Early the next morning we all breakfasted together, and then separated
with most polite adieux. We sallied forth to look for a couple of riding
horses. There were none to be hired, so we had to buy two good-looking
nags for 45 pounds a-piece. Now-a-days the same horses would not fetch
more than 10 pounds and I have been told that in Australia you can buy a
horse for a shilling, but ours in New Zealand have never sunk lower
than a couple of pounds, if they had any legs at all. It seemed to the
horse-dealer quite a superfluous question when I timidly inquired if my
horse had ever carried a lady. "No: I can't just say as he has, mum, as
you see there aint no ladies in these parts for him to carry. But," he
added magnanimously, "I'll try him with a blanket fust, if you're at
all oneasy about him." We did not start until the next day, as we had to
hunt up side-saddles, and I had to sew a few yards of grey linsey into
a riding-skirt; but by the following day we were all ready, and our
"swags" packed and strapped to the saddles by nine o'clock. F----'s
horse looked a very nice one in every respect; mine was evidently uneasy
in his mind at the strange shape of his saddle, and I was recommended to
mount outside the little enclosure, on a patch of open ground, where
my steed would not be able to brush me off. The moment I mounted, the
"Hermit" as he was called, made for a dry ditch and tried to lie down,
but a sharp cut from a stock-whip brought him out of it, and then he
laid his ears well back and started for a good gallop, to endeavour to
get rid of his strange rider. However, his head was turned in the right
direction; there were no obstacles in the way, and before he got tired
of his pace we had left Timaru a good many miles behind us. F----
looked complacently at the "Hermit," and observed, "He'll carry you very
nicely, I think." I could only breathe a sincere hope that he might.
It was a beautiful day, warm but not oppressive, and delightfully
calm. Our road lay at first along the sea-shore. Ever since we had left
Christchurch the ground had been almost level, and the road consisted
merely of a track cleared from tussocks. On our left extended the vast
strip known as the Ninety-miles Beach, whilst far on our right, between
us and the west coast, the Southern Alps, rose in all their might and
beauty, sometimes lightly veiled by a summer haze, at others cutting our
Italian-blue sky sharp and clear with their grand outlines. Our horses
were a trifle too fat for good condition, and we feared to hurry them
the first day, so we made an early halt at Mahiki, only a twenty
miles stage; but the next day they took us on to Waitaki Ferry, past a
splendid bush, and so into the heart of the hill country.
Between the ranges, beautiful fertile valleys extended; when I say
fertile, I mean that the soil was excellent, and the land well-grassed.
But there was no cultivation. Not a sod had ever been turned there
since the creation of the world, and the whole country wore the
peculiar yellow tinge caught from the tall waving tussocks, which is the
prevailing feature of New Zealand scenery _au naturel_. Every acre
had been "taken up," but as yet the runs were rather understocked. Our
fourth day's ride was the longest,--fifty-five miles in all, though we
halted for a couple of hours at a miserable accommodation house.
Our bivouac that night was close to Lake Wanaka, at the Molyneux
Ferry-house, and there I was kept awake all night by the attentions of
a cat. I never saw such a ridiculous animal. Prince, for that was his
name, took the greatest fancy to me, or rather to my woollen skirt I
suppose, and found a linsey lap much more comfortable than the corduroy
knees on which he took his usual evening nap. At all events he followed
me into my room, which only boasted of a mattress, stuffed with
tussock-grass by the way, on the floor. Here I should have slept very
well after my long journey, if Prince would have permitted it. In vain
I put him out of the window, not always very gently; he returned in five
minutes, bringing a palpitating, just-caught bird or mouse, which he
softly dropped on my face, and purred loudly with delight at his own
gallantry. Twenty times did I strike a match that night and try to
restore the victims to life; only one recovered sufficiently to be
released, and Prince brought it in again, quite dead, five minutes
later. I shut the little casement window, but the room became so hot and
stuffy, and suspicious fumes of stale beer and tobacco began to assert
their presence, so that I found myself obliged to open it again.
Sometimes the victim's bones were crunched close to my ear, and I found
more than one feather in my hair in the morning. Never was any one so
persecuted by a cat as I was by Prince that weary night.
The next day we got to a station known as "Johnson's." It was just at
the head of the lake, and as we arrived tolerably early in the forenoon
we embarked, after the usual station dinner of mutton, tea, and damper,
on Lake Wanaka. Alas for those treacherous blue waters! We had only a
little pair-oared boat, in which I took my place as coxwain, and after
pulling for a mile or two under a blazing sun, over short chopping
waves, with a head-wind, we all became so deadly sea-sick that we had to
turn back! As soon as we had rested and recovered, a council of war
was held as to our movements, and we decided, in spite of our recent
experiences, to turn our horses, who had done quite enough for the
present, out on the run, and so make our way down the lake by boat.
Already F---- was beginning to look anxious, for he perceived that,
even after the head of the lake had been reached, the wool would cost an
enormous sum to cart down to either Oamaru or Timaru, from whence alone
it could be shipped.
The mile or two of the run which lay along the shore of the lake showed
us frightfully rough country. A dense jungle of tussocks and thorny
bushes choked up the feed, and made it impossible to drive any animals
through it, even supposing that good pasturage lay beyond. Still we
hoped that we might be looking at the worst portion of our purchase, and
deter mined to persevere in the attempt to penetrate to the furthest
end of our new property. Accordingly we hired a safe old tub of a boat
which, though too heavy to pull, was warranted to sail steadily, and
with a couple of men, some cold mutton, bread, tea, and sugar, started
valiantly on our cruise. But the "blue, unclouded weather," in which
we had hitherto basked, was at an end for the present. We had already
enjoyed a longer succession of calm days than usually falls to the lot
of the travellers in that windy middle island, and it was now quite time
for the imprisoned "nor'-wester" to have his turn over the surface of
the domain.
Accordingly the first day's sail was against a light, ominously warm
head-wind, and we only made any way at all by keeping up a complicated
system of tacking. The start had not been an early one, so darkness
found us but little advanced on our voyage, and we passed the night in a
rough shanty, on beds of fern-leaves, wrapped in our red blankets. Tired
as we were, none of us could sleep much. The air was dry and parched;
every now and then a sough of the rising hot gale swept through our
crazy shelter without cooling us, and warned us to prepare for what was
coming. Our only chance of getting on was to make an early start, for
fortunately a true "nor'-wester" is somewhat of a sluggard. The skies
wore their peculiar chrysoprase green tint, except towards the weather
quarter, where heavy banks of lurid cloud showed that the enemy was
collecting in force. Even the hour of dawn, usually so crisp and cool,
brought no sense of refreshment to our languid limbs, and we embarked
with the direst forebodings. A few miles further up the lake we reached
an out-station hut, built by our host Mr. Johnson when he first "took
up" his country and intended to push his boundary as far as this. He
soon drew in his lines however on account of the rough nature of the
ground. The hut was in a most picturesque spot, and although deserted,
remained still in good repair. The little scrap of garden ground was a
tangle of gooseberry and currant bushes among which potatoes flourished
at their own sweet will.
We had only time to beach the boat, that is to say F---- and the two
men did so, whilst I ran backwards and forwards with the blankets and
provisions, before the hurricane was upon us. Henceforth there was no
stirring out of doors until the gale had blown itself out. We dragged
in some driftwood, barricaded the door, and prepared to pass the time
as well as we could. Oh, the fleas in the hut! The ground was literally
alive with them, and their audacity and appetite was unparalleled.
Our boatmen sat tranquilly by the tiny window and played cribbage
incessantly with very dirty cards and a board made out of a small bar of
soap. As for me, I turned an empty box up on its end, so as to get
out of the way of the fleas, and perched myself on it, finding ample
occupation in defending my position from the attacks of the active
little wretches. Sometimes I felt as if I must rush out into the
lake and drown myself and my tormentors together. It was very bad for
everybody. The poor boatmen doubtless wished to smoke, but were too
polite to do anything of the sort. F---- had nothing whatever to read,
except a torn piece of an old _Times_, at least two years old, which we
had brought to wrap up some of our provisions; whilst I was still more
idle and wretched. Two weary interminable days dragged, or perhaps I
should say, blew, themselves along in this miserable fashion, but at
sundown on the evening of the third day the wind dropped suddenly, and
we did not lose a moment in darting out of our prison and embarking once
more. For the first time since we started we could perceive the grandeur
of the surrounding country; but grand scenery is not necessary nor
indeed desirable in a sheep run. Splendid mountains ran down in steep
spurs to the very shore of the enormous lake. Behind them, piled in
snowy steeps, rose the distant Alps of the Antipodes; great masses of
native bush made dark purple shadows among the clefts of the hills,
whilst the lake rippled in and out of many a graceful bay and quiet
harbour. Not a fleck or film of cloud floated between us and the serene
and darkening sky; a profound, delightful calm brooded over land and
water. Although there was no moon, the stars served us as lights and
compass until two o'clock in the morning, by which time we had reached
the head of the lake (which is thirty-five miles in length), where we
landed, extemporized a tent out of the boat sail, and turned in for a
refreshing flea-less sleep.
The next day was beautifully still, with a light air from the opposite
point, just sufficient to cool the parched atmosphere; and we made our
way along the head of the lake to a place were a couple of sawyers were
at work. One of them had brought his wife with him, and her welcome to
me was the most touching thing in the world. She took me entirely under
her care, and would hardly let me out of her sight. I must say it was
very nice to be waited on so faithfully, and I gave myself up to
the unaccustomed luxury. All she required of me in exchange for her
incessant toil on my behalf was "news." It did not matter of what kind,
every scrap of intelligence was welcome to her, and she refused to tell
me to what date her "latest advices" extended. During the three days of
our stay in that clearing among the great pines of the Wanaka Bush,
I gave my hostess a complete abridgment of the history of
England--political, social, and moral, beginning from my earliest
recollections. Then we ran over contemporary foreign affairs, dwelt
minutely on every scrap of colonial news, and finally wound up with a
full, true, and particular account of myself and all my relations
and friends. When I paused for breath she would cease her washing and
cooking on my behalf, and say entreatingly, "Go on now, do!" until I
felt quite desperate.
All this time whilst I was being "interviewed" nearly to death,
F----employed himself in making excursions to different parts of the
run. One of the sawyers lent him a miserable half-starved little pony;
and he penetrated to another sawyer's hut, seven miles distant up the
Matukituki river. But no matter whether he turned his steps to north or
south, east or west, he met with the same disheartening report. There
was the ground indeed, but it was perfectly useless. Not only was there
was _no_ pasturage, but if there had been, the nature of the country
would have rendered it valueless, on account of the way it was
overgrown. It would be tedious to explain more minutely why this was
the case. Sufficient must it be to say that whilst F---- was only too
anxious to keep his eyes shut as to the ground he had alighted on after
his leap in the dark, and the sawyers were equally anxious to induce
settlers to come there, and so bring a market for their labour close to
their hand nothing could make our purchase appear anything except a dead
loss. As for the plans, they were purely imaginary. The blue lake was
about the only part true to nature; and even that should have had a
foot-note to state that it was generally lashed into high, unnavigable
waves, by a chronic nor'-wester.
No: there was nothing for it but to go home again to the little run
which had seemed such a mere paddock in our eyes, whilst we indulged
in castle-building over 100,000 acres of country. It was of no use
lingering amid such disappointment and discomfort; besides which my
listener, the sawyer's wife, had turned her husband and herself out of
their hut, and were sleeping under a red blanket tent. Poor woman, she
was most anxious to get away; and the lovely sylvan scene, with the tall
trees standing like sentinels over their prostrate brethren, the wealth
of beauteous greenery, springing through fronds of fern and ground
creepers, the bright-winged flight of paroquets and other bush birds,
even the vast expanse of the lake which stretched almost from their
threshold for so many miles, all would have been gladly exchanged for a
dusty high street in any country town-ship. Her last words were, "Can't
you send me a paper or hany thing printed, mam?" I faithfully promised
to do my best, and carried out my share of the bargain by despatching
to her a large packet of miscellaneous periodicals and newspapers; but
whether she ever received them is more than I can say.
We were afraid of lingering too long, lest another nor'-wester should
become due; and we therefore started as soon as F---- had decided that
it was of no use exploring our wretched purchase any further. We had a
stiff breeze from the north-west all the way down the lake; but as it
was right a-stern it helped us along to such good purpose, that one
day's sailing before it brought us back to Mr. Johnson's homestead
and comparative civilization. The little parlour and the tiny bed-room
beyond, into which I could only get access by climbing through a
window (for the architect had forgotten to put a door), appeared like
apartments in a spacious palace, so great was the contrast between their
snug comfort and the desolate misery of our hut life. Of course nothing
else was talked of except our disappointment at our new run; and
although Mr. Johnson had indulged in forebodings, which were only too
literally fulfilled, he had the good taste never to remind us of his
prophecies.
"Of all the forms of human woe,
Defend me from that dread, 'I told you so.'"
After a day's halt and rest we mounted our much refreshed horses, and
set our faces straight across country for Dunedin. This is very easy to
write, but it was not quite so easy to do. We could only ride for the
first fifty-two miles, which we accomplished in two days. These stages
brought us to the foot of the Dunstan Range, and near the gold-diggings
of that name. I would fain have turned aside to see them, but we had not
time. However, we felt the auriferous influence of the locality; for a
perfect stranger came up to us, whilst we were baiting at another place,
called the Kaiwarara diggings, and offered to buy our horses from us for
30 pounds each, and also to purchase our saddles and bridles at a fair
price. This was exactly what we wanted, as we had intended to sell them
at Dunedin; and I was no ways disinclined to part with the Hermit; who
retained the sulky, misanthropical temper which had earned him his name.
He was now pronounced "fit to carry a lady," and purchased to be sold
again at the diggings. Whether there were any ladies there or not I
cannot tell. Of course, before parting with our nags we ascertained that
the ubiquitous "Cobb's coach" started from our resting place for Dunedin
next day, and we made the rest of our journey in one of that well-known
line. Its leathern springs, whilst not so liable to break by sudden
jolts, impart a swinging rocking motion to the body of the vehicle,
which is most disagreeable; but rough and rude as they are, they deserve
to be looked upon with respect as the pioneers of civilization. All
over America, Australia, and now New Zealand, the moment half-a-dozen
passengers are forthcoming, that moment the enterprising firm starts
a coach, and the vehicle runs until it is ousted by a railway. All
previous tracks which I had journeyed over seemed smooth turnpike roads,
compared to that terrible tussocky track which led to Dunedin.
But that bright little town was reached at last, the hotel welcomed us,
tired and bruised travellers that we were, and next evening we started
in the _Geelong_ for Port Lyttleton. This little coasting steamer seemed
to touch at every hamlet along the coast, and after each pause I had
to begin afresh my agonies of sea-sickness. There was no such thing
as getting one's sea-legs; for we were seldom more than a few hours
outside, and had no chance of getting used to the horrible motion.
Timaru was reached next day, but we had suffered so frightfully during
the night from a chopping sea and an open roadstead, that we went on
shore, and entrusted ourselves once more to the old coach. It seemed
better to endure the miseries we knew of, than to make experiments in
wretchedness. So we went through the old jolting and jumbling until we
were dropped at an accommodation house, fifteen miles from Christchurch,
where we slept that night, and at daylight despatched a messenger to the
next station for our own horses. He had only thirty-five miles to ride,
and about mid-day we started to meet him on hired horses, which we were
very glad to exchange for better nags a stage further on.
And so we rode quietly home in the gloaming, winding up the lovely,
tranquil valley, at whose head stood our own snug little homestead. At
first we were so glad to be safely at hone again that we scarcely gave
a thought to our fruitless enterprise; but as our bruised bodies became
rested and restored, our hearts began to ache when we thought of the
money we had so rashly flung away in BUYING A RUN.