Page:Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand.djvu/40

26 peaks to the westward of the Waiau. Still we were scarcely near enough to be able to realise very thoroughly the character of the lower land, and that at a greater distance, and of greater height, was only at intervals visible, the clouds, as usual during the day, betaking themselves to the mountain tops, which are consequently most readily seen to perfection in the light of the moon, or by the rays of the morning sun. It was under the first of these conditions that I happened, three years ago, to make acquaintance with some of the grand sights in mountain scenery on the West Coast; and it must certainly be said, that if to be with “ladye fair,” or in abbey ancient, by moonlight alone, be pleasure meet for a child poetic, the feeling with which he would be inspired by Pembroke Peak, or the great Mount Cook, would not lose by comparison. But it was with the practical, more than the picturesque, that we had to do on this occasion, and, as we coasted along, a stretch of flat land or the indications of a valley were of more interest, as pointing to future settlement, than crags or peaks, or “rocks that rise in giddy grandeur.” Abreast of the Solander, the steamer made more towards the shore. Although, if anything, colder in its aspect, it intimately resembles, in all essential particulars, the portions of the West Coast in the neighbourhood of Hokitika and the Grey; the ranges at one point, where they flank Big River, approaching the seaboard a little more closely than they do in those parts. Only here and there, on the spurs of the hills, or at intervals on the terraces, are patches of grass, and these apparently not accessible. The rest is the sort of country which will remain undeveloped until population becomes more abundant by immigration, or until a race of woodmen are born and bred in the country, as have been the backwoodsmen of Newfoundland, the Canadas, and the United States; and, distant as the day may be, it can scarcely fail to come when such a class will be needed to fill the ship-building yards of this country, or the ships of others, with supplies of the raw material from the extensive forests of the West Coast.

By the time we reached Green Islets, the breeze had freshened from the S.E.; except upon the hill-tops inland, not a cloud was to be seen; and we looked both upon sea and land, in this usually inhospitable region, in, perhaps, their brightest aspect. It is said in the sailing directions, that there is invariably a heavy surf along this part of the coast, and its character can be well imagined, from the complete scarping which the sea has given to some terraces towards Windsor Point. If anywhere, it may be said that here, “upon the rocky strand, breaks the huge wave which at the Pole began.” The verdure, notwithstanding, keeps its ground close to the water’s edge, a green stripe skirting the darker scrub, which covers the ridgy and broken ground beyond.

This Windsor Point may be considered the most south-westerly point of the Middle Island, and when we rounded it, we estimated ourselves to be on the West Coast, and that the interest of the expedition had commenced. Puseygur Point, which marks the entrance of the southern arm of Preservation Inlet, being but three miles distant, was soon passed, and from the time of passing it until the completion of the trip northwards, there was a perceptible increase of interest in the objects to be seen, and in