i undertake employment with a bush contractor—get seriously ill—start for the south and the gold diggings.
i had now been more than a month on the ashburton, but as i could not expect home letters yet for some weeks, and was getting tired of mere amusement, i accepted an offer made me to join in a new line of work.
a man named metcalfe, a relative of a neighbouring squatter, had lately started work as a bush contractor, and had just then undertaken to construct a number of station buildings for a run holder on the ashburton. metcalfe was an experienced bushman and a good rough carpenter. he asked me to join him and i at once accepted.
we would have to fell and cut up our own timber in the forest, cart it down some forty miles, and construct all the works without other assistance.
our first business was to provide a habitation for ourselves in the forest, as we required to stay there a month or two while cutting the necessary timber. we laid out a space 10 feet by 12 feet, drove in posts at the corners, and nailed a strong rail on top, then we felled and split up into slabs a number of white pine trees, and set them upwards all round with their edges overlapping and nailed them at the top to the rail, or, more properly, wall plate, the feet of the slabs being set a few inches in the ground. over this enclosure we made a sloping framework of wickers (fine saplings) and covered it with an old tent which metcalfe possessed. at one end of the hut we constructed a wide fireplace and chimney in the same manner, and hung up an old blanket over the space left for a doorway. the inside of the slab walls and chimney we wattled with mud and laths, which we split up, and plastered over with mud and chopped grass. we made rough cots with wickers and slabs, raised a foot above the ground, so as to form seats as well as beds, and covered them with a thick layer of minuka branches, which made capital springy mattresses, and over all we laid our blankets. for a table we split and dressed fairly[pg 52] smooth a pine slab a foot wide in which we bored four holes and inserted therein wicker legs. our mansion was now complete and it had not occupied two days to build.
we rose at daybreak, boiled a kettle of tea, which with cold baked mutton and damper formed our breakfast, then to work till 12 o'clock, when we took an hour for dinner, and again to work till dark, when we adjourned to the hut, and after a visit to the creek for ablutions, and seeing that our horses were watered and put on fresh pasture for the night, we sat down to supper by a rousing fire, then lit pipes and chatted or read till it was time to turn in, when the fire was raked over, and the damper of bread inserted under the hot ashes to be ready for the morning. during the evening also one of us made the bread; the camp oven would be put on the fire with sufficient mutton to last us for two or three days. it was a grand life for healthy, strong fellows as we were, living and working alone in a virgin forest, with no sound around us but the rippling of the brook and the whisper of the wind through the foliage of the tall pines, or the ringing of our axes, with every now and then the crashing fall of a huge tree.
i should remark here that the black and white pine (so called) of new zealand is not by any means similar to that which grows in europe. they grow straight and tall, it is true, but for fully half their height throw out heavy and numerous branches thickly covered all the year round with very small evergreen leaves. the trees are easily cut up and split into posts and rails, or sawn into boards. at the time i refer to the forests were free to all settlers for their home needs on the payment of a nominal fee to the provincial government.
the timber in due time was felled, cut up, and carted to the station, and we removed our camp to the site of the operations. it was a bleak, wild place, three miles from the south mail track, and consisted only of a small slab hut or two with a wool shed and sheep yards. the owner, mr. t. moorhouse, had lately purchased the run, and was about to improve and reside on it. a description of our life here would not be interesting, so i will pass over three months during which we worked steadily and the buildings were nearly complete, when one day, as i was nailing the shingles on a roof under a powerful sun, i suddenly felt sick and giddy, and was obliged to go inside and lie down. the same evening i developed a severe attack of gastric fever[pg 53] which three days after turned to a kind of brain fever, and for nigh on six weeks i lay betwixt life and death. for half of this time i lay on the floor in a corner of the new building, the bare ground with a layer of tea leaves for my bed, the noise grinding into my brain when i was at all conscious, and only metcalfe (good man that he was) with an old scottish shepherd to look after me when they could find time to do so. no doctor, medicine, or attendance of any kind was procurable nearer than sixty miles away, with a weekly post. one night, to make me sleep they gave me laudanum (a bottle of which metcalfe had with him for toothache) and the following morning i was discovered standing on the brink of an artificial pond nearly a quarter of a mile off, barefoot and half naked, to reach which i must have walked over places i could not easily have passed in my senses. this was when the brain attack came on, and for a week i lay, i was told, almost unconscious. metcalfe contrived to send some information to christchurch, and after i had been down for over three weeks moorhouse arrived and removed me to his own hut, where he looked after me for some time. then he had me carried to and fixed up in his dog cart and drove me sixty miles over the plains in a single day to christchurch, where i arrived a good bit more dead than alive, but to find a comfortable room, and every attendance and luxury a sick man could wish for, prepared for me by my good friends mr. and mrs. gresson. i must have taken a good deal of killing in those days, but the drive to christchurch, severe as it was, saved me, and in three weeks i was myself again.
when i was convalescent i found letters from home awaiting me. my father sent a little money, but wished me to utilise it in paying my passage home, and appeared to have lost faith in my doing any good in new zealand; but i was more determined than ever to remain. was i not accumulating colonial experiences, and always found employment of some kind awaiting me? and i was still very young—only a little over eighteen. the free life i had spent for nearly two years had had its effect, and i could not consent to throw it up, at any rate not just yet.
the doctors who had attended me expressed their opinions that i had overtaxed my strength at work to which i was not accustomed, and forbade my undertaking anything of the kind for a while. this of course was nonsense, but[pg 54] i saw no reason why i should not enjoy a holiday for a month or so in christchurch till i had settled future plans.
just at this time i received a letter from smith, informing me that the run he had charge of was sold, and having thereby lost his appointment, he was coming to christchurch en route for otago on a voyage of enterprise, and invited me to join him. this was excellent; the wandering disposition was again strong upon me, and i looked forward to such a trip to a new part of the country in company with my old friend with the keenest delight. i agreed to his proposal at once, and immediately he arrived we set to work to make preparations for our journey south, although where that journey was to lead us or of what might be before us we were profoundly ignorant; but that knowledge or want of knowledge enhanced the glory of the movement. we were a couple of free lances starting to seek what might turn up, and eventually we were led into a new and very interesting experience, even if it did not turn out a remunerative one.
after paying my expenses in christchurch, i possessed about ￡50 in cash and a valuable and well-bred mare. smith's possessions were about on an equivalent. we decided to travel with one pack horse, and for this purpose we purchased between us for ￡15, a notorious buckjumper, called "jack the devil," and if ever deformity of temper and the lowest vice were depicted in an animal's face and bearing, this beast possessed them in an eminent degree. although small and not beautiful to look at, he was very powerful, and had he been less vicious his price would have been treble what we obtained him for, but nobody cared to own him.
how well i remember the first time he was loaded, how quietly he stood with the whites of his eyes rolling and girths swelled until all was apparently secure, and then in less time than i can relate, how saddle and swags were scattered to the winds.
smith was a determined fellow and a yorkshireman to boot, and he had no intention of giving in to jack; on the contrary, this little exhibition of devilry made him all the more determined to discover jack's weak point and take the devil out of him.
the pack saddle was gathered up and taken to the harness maker along with the animal, and the two were put together in such a manner that if he again bucked it off, some part of[pg 55] jack's personality would have to accompany it. the next trial was more successful, and after a few attempts he gave in, and from that day he became a most docile pack horse.
on the eve of starting we were joined by our mutual friend legge, who had been some years overseer of a station. he was a smart, handy fellow, and although he did not contribute much in the way of financial assistance, we were glad to have him join our party, knowing him to be dependable, plucky, and good-tempered.
at length we started, and after journeying through the scene of our late life on the ashburton and rangitata, we arrived without adventure at the then small town of timaru on the sea coast, about a hundred miles south.
here we found the inhabitants in great excitement over news just arrived that gold had been discovered in large quantities on the lindis, about one hundred and twenty miles inland from dunedin in otago. we, in common with every one else, were, of course, immediately infected with the gold mania, the more so as we were bent on adventure of any kind that might turn up, and here was an unexpected piece of good fortune ready to our hands. during our few days sojourn at timaru we made another addition to our party in the person of a man named fowler, whom, at his urgent request, we permitted to accompany us in our now proposed expedition to the gold diggings.
we arranged to start at once, and deferred preparations until we would arrive at dunedin, the capital and port of otago, and which, with fair marching, we hoped to reach on the third day.
we travelled in the usual bush fashion, each man with his swags strapped before and behind his saddle, jack the devil carrying our provisions and cooking kit, etc. upon halting for the night we selected some suitable spot near running water where wood for a fire could be obtained. each unsaddled, watered, and tethered out his horse and carried his swags to the camping ground, where jack's load was removed and placed ready for use. then while one fetched water another collected a supply of firewood for the night. a roaring fire was made, water boiled for tea, flour and water mixed into a paste and fried in dripping or fat, with the meat we had brought along with us, or maybe a leg of mutton would be baked in the camp oven; and[pg 56] so, within an hour, we four bushmen would be squatting comfortably around our fire and enjoying an excellent supper.
the meal being over we carefully washed and put away the utensils and food ready for the morning, and after visiting the horses, settled ourselves in our respective positions for the night, lit pipes, spun yarns, or sang songs, till drowsiness claimed us, and we disappeared under our blankets with our saddles for pillows and slept only as those who lead the life of a bushman can.
we rose before daybreak, and ere the sun had well appeared had eaten our primitive breakfast and were in the saddle for the march. on the evening of the third day we reached the waitaki river, which separates canterbury from otago, and is the largest in the south island. the waitaki was never fordable at this point, and passengers were ferried across in a small boat behind which the horses were swum. this latter is a somewhat dangerous operation unless expertly carried out; a horse which may be a powerful swimmer being able to work a swift stream so much faster than a boat can be rowed, there is danger that he may strike and overturn the latter, and so he must not be allowed to get above or ahead of the boat, but be kept in his place immediately behind.
the boat on being started from one bank or shingle spit must have fair room to work obliquely to a lower landing place on the opposite side, without running foul of shoals or sandspits, and as the current runs with great rapidity the voyage across is usually three or four times as long as the stream is wide.
at this river we found an accommodation house. i forget the name of the occupier, but i well recollect the appearance of the wretched structure, and of its landlord and landlady. what a pair of outcasts they looked, and how they existed on that wild bed of shingle! their tastes must have been simplicity itself, and little satisfied them here below.
the landlord and his wife, with one other man, who assisted with the boat, were the only sojourners on this desert bed. few travellers stayed at their wretched tenement, because being only ten miles from dunedin they were generally able to push on, and partly because the locality did not possess pasturage for horses; and so with the exception of what they derived from selling an occasional nip of[pg 57] poisonous liquor to a passing traveller, their emoluments were derived from the ferry alone.
we were not fortunate enough to arrive in time to cross that evening, and were perforce obliged to stay at the accommodation hut till morning, or else return half a mile to where pasture was obtainable. the landlord, however, produced some hay and oats, and cleaned out his shed, in which we were able to put two of the horses, while the others were tied out, and so to save time and trouble we decided to make the best of what fare we could obtain.
the house comprised one room with a closet or bar off it. in the room, which was well enough when lit up by a good fire, we all supped together round a rough table with boxes from the bar for seats, our food the usual description, the junk of mutton boiled with lumps of dough called damper, and the landlady produced some plates, while we used our own clasp knives. soon after, our weary bodies were strewn over the floor wherever we could individually select a fairly even spot, and the landlady, i believe, retired into the bar.
the following morning we put ourselves, horses, and baggage safely across the waitaki, and by 10 o'clock arrived in dunedin.
dunedin was situated, like port lyttelton, on rising undulating ground, encompassed by an amphitheatre of hills which, to the south, extended to a point or promontory and gave shelter to the little harbour. also, like lyttelton, the latter was an open roadstead, but on the town front was bounded by a steep bank from which the narrow strand beneath was reached by a wide cutting. the town was quite in its infancy, but already possessed some well-laid-out streets and handsome wooden buildings.
as we anticipated, we found the good folk of dunedin much exercised about the gold diggings. they were the first discovered in the country, and the town was in a fever of excitement for news of their success or otherwise. no very reliable information had come, but such as was obtainable appeared sufficiently satisfactory and encouraging to justify our making immediate arrangements for transporting ourselves thither.
