第22章 CHAPTER V(3)

However,his boldness and skill had won him sympathy and admiration,so that I believe the pardon was rather a popular act than otherwise.To return.There we lay on the shingle-bed,at the top of the range,in the broiling noonday;for even at that altitude it was very hot,and there was no cloud in the sky and very little breeze.I saw that if we wanted a complete view we must climb to the top of a peak which,though only a few hundred feet higher than where we were lying,nevertheless hid a great deal from us.I accordingly began the ascent,having arranged with my companion that if there was country to be seen he should be called,if not,he should be allowed to take it easy.Well,Isaw snowy peak after snowy peak come in view as the summit in front of me narrowed,but no mountains were visible higher or grander than what Ihad already seen.Suddenly,as my eyes got on a level with the top,so that I could see over,I was struck almost breathless by the wonderful mountain that burst on my sight.The effect was startling.It rose towering in a massy parallelogram,disclosed from top to bottom in the cloudless sky,far above all the others.It was exactly opposite to me,and about the nearest in the whole range.So you may imagine that it was indeed a splendid spectacle.It has been calculated by the Admiralty people at 13,200feet,but Mr.Haast,a gentleman of high scientific attainments in the employ of Government as geological surveyor,says that it is considerably higher.For my part,I can well believe it.Mont Blanc himself is not so grand in shape,and does not look so imposing.Indeed,I am not sure that Mount Cook is not the finest in outline of all the snowy mountains that I have ever seen.It is not visible from many places on the eastern side of the island,and the front ranges are so lofty that they hide it.It can be seen from the top of Banks Peninsula,and for a few hundred yards somewhere near Timaru,and over a good deal of the Mackenzie country,but nowhere else on the eastern side of this settlement,unless from a great height.It is,however,well worth any amount of climbing to see.No one can mistake it.If a person says he THINKS he has seen Mount Cook,you may be quite sure that he has not seen it.The moment it comes into sight the exclamation is,"That is Mount Cook!"--not "That MUST be Mount Cook!"There is no possibility of mistake.There is a glorious field for the members of the Alpine Club here.Mount Cook awaits them,and he who first scales it will be crowned with undying laurels:for my part,though it is hazardous to say this of any mountain,I do not think that any human being will ever reach its top.

I am forgetting myself into admiring a mountain which is of no use for sheep.This is wrong.A mountain here is only beautiful if it has good grass on it.Scenery is not scenery--it is "country,"subaudita voce "sheep."If it is good for sheep,it is beautiful,magnificent,and all the rest of it;if not,it is not worth looking at.I am cultivating this tone of mind with considerable success,but you must pardon me for an occasional outbreak of the old Adam.

Of course I called my companion up,and he agreed with me that he had never seen anything so wonderful.We got down,very much tired,a little after dark.We had had a very fatiguing day,but it was amply repaid.That night it froze pretty sharply,and our upper blankets were again stiff.

May,1860.--Not content with the little piece of country we found recently,we have since been up the Hurunui to its source,and seen the water flowing down the Teramakaw (or the "Tether-my-cow,"as the Europeans call it).We did no good,and turned back,partly owing to bad weather,and partly from the impossibility of proceeding farther with horses.Indeed,our pack-horse had rolled over more than once,frightening us much,but fortunately escaping unhurt.The season,too,is getting too late for any long excursion.The Hurunui is not a snow river;the great range becomes much lower here,and the saddle of the Hurunui can hardly be more than 3000feet above the level of the sea.

Vegetation is luxuriant--most abominably and unpleasantly luxuriant (for there is no getting through it)--at the very top.The reason of this is,that the nor'-westers,coming heavily charged with warm moisture,deposit it on the western side of the great range,and the saddles,of course,get some of the benefit.As we were going up the river,we could see the gap at the end of it,covered with dense clouds,which were coming from the N.W.,and which just lipped over the saddle,and then ended.There are some beautiful lakes on the Hurunui,surrounded by lofty wooded mountains.The few Maories that inhabit this settlement travel to the West Coast by way of this river.They always go on foot,and we saw several traces of their encampments--little mimis,as they are called--a few light sticks thrown together,and covered with grass,affording a sort of half-and-half shelter for a single individual.How comfortable!