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Mihawhenua: The Adventures of a Party of Tourists Amongst a Tribe of Maoris Discovered in Western Otago, New Zealand

Chapter XVII. Entombed in an Ice Cave

page 146

Chapter XVII. Entombed in an Ice Cave.

With aching hearts we enlisted the assistance of Te Kahu in the disposal of the body of our poor dead friend.

Who, that had seen the grief of the Maori when informed of the death of Richards, would have imagined that such feeling could possibly be displayed by an uncivilised mind? The intelligence seemed to come as a great shock to Te Kahu, and to place him beyond the power of giving his sorrow words.

When his grief had somewhat softened, he entered fully into our feelings in the matter of the disposal of our companion's corpse in some other way than that practised by the Maoris, and readily gave his assistance in the construction of a coffin. While this was being made he suggested that we should take steps to embalm the body—a process which had formerly obtained amongst his people with the bodies of chiefs. This we eagerly adopted as the best means of carrying out the wish of our friend, that his body should not be left on our departure from Maori territory. Te Kahu also proposed that we should afterwards convey the body to some ice caves that existed in a high mountain beyond where the river which flowed past the pa ended. This suggestion we also considered a page 147wise one, as, besides rendering the process of embalming doubly sure, it might open a way for us to reach the West Coast, whence we might have some hope of communication with the outside world. Te Kahu, urged by us, at once took all the necessary steps to carry out the embalming of Richards' body, and some valuable mats were provided by him in which to wrap the corpse. This was an evidence of regard which should have been particularly gratifying to the friends of the deceased.

Four days after the death of Richards, his body was placed in the coffin, and we started out, under the guidance of Te Kahu and his faithful band of rowers, to deposit it in the recesses of an ice cave, which should be known only to the chief and ourselves. The expedition was one which was to take several days for its completion. The whole of the first day would be occupied in reaching the foot of the hill in which the caves existed, another day in getting to and returning from the cave, while the return, being against the current of the river, would probably take at least two days more.

We noticed that as the canoe proceeded the current of the river increased in velocity. Recollecting that this river was known as the "lost river," we accounted for the increasing force of the current by the fact that it was approaching the point at which it flowed underground and disappeared. Presently, the roaring sound, produced by the rush of water under the hill, became very distinct, and the canoe shot along so swiftly that the rowers had nothing to do but keep her in the proper course. Towards sunset we found ourselves rushing along at great speed, and page 148shortly we were under the shadow of a high range of hills, one of which Te Kahu pointed out as the place for which we were making. He ordered the canoe to be run ashore and drawn up on high ground. After this we had a couple of hours' walking before we reached the foot of the hill it was our purpose to climb. Here we camped for the night in quite a different atmosphere from that which we had left in the morning. Roughly speaking, we seemed to have travelled nearly 100 miles from the pa.

Early next morning we started up the hill, bearing with us the rude coffin with Richards' body. The climb proved a most tedious and tiresome proceeding; and as we got nearer the caves we encountered considerable difficulty in surmounting the vast ice blocks and occasional crevices.

The most toilsome journey is, however, overcome by perseverance, and we were at last rewarded by arriving at our destination. This proved to be a series of small caves of most peculiar formation, each of which was almost hidden by the huge blocks of ice, of irregular and fantastic shapes, which covered the hill on that part. Within, the caves were nothing but vast walls of smooth ice, here and there studded with icicles. When we brought a light to our aid in exploring some of the caverns, the effect of the sparkling surface was something quite beyond anything my experience had ever encountered or my imagination conceived. On all sides the cavern seemed brilliant with gems of the purest kind, and as the light danced and twisted through the many projecting icicles, the effect was truly marvellous. Different colours were thrown in all directions, and reflected and sparkled, until the whole place.page 149seemed ablaze with diamonds, rubies, and all kinds of precious stones, glittering in the purest ray. We all stood still as the different flashes of beauty burst upon us, and I would fain have remained to try what different effects could be produced by the changing position of the light. After a time, however, so much brilliancy became dazzling, and we were compelled to seek relaxation in a change of Scene. Presently Te Kahu led us into a larger cave, where some of the ice had been worked into shelves. He pointed to some of these, upon which there were several forms wrapped in mats. These, he said, were bodies of some former inhabitants of the country, which had not been disturbed by his people. I afterwards found that reverence for anything having the sanctity of antiquity was a strong feeling in the mind of the Maoris amongst whom we were living. After examining several other caves, we chose one in which to place the body of our friend. It was a small cave, the mouth of which was almost obscured by some huge ice blocks. It seemed less liable to change than any of the others, and contained fewer rugged surfaces or icicles than those we had previously visited. We reverently placed the coffin containing the remains of poor Richards on a high ledge in this quiet cave, in such a position that no one entering without the intention of thoroughly exploring the cavern would be likely to discover the body. With a genuine feeling of sadness we deposited the silent form of our late friend in this cold and solitary tenement. As we turned our backs upon the familiar face, now pale and still in its last long sleep, the great weight upon our hearts was rendered doubly heavy by the thought that his page 150spirit had winged its flight to its eternal home when he was so far away from all those friends dear to his heart. The uncertainty as to whether his last wish—to have his body laid to rest amongst his own people—would ever be carried out, helped to sadden us as we left the cave to begin our return journey.

For some time after we started from the cave none of us spoke, and the silence was unbroken when we had passed down beyond the snow-covered summit of the hill.

"I should like to go round this hill a bit before we go down," said Gordon, eventually.

He had spoken my thought. On consulting Te Kahu, he said there was ample time, so we at once started off around the mountain. When we had gone round almost to the other side of the hill, we had a good view of the country lying apparently between us and the ocean. Further round we got a glimpse along a deep valley on the other side of the hill under which the Waitiro flowed. Here there seemed to be an immense dip towards the northwest, and away in the distance we saw what appeared to be a vast waterfall over the cliff of the high head to the valley. From where we stood I conjectured that this must have some connection with the waters of the river. Gordon asked Te Kahu if he had ever been round at the waterfall, and, ascertaining that he had, we learned that my supposition was correct. The huge body of water from the river rushed underground, and some portion of it was doubtless forced upwards in a narrow channel to the top of the hill, from which it overflowed in the wonderful fall at which we were gazing. It was a great distance page 151to the fall, but the air being particularly clear, we were able to see it distinctly.

"What height do you think it is?" I said, after we had stood for some moments looking towards it.

"Three or four thousand feet at least," replied Gordon, after a moment's thought. "I wish we had time for a closer examination, or that I had a powerful telescope. I'm sure there's no waterfall in the world anything like that in height."

I felt that Gordon was right. Everything seemed to combine in the production of a natural wonder. The forcing of the water from below, and the great dip of the valley on the other side, helped to increase the height through which the water fell.

"Yes, we shall pose as discoverers when we get an opportunity of disclosing the events of our expedition," I replied.

"Your record of our excursion will read like a second Munchausen's journey yet," returned Gordon, smiling.

"It certainly will, if we go on at this rate, revealing fresh wonders at every turning."

"New Zealand is already the great wonderland of the Pacific; but if new marvels arise to prove that that title is earned with only half her wealth displayed, what shall we call her when we know her vast resources in the sublimity of Nature?" said Gordon, as we reluctantly obeyed Te Kahu's injunction to continue our descent.

A short distance beyond where we stood, wondering at the height of the waterfall, we saw several large glaciers, but time did not permit us to get near them. We, there-page 152fore, rapidly turned round the face of the hill towards the spot where our camp was.

For some distance we found no difficulty in covering the ground with a considerable degree of speed, and, under the able guidance of Te Kahu, had little doubt but that we should reach the others of our party before darkness set in. We walked in single file, Te Kahu leading, followed by Gordon and myself, Macdonald bringing up the rear. The Scotchman had been more than usually quiet during the whole of the journey. Since the disappearance of Lode he had preserved a remarkable taciturnity, merely giving the briefest reply to anything said to him. Descending the mountain, we found a number of narrow crevices, most of which were filled with snow, covered with a thin frozen crust, upon which we were able in most instances to cross to the other side of the crevice. Presently these became less hard, and the risk in trusting our weight to them was increased; but as nightfall threatened to overtake us, we hurried on, without any warning to one another on the subject. A sort of mutual feeling existed that we must make the best of our time, without any delay for talking.

Suddenly we were startled by a cry from Macdonald, who had fallen a short distance behind us. Turning quickly round, we saw that he had lost his footing on a somewhat steep snow course, and was sliding rapidly down the surface of the channel in a position the reverse of dignified. The snow appeared hard enough to bear his weight, but the speed with which he was carried past us boded some ill to his limbs. As he rushed down with an avalanche of snow, he called distractedly to us. We lost page 153no time in following down the side of the channel in which he was being hurled, helpless and choked with snow. Presently a great mass of snow curled up into a heap, and the Scotchman disappeared from our view right in the middle of it. Here was a pretty fix. Macdonald had shot down into the snow we knew not how far, and we were without any kind of appliance whereby we could remove the mass. The consequences might be serious, and no time was to be lost. At once we set to work dragging off the snow from the place where we imagined our companion to be. Working with all our might, we made some impression upon the softened heap, but could gain no trace of the buried man. As we brought the snow out from the hole we were making, we threw it over into a heap some distance lower down the channel. After we had worked with a will for nearly half an hour, and had piled up the loose snow to a considerable height on the bank of the gully, we began to harbour thoughts of giving up the search until we could get assistance from the camp. Urging my companions to another effort, I turned my face down the hill to throw up some of the result of our scratching, when there met my view the bedraggled and perspiring face of Macdonald, as, spluttering and cursing, he emerged from under the heap we were piling up. We had been throwing up a mound of loose snow on the spot at which he was struggling to get rid of the burden above him, so that the more we worked the greater was the weight of snow through which he had to make his way.

"Guid save us!" he cried, as soon as he recovered his breath and shook himself free from the snow; "what a page 154daft lot o' stirks ye are! Here hae I been birzin an' birzin' tae get oot o' the bing, an', like a lot o' steekit craws, ye've been scartin' an' scartin' the snaw on the very tap o' me. Fegs! ye've nearly doited me!"

A hearty laugh from Gordon and me soon restored the Scotchman's equanimity, and placed us in fair trim for the further descent, thankful that no more serious consequence had attended Macdonald's accident. We reached the camp without further mishap, and were heartily glad of the supper which awaited us.