A TRIP TO THE SOUNDS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1248, 21 March 1883, Page 2

A TRIP TO THE SOUNDS.

«~ — (From the Otago Daily Times): We left Port Chalmers at 5 p.m. oiu Wednesday, 7th February. All was; bustle and stir on bo«rd, people gettingthrir luggage down their cabins, and some hopelessly trying to get better berths than were allotted to them. Oneold and learned gentleman, of portly din.ensious — an invited guest of the Company— had been assigned one of the best cabins of the ship, along with two other notables. They, however, had been smarter than he, or possibly, from the fact of their boing in Dunedin,, had arrived sooner on board, and had selected their berths first, leaving to theancient savant--who is about «ix feet high, 10 feet in circumference, and weighs 18 stone— a small sofa about a foot broad and three feet long. Of coursehis slp^pin^ in such a crib was out of the queston, unless it had been possibleto make him collapsable in more ways than one, so that I sympathised very much with him, and tried to> pacify him all I could by showing him that the Company intended to put him into a good cabin ; but no — " I shall g(> ashore ; it is fine treatment to go and invite me to go and then assign? m» accommodation like this "—sol sought, out the authorities, and brought them. face to face with the stout party and the> child's crib, and of course by no manner of moans could they reconcile the two; so thty were profuse in their apologies, and soon got him better quarters elsewhere. This and other episodes occupied my time pretty well till the tea-bell rang as we got towards the Heads. We too.k our seats flatly, forming a snug; part}' l>y ourselves cl.^o to our cabin..

We were v.cry fortunate in securing the table next' our cabin, as their w-j.rc various acrimonious disputes in othei forts of thp saloon goiuj? on as to right of seftb. -Tke.liead steward, <fc&, failed <»mpletelyV*- §«""«« * hera v a ß re ®« l»ut soon a greater . poww intervened, .aud cleared the sajoon of most ladies, And settled all disputes. Tke very iflight rolling of tie ship 'outside f»« the all-potent factor, ami soda wo. tecatne .aware that tke screw had. stopped. Some said it was to give us our.,, tea in peace, others that something had gone wrong with tke machinery, and that we would have to return to Port; but the effect was peculiar, for the saloon •cleared very quickly, and as the ship rolled here and there and everywhere, listlessly aud helplessly bobbing about, jou could seepeopKs faces getting jellowet\ and" their attitudes, becoming more and more" recumbent I barely managed to finish niy fish. q.nd bread for I was afraid to take J<?a, wh.en, asoending to the fresh air on deck;, I soon -found that we were JyingtJusrQ for the purpose of swinging the. .ship tor her compos** ; and . as the;; sun .was; just .setting in a glorious suriasi.of .colour in the west, ii was a pecujiaiiy good opportunity forgetting tins jnost: essential part #of s^mensiiTp. affected. We were lying about four triiles to sea^ ward of the Heads, and had. in view the Lighthouse, Pipikariti Point, and ■Cape Saunders, and of course the intervening bays, with_ the backgrounds of higher hills' in the! Peninsula and at the Port, were in full view. It wsts % a lovely scene; ■each range brought into relief the background of ha»* veiling, biit not obliterating, the hillp behind, whilst the golorious scarlet and red of the setting sun bathed the scene in golden light,; and lighted up tWe few clouds in darling brightness, of rich" '"-colour. As 1 the colour faded away after the departure of the monarch of tKc sky the Captain had conJpleted his observations, and we •were soon making for Cape Saunders, whose genial light shone out upon us ■we passed it, and the shades of ■evening closed around: In - spite of the pretty heavy roll from the S.E., we soon found the relief of .the ship going, ■as the motion was more. steady ai\d,regular then, and not from every direction and jerky, as it was before. It was dark when we passed the Ocean Beach,. but we saw. the lights in Dunedin, and thought of the happy home by the trees, and of the brave little, hearts that would be wishing we. .•prer.e' at home' to welcome them back.'.*' a^/ . had turned in -early, as she iy&reflK, |;ood deal from mal-de-mer,\ / but" P walked tke deck yitfr'.; f • '; fell 10 v then liad a nightcap with; ( Cap!' •Cameron, and retired' aVrj^nr. Wept very well ' awolh >% bnoe "reiorß'dayHglit wnder the impression that^the roof was turning round but finding all dark, and realising 4Kb qniVei* of the screw, went" off agi&r, antr slept till 7 a.m. We weretban passing the BTuft Hill; which I Recognised through ray port, but as Captain Cameron had told me that we wonlfl not be there till later, F thought it must be some hiHnear Tautuku.aud ■so did not get up tifl breakfast-time contenting myself in-' the meantime -with a bnscuifc arid av&y fine cup of .coffee, got rup fitst; so that we hoth sat ddWai to rbreakfast along; -vrith-. — —^- : . It -was not long however before — - — -had again, to retire. I liad my breakfast, and went on deck to enjoy the view. The sea was beautifully calm, with a light breeze -from the S.W. We were just opposite Oentre Island, and we had a fine view of the^ Lighthouse, »nd indeed of the whole coast up to Prf eervation Inlet. On the other side Stewait'a Island *hpne out clear, with ragged point, on the west side, with its strange jagged locks standing lik« steeples out of the sea. Then Codfish Island, so celebrated for it* fishing-ground ; and further, on and later In thn day, grand old Solander, standing like a sentinel out in the ocean. As -we coasted along by Qrepuki, the Wairau, and Tewaewae's Buy, and from there to Preservation, ■we had a series of very tine vitws. Long--wood ltinge, .the valley of the Wairau, Takititnos, Mo.untilamiltoa— all shone ■out clear- Then the innumerable peaks and valleys, to the west of the Wairau, all wooded up,te the snowline, shone out ona after the other with their crags and peaks in endless variety. One range was peculiarly beautiful, ■with endless turrets, and towers, and castellated battlemeuts crqw^iog -.its.; summit in infinite variety. One solitary peak, too caused great remark, as long valleys seemed to lie. on each side; and are no. doubt, occupied by lakes. Soon the Puyfegus Lighthouse hove in sight on a low sloping point o£ land and we knew we were uot far f roiu our first halting-ground. There is quite a lot of buildings at tb« Lighthouse, but we were soon past it and past Otago Retiseat, » favourite anchora^e, and then turned into lreservation Inlet