The Washington critic., 1889-01-14
TIE wILns oE NEW ZEALAND.
Visit of an American TO the AntipodaI
wonderland.

one OF surveying party. Wnat store
house of curiosties New Zealand is
Boiling lakes of sulphur, of mud and Of
water, alongside of which, very often
separated by wall of rock scarcely
foot in thickness, are to be found pools
of ice-cold water
Smoking volcanoes, every day earth
quakos, as the people here call them;
snow clad peaks, magnificent waterfalls,
great PERCEPTIONS mountains, towering
thousands of feet into the air and nearly
covered by splendid virgin forests of
rare and useful woods. Rich deposits
of gum-known in the commercial
world as kauri-aro scattered over por-
tions of the north island great fields of
coal IRON copper, gold, silver etc, are
lying ready for the capitalst and the
workman.
FAVORED BY NATURE.
1t struck me as most singular that ma
ture should have so magniiicently ia
vored these three little islands-thou-
sands of miles from civiization--and
left its immense island continent neigh
Dor, Australia, so nearly barren, had
always believed that my own dear coun-
try. America, was the only place on
earth where these mysteries of nature
reigned supreme, but / have learned,
guessing through telescopes, the height
of the great Sutherland waterfall, named
after the discoverer, has for the last year
or more been exciting discussion between
the various learned associations of Aus
tralia and New Zealand, and in fact the
Royal Geographical Society of Great
Britain had taken hand in the talking
and figuring. Scientific men iourneyed
all the way from Old England, France
and Australia to Milford Sound-stuated
on the west coast of New Xealand-to
have guess at this remarkable freak of
nature
Guess, | say, for not one of the many
"wiscacres" could get nearer view of
the falls that sixteen miles. We'll, to
show how good these men of science
were with guessing through the telescope
the answers ranged from 500 to 5000
feet. So exciting had become the solu-
ton of its height, and so many accidents
had occurred to adventurous spirits in
their endeavors to solve the mystery,
that the New Zealand government,
either becoming afraid of an interna-
tional or intercolonial conflict, got in the
other day and spoiled the fun by sending
out surveying party toget the facts and
figures and cut track to the falls at all
hazards. This was a mistake, for it
lessened the interest taken in New Iea-
land which the dispute has kept at fever
heat for over year
THE DIsCovERER OF THE FALLS.
On arrival at Milford Sound we were
met by Mr.. Sutherland the discoverer of
the famous falls. To tourists and New
Zealanders he is known as the Hermit
Of Milford Sound.' Eleven years ago,
accompanied only by his dogs, he located
here where he has built three-room
cottage, which he keeps scrupulously
clean and in apple-pie order The kitchen
occupies the centre room, his bedroom
on the right and the other always ready
for any wanderer who may happen
along. Around the walls of this curious
dwelling are some fair sketches of the
mountain scenery, drawn by himself.
Bottles of minerals,gold, quartz, ru-
bies, etc, are neatly arranged on shelves.
Skins of rare native birds decorate and
hide the baroness of the walls,
and their beauty is enough to make n
lover of zoolarty envious. sutherland
is a Scotchman and decidedly eccentric
! character, but for all that fund of in
| ulll uly liz lldo llO
love for the city ''chaps," calling them
"ashfelters." Tourists he has in great
contempt, saying they will take anything
they can lift; photographers, who occa-
sionally visit the sound, are spoken of as
shadow catchers.'
OF the two canine companions only one
is living, brown retriever, but being
very old, it will not be very long before
| it joins its famous brother. "Thief," in
the next dog world. The old man speaks
of Thief very pathetically, and as most
wonderful animal. Often had the
dumb brute stood between its master and
starvation. Sutherland blames one Of
the men engaged with him in cutting u
tract to the falls of either having shot
the dog or sent it down rapid.
To further illustrate the eccentric char
acter of the man, he undertakes to cut n
track for fifty pounds. As it is sixteen
miles in length and occupied six months
cutting, his profit could not be very great,
The first stage Of the joutney after
leaving the sound is done by boat up the
Arthur River. For the next two miles a
series of unnavigable rapids are passed
until the fern tree hut at the foot of Lake
Ada is reached. Again entering our
canvas boat, we had plain sailing for
three miles-the length of the lake
passing through some of the most beau
tiful and grandest of scenery.
TWO LARGE RIVERS.
AT the upper end of this lake two large
rivers enter. One was christened Wal,
hohepa by the chief of our party, the
other Poseldon by Mr.. Sutherland. Get
ting out of the lake we again encoun-
tered two miles of rapids up to the 10
by ~ tent. Here the track follows the
river for six miles to the birch hut. AL
though now but mile from the falls, il
was very hard one to walk. For the
full distance great landslide had come
down from the mountain side, completely
obliterating the track. Ice, snow, earth,
stones and fallen trees-many over three
feet in diameter some of which had been
snapped off and broken TO splinters-
blocked the path
From point about two miles below
the falls the first glimpse is obtained. II
is not until you are close that the full
heigth and volume can be seen, great
trees aud bushes interceptng the view.
The water issues from narrow defilc
between Mount Sutherland on the right
and Mount Hood on the left. From Il
little hill, appropriately named View
Mount, one gets II comprehensive view OF
the falls. 1t is now sben that the water
dashes over the cliff in three grand leaps,
and constitutes about oue-half of the
centre volume of the Arthur River
The first leap is ovet dizzy cliff into q