Through South Westland : A journey to the Haast and Mount Aspiring New Zealand . oring. We came to the conclusion there was no possi-bility of going further to-day ; we must bring upsleeping-bags and spend the night if we wanted toexplore further, and so about two we turnedback. Transome proposing we should follow theriver, we began scrambling over the big bouldersalong the torrent; but we soon found this quiteimpossible, and had to take to climbing throughthe bush—a trackless labyrinth, where no footsave our own had ever been. My remembrance of the next two hours is of abreathless, well-
Through South Westland : A journey to the Haast and Mount Aspiring New Zealand . oring. We came to the conclusion there was no possi-bility of going further to-day ; we must bring upsleeping-bags and spend the night if we wanted toexplore further, and so about two we turnedback. Transome proposing we should follow theriver, we began scrambling over the big bouldersalong the torrent; but we soon found this quiteimpossible, and had to take to climbing throughthe bush—a trackless labyrinth, where no footsave our own had ever been. My remembrance of the next two hours is of abreathless, well-nigh hopeless struggle againstobstacles too tremendous for my powers. Theinnumerable gullies were much deeper and widerdown at the bottom, and they nearly all containedwater—^although dry above ; sometimes we couldhear it running underground, and one and all werechoked with semi-tropical tangle. Hooked lawyer clutched and tore us, lianestied the trees together, and the living and thedead crowded and jostled each other up thoseprecipitous slopes. It seemed a desperate game. THE ROB ROY. 179 trying to get through, but to remain would havemeant stiU worse, and I struggled bravely. Nowand again came an easy bit, or a stretch of boulderswhere the waters had sought another channel,and whenever this happened we took to the river-bed. At last we came to an impasse. Some land-slip or storm had pitched the trees headlong down,and between them grew others, and over all thecreepers romped. I felt like sitting down and say-ing : Thus far and no farther ; but Transomewas already climbing uj) along one of the trunks,and I was bound to follow : we had to get out of itsomehow, and we did. He, pulling me up frombetween forked branches by main force, we gradu-ally wormed our way through the tangle, till wecame out exhausted on the burnt zone ; and climb-ing upwards through tussock and fern, found our-selves back on the slate-faces. Then we slid andscram Died downwards through the tutu, till t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidthroughsouth, bookyear1900
