A TRIP TO THE SOUNDS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1252, 30 March 1883, Page 2

A TRIP TO THE SOUNDS.

♦- ' •■, ■ . (From the Otago Daily Times). Our second-concert came off to-night, amßvas a very great success.. After the "concert Captain Cameron sent..,-up. u several roclcetsj to give a : relative. idea-^ of. the heights of tLuj mountains, bu^ ,, they came lar short of .raacuiiig the . summits. Bio'* 4 , lights were also bujv; ned, and everyone retired to rest happy and delighted, \yit;iouiacoflaf>ijuutora liarsh v&rd haying' been heard amongst passe^geiflor.e.re"". '.j V. ; ; . „, , * 4xt looming (suijday){isbJei^din a., beautiful day, mid' in the e^»rly, .mornIng, "before breakfast,, the , : lS^fc» and. shadows were simply v «aai'vellous in their woudrQ.us.b«auty> Midas the itu* lighted up the iionien«e mass of precipitous mountains close alongside of us, the reflection kick from the water was entirely beyond description. The rouk v. as seanjed and scarred by faulta and cracks in diamond or cubical pattern, and was covered here and ; there with bright green .moss and lichens of all colours, "and the result was that the reflection showed in the water as the most beautiful tesselated pavement imaginable, in which colours of all shades blended and shone. The greens, browns, reds, whites, and .purples predominated, and the black water gave them a background and a liquidity which was simply indescribable, and which no art could imitate. ' ' After breakfast boats were out in all directions, the sunshine and the calm placid water enticing many for a sail. They, however missed the service which it had been announced Dr Stuart would conduct in the saloon. The ■Doctor organised a choir, and so we had very good singing, with Drufiiinond playing the American organ 1 . Besides this organ, which is a very good one there are two pianos on board Dp Stuart had a, very nice serviee ; his opening prayer especially was touching and beautiful, and full of the spirit of the scei ies "Are vfrere passing ''--through. He punched l-.-.froni James i. s—"5 — " If any mail ''lack . wisdoiftp \et hirii ask of God, wj>o „ giVeth liberally and upl)raideth' not." ' It was d plain, practical discouise, . .full of feeliug, and was very well ' received, by all who heard it. After service and lunch the boats were Recalled, the anchor weighed, and we steamed down Wet Jacket, admiring •as we. sailed along the bare rugged heights 'ef Docherty's run on' our left, brokenly sc^ml -gotges, .-A*yi^v4jich- — coriveiiieii't adefess could'be obtained when.tifie time for occupy iflg. r such country should come. Again we -were entranced with the grand panorama at the junction of Wet Jacket and Acheron Pass^e, and then passed [ slowly into Bleaksea Sound, gettiug a fine. view of the. long pastt^ge up , the Siound. We passed ..out to. the sea between Entry Island and . Resolution , Island, and between Breaksea Island and tlie mainland. * ; *,' - ■ J^rcaksea is vei-y well named, as from its wide ami opon entrance towards the exposed N.W. a heavy sea must come rolling in a good way up the Sound. Accordingly the beach mark gives abundant evidence of this. Tim bush' generally in tlie Sounds comes down to 'tlie high-water mai'b—overhanging the wajter, in fact — and when the tide is out the shore is a narrowbelt of black rock, coloured here and their with brown kelp, and at this season strewn with long wreaths of reddish-. brown leaves of the birch and rata, brought down by 'ho numerous watercouir.t's: >;u; tTic line of tl:ebu?h is cud

as sharp and regular by the water as if by a knife, giving a peculiar cropped appearance at low water. But at Entry Island and the lower reach of Breaksea this line, extending sometimes a considerable distance up the . steep faces of rock, where the dash of the breakers clears everything before it but the-bare/Qck. Soon we were : out in the open sea, coasting *tong fron: Breaksea to'Doubtful Sound, and going at full speed; It was a beautiful BUfiny day, warm, but •with sufficient wind to make* it frtsh and pleasant The sea was as free from roll or wave as it probably ever is in the open ocean, and the passengers were on deck, ladies included. We sailed close along the coast, and had a very good view of the "cliffs, arid rocks, and wooded mountains. Iu j about three . quarters of an hour we passed Coal Biver, so named from the blackness of the rocks, and*not from any deposit of that valuable mineral. Then, in another three- quarters of an hour, Towing Head* and I oint, and tKe mouth of -Dragg s Sound, another long vista- of water flanked with towering peaks, wooded from water to crest | Drs Hecioi and kfcast with us, and kept up a running eominent u^W the gebiogy of the rock to ti» south with the yoangcr Ibrraatioiis to the north was very marked, and the remark was made that the rocks to the south arid about Docherty's place were about the oldest and deepest iu the earth's crust of any known in the world. In half an hour we arrived off the mouth of Doubtful Sound, which is sentinelled on the south tide by two peculiar rocks called the Hares' Ears, and very well named they are, and ou the North Islands, which are white vitk birds. Ou the same side Secretary ' jpflattd towers up in Mount Gryiao to a height of 4360 feet, and «n^ the south the mainland rises in Mount "#or)tes to 3100 feet. la front" the Shelter ; Rocks *nd Island and Bauza Island almost close up the passage, and all give ifco the entrance of Doubtful Sound a rather dangerous look, which no doubt at first suggested the name. A very remarkable feature of tke entrance of Doubtful Soand is a Bolilary °cone, which rises head au& shoulders above everything else, fully 15 miles up the Sound, though not at its head. The passage up Gold Passage, Brad- 1 sshaw Sound and Gaer Arm to Shoal - •Cove, where we anchored for Ike night ; was a repetition of what had Secured ; teifore as fir as sliip and passengers \ Vejtfe<aacerned, tho ship slowly steamingr^icarc ely ( moving, in ,fact**-ti»e passengers crowding the forecastie^and, •every avaflable point of vie w," 'and;, tie isketehers working like mad people, dashing . their pencils or chalks or •colours here and there in apparently xeckless confusion, writiug across tkeir' sketches words such" as "shadow," Vdark," "light,"' " colour," " snow,^ 4< bush»" "rock,''&c» to indicate the 'shading and, colouring, and all -wishing that each particular view iitat struck their fancy would only last a minute longer, but inexorably the big ship . moved slowly on, displaying Nature's grandest charms in all the profusion of a moving panorama.