of it on the 
 face of a hill just above the bay which appears to have been 
 worked at some time or other. Pat said that the Maories 
 used in years past to come regularly to Anita Bay for the 
 stone. 
 
 The night turned dull and cloudy, with fitful gusts of wind 
 blowing up the sound, and so strong that we congratulated 
 ourselves on having turned back in the whale-boat when we 
 did. Had we have delayed much longer it is doubtful if we 
 could have got back to the cutter at all that night. 
 
 All next day (December ist) was wet, with a heavy north- 
 west gale, and we did nothing. The second was fine, though 
 a heavy south-west gale was blowing, and a big sea running 
 outside. 
 
 As the weather seemed broken and there was no chance of 
 being able to put to sea for a day or two at least, we decided 
 to cut a track through the bush to Transit Beach. 
 
 Transit Beach is about three miles to the south of St. Ann's 
 Point. Pat said he had heard there was gold there. About 
 three in the afternoon all hands landed, and we made a start. 
 
 I could see from the cutter that there was a saddle between 
 the hills, bearing 280 by my prismatic compass, and as by 
 the chart Transit Beach was in about the same direction, I 
 decided to cut the track on that bearing. 
 
 We had far more men than were needed for cutting one track, 
 for as the track was but four feet wide two men would have
 
 ioo THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 been ample one with a slasher for the small growth going 
 first, and the other man armed with an axe following and 
 cutting the heavy stuff. Instead of two we were eleven strong, 
 armed with slashers and billhooks for cutting the undergrowth 
 and small timber and axes for felling such trees as might 
 impede our progress. 
 
 The country was covered with the usual dense forest, chiefly 
 birch, with a few red pines and fuchsia trees and a thick 
 growth of ferns and creepers, chief among the latter being the 
 gee-gee and supple-jack. 
 
 The gee-gee is a very handsome creeper ; its leaves, which 
 are like sword blades in shape, grow in crowns and branch 
 from the main vine every foot or so. The vine is generally 
 two or three inches in diameter, and the crowns often two or 
 three feet across. I have seen these gee-gee vines climbing 
 60 feet and more up a tree, and completely hiding its trunk 
 with their graceful plumes. The blossom is in long, white, 
 feathery flowers, and the fruit is juicy and wholesome. 
 
 Creepers, ferns, and small trees rapidly disappeared before our 
 men, everything being cut close to the ground, and soft places 
 bridged over. The track was made serviceable for the transit 
 of loads in case our discoveries at Transit Beach made it 
 worth while camping there for any time. 
 
 The modus operandi was thus: I, with the compass, went 
 first, taking two men with me, and pushed my way through 
 the bush, keeping the line by the compass as far as the men 
 behind could conveniently see or hear me. I then stood still 
 and they commenced to cut in the direction where I had come 
 to a halt. The two men with me meanwhile pushed on as 
 far as I could see them, or made for any conspicuous mark 
 which might be in the line. They would next turn and com- 
 mence cutting towards me. Then, when the two cutting 
 parties had nearly met, I would move on, taking the first two 
 with me, and the operation described above would be repeated. 
 Most of my time was thus occupied in standing still with the 
 compass in my hands. The sand-flies took a mean advantage 
 of my position, especially when I was taking bearings, and 
 could not brush them away. The men at work escaped this 
 martyrdom, as they are slow-moving brutes, and do not settle 
 on you till you have been standing still a second or two. This 
 was the first time I had seen the whole party at work ; some 
 of them I noticed did not shape very well, and seemed to have
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 101 
 
 very vague ideas as to when they were in the line or cutting 
 in the right direction. Old Julius, as we now called him, 
 worked splendidly, and shewed himself an experienced bush- 
 man. When he was once started he kept the line like a bee, and 
 laid about him with a heavy slasher in most effectual style. 
 The other men said they could do most work with tools as 
 light as possible, but Julius, on the contrary, claimed to be 
 able to do more work and to feel less tired if he used tools of 
 a good weight ; and, provided a man knows how to use them, 
 I believe old Julius to be right. But with amateurs, as a rule, 
 the lighter their tools the better. 
 
 The ground, as we proceeded, was undulating and rising. 
 We crossed several small gullies with running water in them. 
 It was probably the creek which enters Anita Bay, close to 
 where we had started our track, crossing and re-crossing our 
 path. The creek bed was everywhere spangled with glisten- 
 ing yellow mica. Having cut about 50 chains of track we 
 returned to the cutter at nightfall. 
 
 Early next morning we resumed operations, and soon found 
 ourselves in a swampy flat which was covered with stunted 
 trees and a thick undergrowth of flax, reeds, and gee-gee. I 
 sent a man up a tree to have a look-out, and he reported high 
 land on both sides, but not in front. From this I concluded 
 we were on top of the saddle seen from the cutter. We were 
 now about 200^ feet above the sea level according to the 
 barometer. We cut our way across the flats very swampy 
 and flat for about a mile, and then the ground began to fall 
 rapidly, and we were soon in thick forest again. Before long 
 we could hear the waves breaking on Transit Beach below us. 
 Cutting about 30 chains after leaving the flat brought us to 
 a dense growth of tutu and veronica, which more or less all 
 along the coast exposed to the open sea makes a thick fringe 
 between the bush proper and high water mark. 
 
 The veronica creeps right down to high-water mark, its 
 roots inserting themselves between and into any crevices that 
 may occur in rock or boulder. I have often seen big rocks 
 and boulders surrounded by water at high tide, and apparently 
 devoid of soil, with their tops covered with a cluster of bright 
 veronica. In stormy days, too, I have again and again noticed 
 the waves washing into the veronica fringe. This variety of 
 veronica has a large leaf, pink flower, grows about 14 feet 
 high, and is very valuable for making breakwinds to gardens,
 
 102 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 &c., especially near the sea. It grows very fast when planted 
 out, and makes a handsome evergreen hedge. 
 
 Cutting through the fringe we found ourselves on Transit 
 Beach at about half-past ten, and saw on all sides a rock- 
 bound coast strewn with granite, schist, and a few white marble 
 boulders. I came upon a rugged fragment of iron ore, about 
 two feet through each way. It had much the appearance of 
 some iron ore I have seen from the West of Scotland. Old 
 Julius told me he had once worked at some iron works in 
 Sweden, and the ore used exactly resembled this fragment. 
 We set to work prospecting, but found no gold. There was, 
 however, plenty of yellow mica, with which, indeed, the whole 
 country seems to be peppered. The sand-flies came in millions, 
 and we presently determined it was not worth while staying 
 any longer, and so returned forthwith to Anita Bay. It was 
 a warm afternoon, and when I got back to the bay I sent my 
 garments off to the cutter in one of the boats, and then swam 
 off myself, having a delicious swim of about 200 yards. 
 
 Next morning at sunrise we weighed anchor, some of us 
 being so sanguine of being landed at Big Bay before night as 
 to do up swags and get all ready for going ashore. We stood 
 out of Milford with a light, fair breeze, but it died away as the 
 sun got up. Then the sky began to get dirty to the north- 
 west, with a falling glass, so we turned after a couple of hours 
 and took up our old quarters at Anita Bay. 
 
 The storm came on at n a.m., with very heavy rain, and 
 the rest of the day was spent in idling, smoking, yarning, 
 playing cards, and fishing. C. and I in the cabin tested some 
 of the stones we had found at different places, and for this 
 purpose had recourse to acids and blow-pipe. There was no 
 doubt about the presence of plenty of iron in them all, and 
 little else ; one specimen though indicated faint traces of 
 nicol. 
 
 The fishermen caught a few dozen crayfish, a blind eel, a 
 few cod, a groper three feet, and a shark four feet long. The 
 crayfish were caught in a roughly constructed pot. They 
 can be caught here and at many other places on the New 
 Zealand coast by the ton. Often when net fishing I have seen 
 them clustering on the net in dozens, and eating what fish 
 there might be in it, but the brutes always dropped off and 
 escaped as the net was being hauled in. In some places, if we 
 left our nets down an hour or two, we would be pretty sure to
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 103 
 
 find the fish all more or less eaten by crayfish, with nothing 
 but the heads and back bones left in many instances. They 
 are about as large as a lobster in the body, but want the two 
 large claws. Many people consider them equal and even 
 superior to the lobster for the table, but I cannot say that I 
 endorse that opinion. I have always found them very insipid 
 by comparison. 
 
 The blind eel is an abominable creator of nastiness, in a 
 mass of which it lives. It envelopes itself in a bag of the 
 most filthy-looking, evil-smelling slime imaginable, and makes 
 a horrible mess of anything it comes in contact with. For my 
 part I would prefer to cut the line and let a blind eel away 
 with the hook sooner than have anything to do with it. As 
 far as I have seen they are generally about 2 feet long, not 
 unlike a thick fresh-water eel to look at. 
 
 Sharks are said to swarm on this coast, but I never saw 
 any ; and when the water is still, as it often was, one generally 
 sees their black back fin shewing above the surface if there 
 are any big ones about. The one caught by our man had a 
 mouth large enough to enable it to give a severe bite.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE CAPTAIN AND THE DANES DO NOT EXACTLY HIT IT. DELAYED BY 
 THE WEATHER. ANOTHER DELUGE. A NIGHT ALARM. A GIANT 
 LANDSLIP. CONTINUATION OF THE GALE. WE MAKE FOR THE 
 HEAD OF MILFORD SOUND AND THERE ANCHOR. A GOODLY 
 PROSPECT. ENTERPRISING MR. SUTHERLAND. A DUBIOUS TRANS- 
 ACTION AND ITS TRAGIC END. THE FUTURE OF MILFORD SOUND. 
 HERMIT JEALOUSIES AND NEIGHBOURLY WRANGLES. 
 
 '"THE next two days were pouring wet and very windy, so 
 J- that we were mostly confined to the cutter. Things did 
 not go very pleasantly, for the Captain showed a good deal of 
 nasty temper. He seems to have a great aversion to the 
 Danes, and for little or no reason flies down their throats. 
 His tongue is as sharp as a two-edged sword, while his lan- 
 guage would most certainly class Ai at Billinsgate. The 
 Danes seem thoroughly cowed by this black-browed, salt- 
 skinned savage. He is very civil to me, but I shall be glad 
 to be landed at Big Bay and clear of him and his cutter. He 
 is, however, a very able seaman. 
 
 Next morning, the 7th of December, was dull, with a little 
 rain and light wind, but a heavy sea running from the west 
 made it useless to try Big Bay, as, had we gone, there would 
 have been too much surf to allow us to land. We went on 
 shore and again prospected, and found small pieces of fine 
 white marble and good greenstone and also huge masses of 
 inferior greenstone. Next we sunk a shaft, went through a 
 bed of blue pipe-clay, and got into a drift of mullock and iron-
 
 THE WILD WEST COAST. 105 
 
 stained earth and granite boulders. There were no traces of 
 gold or even black sand ; plenty of sand composed of garnets 
 and stained quartz called ruby sand was discovered by the 
 men. Found a large schapper lying on the beach not quite 
 dead. This is one of the best eating of the New Zealand fish, 
 but chiefly confined to the North Island, and I never heard of 
 one so far south before. 
 
 On the 8th there was a tremendous downpour all day. I 
 obtained a first-class shower bath by standing undressed on 
 the deck for two or three minutes. In the cabin everything 
 was wet floor soaking, walls running, and ceiling dripping. 
 Throughout the whole day there was a roar all round of 
 thundering cataracts, both close at hand and miles away, and 
 the furious torrent of rain that pelted down covered the sea with 
 large bubbles. We made a guage of a common bucket, and, 
 calculating the amount that fell, found it came to 20 inches 
 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. 
 
 At 9 p.m. I was standing on the deck in my oilskins, the 
 night being pitch dark and the rain still descending in a perfect 
 deluge, when suddenly we were startled by a tremendous 
 report, which continued like heavy thunder for 10 seconds, 
 and which seemed to make the cutter tremble. Some said it 
 was an earthquake and spoke of the chances of a tidal wave 
 following, but most of us considered it to be a landslip. One 
 man declared that if it was a landslip it must have been half a 
 mountain that tumbled down, and further, that if it had fallen 
 into the water we should have a tremendous wave upon us in 
 a minute. However, nothing of the kind occurred, and we 
 passed the night in peace, our chief trouble being to arrange 
 oilskins and waterproof sheeting in such a manner as to keep 
 the numerous drips from the cabin ceiling off our blankets. 
 Fleas were now swarming, and a tin of insecticide C. had 
 brought with him came in very useful. 
 
 Next morning broke extremely fine, not a cloud in the sky. 
 The landslip we had heard during the night could now be 
 clearly seen, extending along the side of a mountain for about 
 two miles at about 800 feet above the sea, and not more than 
 a mile from where we lay at anchor. Every one landed and 
 proceeded to inspect the slip. We found from the direction 
 of the landslip that the flood had cut a gut 20 feet deep and 
 half a chain in width through the bush, carrying trees, bush, 
 rocks, and boulders before its impetuous torrent and piling
 
 io6 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 them up in a huge mound many feet high and fully three 
 chains broad on the sea beach close to where we had com- 
 menced the track to Transit Beach. We prospected up this 
 gut ; as we ascended we got some fine views of Mount Pem- 
 broke, and could see the slip above us to the left. We at last 
 came upon it at the end of the channel about one mile from 
 the beach. We then found ourselves under a newly formed cliff 
 with a face several hundred feet high, over which tumbled two 
 cascades. This was the commencement of the slip at the 
 greatest distance from the sea, and it was evident that a good 
 deal of the debris brought away by it had been washed down 
 the gut and helped to form the heap on the beach. This gut, 
 if it were kept clear, would constitute a nice trip for tourists 
 visiting Milford Sound, for it affords a ready means of pene- 
 trating into the New Zealand bush not often met with in the 
 sounds. There is beautiful forest on each side full of vines, 
 creepers, and ferns, among the latter being the gigantic mum- 
 mock, whose fronds not unfrequently measure as much as 
 1 6 feet in length. 
 
 In the bed of the gut were boulders of granite containing 
 small lodes of garnet, reefs of what looked like granitic gneiss 
 displaying veins of marble in profusion, and large pieces of 
 pure white marble. One in particular, four feet long, three 
 feet deep, and 14 inches thick had evidently been broken off a 
 reef. There were also masses of slag and hornblende. The 
 ground where the water had been running and subsided, as 
 well as the bed of the creek which flowed down the channel, 
 positively glittered with yellow and silver mica. Some of the 
 former looked wonderfully like gold ; so much so that one of 
 the men seeing a crevice in a rock full of it, declared it was 
 and must be gold. He accordingly proceeded to dig some out 
 with his knife, and then pronounced it to be mica, but found 
 consolation in the observation that gold couldn't look any 
 different. We also came across a little iron pyrites, but no 
 trace of gold or black sand was to be seen. We, however, 
 did not waste our time ; we had three guns with us and shot 
 twenty-four kakas and some pigeons. 
 
 The day was beautiful all through ; the air after the rain was 
 fresh and delicious, and, above all, till towards evening, there 
 was scarcely a sandfly to bother us. This was, indeed, a 
 relief. 
 
 We returned to the cutter in the evening, everybody in a,
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 107 
 
 good humour. Pieces of mammock were brought away for 
 cooking purposes, but though the Maories are said to prize it 
 highly I cannot say that our party appreciated it much. 
 
 The warm sun had dried up everything, and the change 
 from the constant drip and damp of the last two days was 
 agreeable in the extreme. 
 
 Next morning, the loth of December, we weighed anchor 
 at eight o'clock, and, there being but little wind, stood out to 
 sea. The dog Jack, a large brown retreiver good for nothing 
 but eating and swimming, was left behind. A day or two 
 before some of the men had gone round the Point in a boat 
 and taken Jack with them. They pulled about three miles 
 from Anita, landed, shot a few birds, and went back to their 
 boat ; but Jack refused to come with them, and they left him 
 to his fate. They said that owing to the nature of the coast 
 it was impossible he could make his way along the beach to 
 Anita Bay, while he was not likely to find it through the bush. 
 The little terrier, Fan, bought by M. in Dunedin, had by this 
 time taken a great fancy to myself, and would follow no one 
 else. She had evidently been a great pet, and knew a lot of 
 tricks. She was dainty at first, turning up her nose at por- 
 ridge and fish, but hunger soon taught her the necessity of 
 eating all she could get of any kind. 
 
 While at Anita Bay one day I, in wandering over the rocks 
 which stretch for some distance behind St. Ann's Point, came 
 upon several impressions in the hard granite rock as of human 
 feet for all the world as if someone with boots on had been 
 walking on the rocks when they were soft. Some of the im- 
 prints were such as would be made by a three-year-old child, 
 others by a full-grown man. A better and more distinct 
 impression of footprints could not well be. 
 
 As we got out of the sound the wind fell away, and we met 
 a heavy swell rolling in from the west, so heavy as to put all 
 ideas of landing at Big Bay out of the question. The glass 
 commenced to fall, too, so we turned round, and re-entering 
 Milford ran right up to the head of the sound, and there 
 anchored in Freshwater Basin, just in front of Sutherland's 
 house and half-a-mile above Bowen Falls. The wind fresh- 
 ened as we got into the sound, and we had half a gale behind 
 us when passing through the narrows. We ran aground in 
 Freshwater Basin, but hauled off with a kedge, and dropped 
 anchor. Since we have been in Milford it has blown a gale of
 
 IDS THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 more or less violence through the narrows every day, generally 
 up it, no matter what the weather might be outside. 
 
 Milford Sound is about nine miles long, and after passing 
 Sterling Falls, which are about half-way up, and which we 
 visited in the whale-boat on the first night of our arrival at 
 Milford, the scenery grows more and more imposing until a 
 glorious, stupendous, bewildering climax is reached at the head 
 of the sound. 
 
 From our anchorage we had in prospect, looking from north 
 to east, a stretch of the sound with the huge walls of rock 
 rising 4,000 feet from the water's edge ; snow-clad Pembroke 
 6,800, and Tutako 9,000 feet in the background ; and the magni- 
 ficent Bowen Falls near at hand. From east to south we 
 commanded a view of Sutherland's house, with a 5,ooo-feet 
 hill behind it, and 7,ooo-feet peaks behind that ; the valley of 
 the Cleddaw; a portion of Sheerdown Range (about 5,000 
 feet high), and Deep Water Basin 
 
 From south to west we had Deep Water Basin, Sheerdown 
 Range, the valley of Lake Ada, and the Poseidon River, with 
 a background of lofty mountains. From west to north perhaps 
 the best view of all we beheld a stretch of water, still, and 
 reflecting with mirror-like fidelity on its calm and placid sur- 
 face the glorious panorama of mountain and forest shadowed 
 in its clear depths. Beyond this scene of sweet tranquility rose 
 those wonderful ranges of highlands of which Hawrenny and 
 Mitre Peaks are the highest points. These ranges are ex- 
 ceptionally precipitous in their outline, and terminate in sharp 
 teeth-like peaks, Mitre Peak being perhaps the sharpest. 
 
 We were anchored half-a-mile away from Bowen Falls, yet 
 the air was filled with spray from it, making the decks and 
 everything wet. 
 
 Mr. Sutherland, whose house we could see not far off, is a 
 man who has spent several years in this intensely lovely soli- 
 tude. He is said to be looking for minerals, somewhat after the 
 style of Docherty at Dusky Sound, every now and again turn- 
 ing up at Wellington or Dunedm with specimens and reports of 
 valuable discoveries, though as yet nothing has come of them. 
 He is a tall, heavily-built man, with fresh complexion and 
 bright blue eyes, and is likely to go down to posterity as the 
 discoverer of the great waterfall which bears his name. I 
 fancy that by degrees history will convert him into a hero, 
 although I do not know that there is anything especially heroic
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 109 
 
 in living in a comfortable house in the midst of such glorious 
 scenery, with a Government steamer waiting on him every 
 three months, and several other steamers calling during the year, 
 obtaining a free passage to Wellington or Dunedin whenever 
 he wants one, and then staying a month or two in town getting 
 money for shares in his discoveries and receiving help to enable 
 him to open up the country. 
 
 I heard from very good authority that Sutherland once got 
 ^"40 to commence cutting a track from Milford to Wakalipu 
 Lake, he having reported that he had found a very good one 
 with a saddle only 200 or 300 feet high. The city fathers of 
 Queenstown (the capital of the Wakalipu district) who voted 
 him this money, then began to think that WakaEpu was itself a 
 thousand feet above Milford, and that there must be some- 
 thing wrong about the 200 feet saddle. Accordingly they 
 declined to send Sutherland any more money, and the track 
 was never cut. As far as I can see he has done nothing to 
 speak of yet for the time he has been here. There was a 
 standing offer of ^"300 to anyone who would find a decent 
 track over the mountains from the West Coast Sounds to the 
 interior. Such a track was recently found by a young surveyor 
 named M'Kinnon, who came through to Milford from Te 
 Anau Lake on the other side. Sutherland now says he could 
 have found the track at any time if he had wanted to do so. 
 
 Recently he went to Dunedin with some very good speci- 
 mens of rough gold which he represented he had got out of a 
 claim he was working to the north of Milford Sound. Several 
 men were induced by him to pay for a share in the claim. 
 One man to my knowledge paid 75 sterling, and I don't know 
 what the others gave him, but when they got to the place 
 where Sutherland had told them they w r ould make their for- 
 tunes, they found one little patch of gold and no more. Four 
 of them named Brebner, Richardson, Wooife, and Perry left 
 Sutherland in disgust, and, getting a boat, went prospecting up 
 the coast to the north. The poor fellows had their boat upset 
 in going into the river at Martin's Bay, and were all drowned 
 in November, 1887. Two of my men helped to bury them at 
 Martin's Bay some weeks after the accident. 
 
 A gentleman who has known Sutherland for years told me 
 that Sutherland also came to him with the sample of gold he 
 took to Dunedin, and by means of which he enticed the men 
 to purchase shares in the claim. As soon as he saw the gold
 
 no THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 the gentleman in question remarked, " Very pretty nuggets 
 Mr. Sutherland, very pretty ; I remember them perfectly well ; 
 you showed them to me just five years ago." Sutherland did 
 business elsewhere after that pointed rebuff. 
 
 That Sutherland is a man of taste is evident to any one who 
 has been in his house, while his surveys of the district show 
 considerable ability in one who has not been trained to the 
 work. 
 
 Before long I have no doubt there will be an hotel at Lake 
 Ada or Sutherland's Falls. Possibly the hotel would do best 
 at the head of the sound, somewhere near where Sutherland 
 himself is, with accommodation houses at the other places of 
 interest. Sutherland will most likely be the landlord, and with 
 his hotel and boats and guides to the mountains, should make 
 a good thing of the enterprise. I have no doubt, at all events, 
 that he will be regarded by the tourists, who are almost certain 
 to come here in large numbers, as one of the wonders of New 
 Zealand, and further, I should say, he will deserve his honours 
 and prosperity as much as most people who draw prizes in 
 life's lottery. Everything comes to him who waits, and 
 Sutherland, if he has done nothing else, has certainly waited 
 long at Milford Sound. 
 
 It is curious, by the way, how these hermit-like men dislike 
 each other. Docherty was once a passenger, with Sutherland, 
 by the Government steamer. After Sutherland had been 
 landed at Milford, Docherty turned to the Captain and said, 
 " You would observe, Captain, that I did not speak to Suther- 
 land ; I am a worker ; I have nothing to do with a loafer like 
 him." I have heard, too, that Sutherland says as much for 
 Docherty. 
 
 Another hermit, called Maori Bill, who has spent more than 
 twenty years, mostly by himself, in the bush, living on roots and 
 what birds his dogs could catch for him, once met Docherty on 
 board a West-Coast steamer, and said, " How do you do Mr. 
 Docherty ? " " You have the advantage of me," replied 
 Docherty, either not knowing or pretending not to know him. 
 " So has anyone who has a little common sense," came Maori 
 Bill's spiteful retort. 
 
 If there are only two or three settlers together they generally 
 manage to fall out. Many years ago I went overland from 
 Queenstown on Lake Wakanpu to Martin's Bay on the West 
 Coast with a man who was paid by Government 60 a year
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. in 
 
 to carry the mails between Martin's Bay and Queenstown once 
 a month. We carried our tent, blankets, and provisions on 
 our backs, and the trip occupied five days. At that time there 
 were only two families living at the bay the mailman's and 
 another man's of course, not on speaking terms. Going to 
 the bay the last fourteen miles was done by boat down Lake 
 McKerrow and the river which runs out of it into the sea at 
 Martin's Bay. On this occasion we were sailing down the 
 lake in beautiful weather, close to the shore, and were about 
 three miles from the settlement at Martin's Bay, where the 
 mailman lived, when the other man, who was working in the 
 bush near where we were, came down to the water's edge, 
 leaving his work, and asked if there was anything in the mail 
 for him ? As it happened, the whole mail consisted of one 
 newspaper addressed to the questioner. However, his neigh- 
 bour, the mailman, stood up in the boat and shouted out, " If 
 you come down to the post-office you can ascertain." And we 
 went on without another word. The post-office, I may mention, 
 was at his own house at Martin's Bay. I happened to be in 
 the post-office that afternoon when the other man called, and 
 I would rather not describe what was said and done. It took 
 the man a good two hours to walk from where he hailed us to 
 the post-office, and he did not know if he would get anything 
 or not at the end of his journey. I can tell this much, at all 
 events, he was not exactly pleased. 
 
 A Captain who has to go round New Zealand every three 
 months, taking stores to the lighthouses and calling on the 
 hermits and at the out-of-the-way settlements, has told me 
 many a tale about this tendency to quarrel which exists among 
 isolated settlers. Once when I was with him at a lighthouse 
 where there were three men, the Captain was informed if he 
 did not take one of the men away there would be murder 
 before he came back. He left them to do as they pleased in 
 the matter, and reported the happy family to the authorities. 
 The Captain said, " I go to one of these settlements and meet, 
 say, Jones. ' Good morning, Mr. Jones ; how's Mr. Brown ? ' 
 ' Don't ask me. If the Government knew the truth, they 
 would take him away.' Next I meet Brown and say, ' Good 
 morning, Mr. Brown, how's Mr. Smith ? ' 'I don't know, and, 
 don't want to know anything about him.' Then, I say, ' Do 
 you think Government knows what sort of man Jones is ? ' and 
 the answers comes, ' I am sure if they knew what a scoundrel
 
 ii2 THE WILD WEST COAST. 
 
 he is, they would take him away.' Where there are women it 
 is worse ! I next meet Mrs. Smith, and say, ' Good morning, 
 Mrs. Smith, how's your neighbour, Mrs. Brown ? ' ' Oh, please 
 don't ask me ; you don't suppose I have anything to do with 
 those people. I hope I have not come down to that yet,' and 
 Mrs. Brown, if I meet her, will say as much for Mrs. Smith." 
 So said my friend the Captain, and he has had many years' 
 experience now. 
 
 I once saw a pair of boots landed at one of these settlements. 
 There were only two men at the settlement ; one was away 
 when we called, and the other came down to meet the boat. 
 The mate, who took the boots ashore, asked where the other 
 man was, as he had some boots for him. " Don't know," 
 came the gruff answer. " Well, I'll leave the boots with you, 
 and you can give them to him when he comes," joins in the 
 mate. " No you won't, I won't take them," surlily persists 
 the neighbour. " Well, I will put them down here, and you 
 can tell him I left them" pleads the other. " You can put them 
 where you like, but they will stop there for ever before I tell 
 him anything about them," and thus the interesting dialogue 
 closed.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SUTHERLAND'S HOME. A VISIT TO BOWEN FALLS. STUPENDOUS SCENE. 
 ANOTHER SUNSET IN MILFORD SOUND. THE SOUND BY MOON- 
 LIGHT. HARRISON COVE. A NEAR GLIMPSE OF THE GLACIER 
 WORLD. OUR BAKERS STILL A FAILURE. THE DEPARTURE FROM 
 HARRISON COVE. GOOD-BYE TO MILFORD SOUND. M'KINNON'S 
 NEW TRACK TO LAKE TE ANAU. A PARTING TRIBUTE TO MILFORD 
 SOUND SCENERY. 
 
 BUT to return to the " Rosa." After making the ship snug, 
 we landed and went up to Sutherland's house. The 
 house stands about 100 yards from and 50 feet above the 
 water, is of wood, well and strongly built, and contains three 
 rooms. The outer door was open and we went in, and found 
 everything very clean and neat, wood laid in the fireplace, and 
 many objects of interest tastefully arranged about the room. 
 On a table were several letters waiting for the Government 
 steamer, and a letter for her Captain, spread out for all to 
 read, stating that Sutherland and party were working on the 
 beach about two miles from Gate's Point, and asking the 
 Captain to leave them some provisions. It further requested 
 him to signal them as he passed the beach, so that they would 
 know when to come for them, as they were getting short. 
 This letter was dated October igth, and as the Government 
 steamer had been round a week after that date she had 
 apparently not called. 
 
 Behind the dwelling-house were some outhouses, one of 
 which was fitted up with a forge, and contained a large and 
 good collection of tools, well kept. On a carpenter's bench 
 was an open diary, evidently meant to be seen, and it was 
 perused by some of the men. It was an account of Sutherland
 
 n 4 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 and party's doings at Kaipo Beach, about six miles south of 
 Martin's Bay, and gave the dates of the washings up. On 
 several occasions over 20 ozs., and on one over 40 ozs. were said 
 to have been obtained. If gold was referred to I must say I 
 did not and do not believe anything of the sort. If the state 
 ments in the diary were true, Sutherland would not be likely 
 to tell everybody by leaving his book in such a conspicuous 
 place, for he must have known that people would call there 
 during his absence. 
 
 There was a small garden at the back of the house, and in 
 it struggled for existence with a mass of weeds and young 
 native undergrowth roses, rhubarb, peas, and strawberry 
 plants. The latter made a good show of fruit not yet ripe. 
 
 I went for a ramble through the bush, and climbed a good 
 way up the bed of a creek which comes down behind the 
 house, till I was stopped by a cascade with a fall of some 2,000 
 feet. The bush was chiefly birch, with a good many rata or 
 ironwood trees, but there was not much large timber. I had 
 a good look at a saddle-bird, a beautiful reddish-brown bird 
 with a dark bar across its back, and with red wattles. It was 
 about the size of a thrush. During my wanderings I obtained 
 magnificent views of wild mountain scenery, endless forest, and 
 still blue water, and I finally returned to the cutter at 6 p.m. 
 
 I then took the dingy and rowed to a convenient landing 
 place near Bowen Falls, about three-quarters of a mile pull 
 from the cutter. After landing on a stony beach and hauling 
 up the dingy, I proceeded to inspect the falls. I was unaccom- 
 panied by anyone. I had to walk about half-a-mile to get at 
 them, my path being over rock-strewn and level rush-covered 
 ground. 
 
 Everything around was on a vast scale, but so clear is the 
 atmosphere in these regions that the visitor is constantly 
 taking mountains for hills and large waterfalls for small cas- 
 cades. 
 
 Looking at the Bowen Falls from a distance of half-a-mile, 
 they do not seem to be much more than 100 feet in height ; 
 but when you get close under them you realise that they are 
 as high as stated viz., 540 feet unbroken fall. 
 
 All the way from the cutter I had been in more or less of a 
 drizzle, which ever thickened as I advanced. As soon as I 
 had landed and long before I got to the fall itself, I was in 
 the midst of a thick cold rain, blown into me by a piercing
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 115 
 
 gale which seemed to emanate from the fall itself. I was 
 speedily soaked to the skin. At length I stopped, for the simple 
 reason that I could not well get any further. 
 
 I had traversed a rush-covered flat formed of debris brought 
 down from the fall, and extending about 400 yards behind me. 
 I now stood on a cliff at the edge of this formation about 
 20 yards from the fall itself, the river which flows from it 
 washing the foot of the cliff about 30 feet below me. Around 
 me danced a thick sheet of spray, hurried along by an icy cold 
 wind, and filling my eyes and making vision extremely difficult. 
 Every now and again this spray was so thick that I could see 
 nothing. Vast as was the volume of falling water it was 
 evidently sometimes much greater, for the ground I was stand- 
 ing on had recently been covered with running water. That 
 this had been the case was clearly shewn by the fact that the 
 tough rushes and reeds, which grew thickly on it and the flat 
 I had traversed, were all crushed closed to the ground in one 
 direction as if a heavy roller had passed over them. 
 
 Speech, even if I had had a companion with me, would have 
 been impossible ; thought itself was almost so. Above, around, 
 and under me rolled a never-ending peal of thunder, which 
 shook the ground I stood upon. In front of me I beheld a 
 vibrating, foaming, vapouring pillar of water over 500 feet high 
 and 50 across, whose top I could see, but whose base was 
 hidden by the hissing clouds of spray rising from the deep 
 basin at its foot. Its roar deafened me, and I am sure that had 
 a heavy piece of ordnance been discharged close to my ear I 
 should not have heard the report. I was both delighted and 
 awed with the majesty of the Bowen Falls. They far exceeded 
 any description I had ever heard given of them. 
 
 As I returned to the dingy I noticed several boards nailed 
 to trees containing names and dates. They were those of 
 different ships which had visited the Sound, and were as 
 follows : 
 
 H.M.S. BLANCHE 1/10/74. 
 
 S.S. HINEMOA, Hooking ... ... 5/5/77- 
 
 HAWEA 30/12/77. 
 
 ,, ROTORUA, Carey 6/1/79. 
 
 ,, PENGUIN, Malcolm ... ... 1881. 
 
 ,, WAIHORA ... ... ... ... 30/12/83. 
 
 NAPIER, 48 tons, Fisk ... ... ... 21/7/85. 
 
 I pulled back to the cutter, with a contented mind in a moist 
 unpleasant body.
 
 n6 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 It was now sunset, and as evening came on the scene we 
 gazed on was grandly serene, yet beautifully wild. It was 
 perfectly calm, the silent waters reflecting and increasing the 
 sunset glory of the mountains. The sunlight gilded the snow- 
 capped peaks long after the shades of night had fallen on us. 
 While the bushy mountain sides, valleys and lower peaks 
 notably one immediately under Mitre Peak assumed a cobalt 
 black tint, the outlines of the higher rocky masses stood out 
 clear and distinct against the evening sky. 
 
 I have seen nothing to approach the scene we beheld since 
 I gazed out of the darkness of the night at the 29,000 feet high 
 peaks of Chan-Chin Jungla in the Himalayas, with their eternal 
 snows still ruddy in the sunlight. The panorama spread before 
 us reminded me irresistibly of the time when I had viewed 
 mightier masses than those now looking us in the face though 
 not their equal in abrupt outline, and lacking the presence of 
 water to reflect and magnify their terrible beauty. Gradually 
 the last pink flush faded away from the highest snow, and the 
 outlines only of the mountains could be distinguished against 
 the sky in which the stars were now glimmering: W r e seemed 
 to be floating at the bottom of a deep pit, for the countless 
 bright stars overhead played with a dim light on the water 
 around us. Presently a nearly full moon came climbing over 
 the sharp black edge of a huge wall to the east, and as she 
 rose threw over the scene a veil of silvery mist. 
 
 Early next morning there were no mountains to be seen. 
 Masses of white mist obscured both mountain peak and wooded 
 valley, but these dispersed as the sun mounted up in the 
 heavens, though they still lingered about the snow-clad crests 
 and dark-timbered slopes like beautiful, broken, pink and white 
 fleeces. 
 
 We weighed anchor at half-past eight and stood down the 
 sound, but it was rather curious progress that we made. We 
 had a fresh, favourable breeze, and yet in spite of that the 
 cutter constantly refused to answer her helm. Sometimes we 
 went along sideways, and once or twice stern first. It was 
 enough to make even a sailor swear, and at last our skipper 
 lashed the helm, and told his vessel to " take her own road as 
 she would not be guided." This extraordinary behaviour of 
 the cutter was, I have no doubt, caused by strong under- 
 currents, running contrary to the surface one, getting hold of 
 the keel. In these sounds there is sometimes several feet deep
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 117 
 
 of fresh water running out, and the heavier salt water from the 
 sea running in under it. However, whether sideways or stern 
 first, or as we ought to be, our progress was in the right direc- 
 tion down the sound. We had not gone very far though 
 before the wind changed and commenced to blow a gale 
 against us, so we shortened sail, and beating into Harrison 
 Cove dropped anchor about ten o'clock. 
 
 Harrison Cove is a snug little harbour about a mile long 
 and half-a-mile wide, three miles from Sutherland's on the 
 right hand side going down, and from it are seen the very best 
 views in Milford Sound, having snow and glaciers as promi- 
 nent features. At no other point can a vessel anchor so close 
 to the green ice and white snow. 
 
 From our anchorage, behind us, looking out of the cove, was 
 a portion of Milford Sound, with the Mitre Peak heights as a 
 background. To the right and left towered Sheerdown Cliffs, 
 several thousand feet high, large portions of their rocky face 
 devoid of bush but tinted green with fern and moss, and 
 several cascades tumbling gracefully down them. In front of us 
 was a small, narrow, timber-laden valley, the lower portion of it 
 almost level, with a considerable sized glacier-fed stream 
 meandering down its length. 
 
 This valley is enclosed by lofty snow-clad peaks, the hollows 
 between them full of snow-covered ice and very close at hand. 
 The highest points of Mount Pembroke, 6,800 feet, and Mount 
 Tutoko, 9,042 feet, are respectively distant four and five miles. 
 Anyone acquainted with mountain scenery can understand how 
 mountains of such altitude, at such distances, will appear to 
 tower above the observer. 
 
 There were several glaciers in view ; one very fine one could 
 be seen for several miles curling round and under a lofty, 
 crescent-shaped peak, and its lower portions going well into 
 the dark bush. I have no doubt but that an easy track could 
 be cut to this glacier, and a visit to it would become a most 
 enjoyable excursion for visitors coming to Milford. We landed 
 as soon as we got to anchor, and the men started baking and 
 washing. 
 
 I am sorry to have to record that the bakers do not improve, 
 for they still turn out a compound which might serve as shot 
 should our supply of that article run out. Yet it is not diffi- 
 cult to make eatable bread. Some months afterwards my 
 brother-in-law and myself were alone for a considerable time
 
 n8 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 in the wilderness, and we soon succeeded in turning out very 
 fair bread, though having no greater advantages than those 
 possessed by our merry Danes. 
 
 The rest of us went prospecting. Some of us penetrated a 
 good distance up the river, the water of which was green in 
 colour but clear as crystal. It flows over a bed of granite, 
 and we found no trace of any mineral or quartz. There were, 
 however, some considerable masses of white marble and 
 boulders of heavy, green serpentine rock. We returned to the 
 cutter at about 5 p.m. 
 
 At seven o'clock the skipper asked me to go fishing with him 
 in the dingy, and I went. It was a stormy evening. Every 
 now and again gusts of wind would sweep across the cove, 
 making the cutter swing at her anchor, and then dying away 
 leave the harbour with scarce a ripple on its surface. Out in 
 the sound it was blowing a gale, and overhead dark heavy 
 clouds drifted rapidly from the south-west. We pulled out of 
 the cove and turned towards the mouth of the sound, keeping 
 close to the shore. Here we found a space of half-a-mile or so 
 where, by almost touching the land, we were sheltered from 
 the wind but not the waves, for the latter came tumbling 
 round a point which sheltered us, and rolled by several feet 
 high. This we made our fishing ground for about an hour, 
 though we constantly shifted our position ; we had to keep a 
 few yards only from the shore or we got no bottom, and then 
 no fish. 
 
 It was a wild scene, tossing on the big waves in our little 
 boat at the foot of the mighty Sheerdown with its 5,000 feet 
 of sheer rocky cliff. Its crest, when we looked up, actually 
 seemed to overhang us. On the other side of the wind-driven 
 sound, a mile-and-a-half across, rose a similar cliff with dark, 
 angry-looking clouds resting on its brow. The black-browed 
 skipper was quite in keeping with the surroundings, and 
 seemed in his element, for he opened his broad shoulders and 
 pulled his little craft into the crestless waves as if he loved 
 them. He was in good humour, and consequently made good 
 company. We caught a few blue cod and one trumpeter, and 
 pulled back to the cutter in the dusk. It was extremly cold, 
 and a piercing wind swept in gusts from the snow-crowned 
 heights with which the sound is land-locked. As night came 
 on snow began to fall on the mountains, and icy rain upon us. 
 
 Pat was anxious to spend some time in Harrison Cove and
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND. 119 
 
 explore the valley, glaciers, &c., and I regret we did not, but 
 the majority were desirous to proceed to Big Bay without 
 further loss of time, and the idea was not entertained. 
 
 Next morning was Sunday, the i2th December, fine, but 
 very cold. The mountains looked superb in their coating of 
 fresh snow which came down to within 2,000 feet of sea level 
 i.e., considerably below the bush-line. We remained at anchor 
 all day. It was a beautiful evening, and at sunset I took the 
 dingy and pulled about the cove, silently admiring the golden 
 glory of the scene. 
 
 At midnight we weighed anchor, it being a fine cloudless 
 night with the moon nearly full, and her silvery rays lighting 
 up the mountain peaks with talismanic effect. We glided out 
 of Harrison Cove, helped by a light night wind which blew 
 with an icy touch down the valley from the glaciers. As we 
 got into the sound the wind died away, and the weather soon 
 changed, for rain commenced to fall. It took four hours to 
 cover two miles, and it was eight o'clock in the morning before 
 we dropped anchor once more in Anita Bay. 
 
 We had not been anchored long before Jack the dog, who 
 had been left behind when we were last here, was swimming 
 round the cutter, yelping to attract attention. Tom, the 
 sailor, gave a howl of delight when he saw him, and yelled out, 
 " Our Jack's come home to day," a refrain from a song he was 
 very fond of singing, and which, as far as I am aware, exhausted 
 his vocal reportoire. He soon had Jack safe on board. 
 
 All that day and the next it blew a gale, with intermittent 
 showers. The weather cleared -up on the evening of the second 
 day, and at six in the morning of the I5th December we 
 weighed anchor and sailed out of Milford Sound. This time 
 we did not have to put back, and so we had finished with 
 Milford Sound at last. 
 
 Had we foreseen how long the weather would have detained 
 us there we should have landed tents and stores, and explored 
 some of the valleys about the district ; but expecting the 
 weather would permit us to sail next day always kept us more 
 or less confined to the cutter. 
 
 The chief sights of Milford to one visiting it in a steamer 
 are, first Mount Pembroke to the left ; then the narrows, with 
 their 4,000 feet cliffs on either side ; Sterling Falls, as you 
 emerge from them, to the left ; next, on the same side comes 
 Harrison Cove, encircled with its sky-piercing peaks and
 
 120 THE WILD WEST COAST 
 
 dazzling glaciers ; to the right will now be seen the remark- 
 able outline of Mitre Peak, and as the vessel proceeds Haw- 
 renny Peaks will also come in view in the same direction. 
 Bowen Falls will be observed for some miles ahead before the 
 anchorage off Sutherland's house is reached ; and the traveller, 
 in fact, is encircled, by views any one of which would suffice, 
 either in Europe or America, annually to attract crowds of 
 tourists to the spot. 
 
 I have several times visited Milford Sound since, and on one 
 occasion had a trip to Lake Ada. This lake is about four 
 miles from Sutherland's, and we went partly by boat, and then 
 some three miles along a good track cut through the bush. The 
 lake is four miles long and half-a-mile wide, and is shut 
 in on both sides by mountains rising as much as 6,000 feet. 
 The walk to the lake through the bush is very pleasant, and 
 the ferns which cover the ground like a carpet are, many of 
 them, rare. Splendid glimpses are from time to time obtained 
 through openings in the forest of mountain peaks many thou- 
 sand feet above the traveller. 
 
 The track recently discovered by Mr. M'Kinnon from Mil- 
 ford to Lake Te Anau. is tolerably easy, and when finished it 
 is said that ladies will be able to traverse it with comfort. It 
 passes Lake Ada and the Sutherland Falls about eight miles 
 from the head of the lake. These falls have been measured 
 and photographed. They descend 1,900 feet in three leaps. 
 From the falls the track rises over a saddle, and drops into 
 the Clinton River valley ; then follows down the Clinton River 
 till Lake Te Anau is reached. Te Anau is a beautiful body of 
 water, the largest in the South Island, for it covers an area of 
 132 square miles, and is about 36 miles long. Its scenery on 
 the western side, where several arms penetrate far into the 
 mountains, very much resembles that of the sounds. It is 
 accessible from Dunedin or Invercargill by coach and rail. 
 
 A good traveller will, when McKinnon's track is finished, 
 be able to go from Te Anau to Sutherland's Falls in one day, 
 and there is no doubt but that this track, which connects the 
 finest lake scenery in New Zealand with the unique scenery 
 of the West Coast Sounds, will before long be much frequented 
 by tourists. I think, however, that the saddle between Mil- 
 ford and Te Anau could be more easily reached from the head 
 of George Sound than from Milford. 
 
 Milford and several of the sounds are a favourite resort of
 
 OF NEW ZEALAND, 127 
 
 large porpoises. called sea cows. They can be seen almost 
 any day rolling about by the hundred. 
 
 Every time I go into Milford its marvellous scenery impresses 
 me more and more. One of the most wonderful effects of 
 light and shadow I ever saw was when coming down Milford 
 at night in a steamer. It was full moon, and we left the head 
 of the sound at midnight and steamed out to sea. The base 
 ol the mountains was steeped in darkness, but a flood of silver 
 light rested on the ridges and peaks, and the sheen of the 
 water could be seen glistening like a radiant thread between 
 two black-bottomed, silver-topped walls. The glowing moun- 
 tain peaks seemed indeed to be floating on a dark mist. 
 
 I take the following from my diary, and thus conclude my 
 description of the West Coast Sounds of New Zealand, an 
 account of the wild country to the north, where I have spent 
 some years in the work of exploration, must be left to another 
 time : 
 
 " A scene of stupendous beauty : I saw, as it were, silvered 
 dome and mitred peak resting on darkness ; through this dark- 
 ness trailed a streak of silver, and down this silver trail we 
 passed, on and on, under black cliffs that hung over us, like 
 portals of eternal darkness, like the mouths of huge, endless, 
 hellish caverns, breathing eternal gloom ! home of the spirit 
 of night. And above this stupendous mass of obscurity float 
 palaces of light, veils of luminous mist, pinnacles of topaz, lakes 
 of pure white marble, and domes of fairy silver. It falls behind 
 us, and we are out on the moon-silvered sea. The huge 
 mountains sink and sink till they look like cloud-banks on the 
 horizon. The southern swell moves silently past, making us 
 stagger as we pace the deck. The land-wind strikes cold, and 
 as the sounds are left behind, we turn in." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON' : PRINTED BY THOBPRN AND CO., 136, SALISBURY SQUARE, FLEET SQUARE, E.C.