Five Years in New Zealand | Page 8

bowlin'
haul; Haul a bowlin', the good ship's a-rollin'; Haul a bowlin', a bowlin'
haul."
The chant is sung out in stentorian notes by the leader, and on the word
in italics every man joins in a tremendous and united pull.
Crowds of Cape pigeons and albatrosses accompanied us all across the
South Pacific. These birds never seem to tire and but rarely rest on the
water, except when they swoop down and settle a moment to pick up
something that has been thrown overboard; this is quickly devoured,
and they are again in pursuit. The albatrosses, some white, some grey,
and some almost black, are huge birds; some that we shot, and for
which the boat was sent, measured nine feet from tip to tip of wings.
On August 1st we rounded Stewart's Island, the southern-most of the
New Zealand group. It is little more than a barren rock, and was not
then inhabited, whatever it may be now. Although it was the winter
season, and the latitude corresponded to that of the North of England,
we remarked how mild and dry was the atmosphere in comparison.
Indeed the weather was glorious and seemed to welcome us to the land
we were coming to.
On the 3rd of August we sighted the coast of Canterbury, and at
daylight on the 4th we found ourselves lying becalmed about 12 miles
off Port Lyttelton Heads, from whence the captain signalled for a pilot
steamer to take the ship to harbour. In the clear rare atmosphere, and
the pure invigorating feeling of that glorious morning, we were all
impatient of delay. A couple of fishing boats were lying not far off, and
we begged the captain to let us row out to them and he permitted us,
conditionally that we returned and kept near the ship, because
immediately the tug arrived we would start. We rowed to the boats and
obtained some information from the fishermen, with whom were two of
the natives, Maori lads; indeed, I think the boat partly belonged to the

Maoris, for these people do not take service with the white settlers.
They pointed out to us where the entrance lay, and told us that Port
Lyttelton was some five miles further down a bay.
Before we returned to breakfast we had decided to anticipate matters by
going ahead of the ship. We quietly laid in a small supply of food and
appeared at the cabin table like good and obedient boys. Incidentally,
one of us asked the captain if it would be easy to row into port, and he
replied that it would be very risky to attempt it; it was a long way, and
the wind or a squall might get up at any moment, or the tide might be
contrary, and he positively forbade us to entertain any such idea. All
this, however, only increased our desire for the "lark," as we called it,
and about 9 o'clock, having rowed about quietly for a while, we
suddenly bade good-bye to the "Mary Anne" and steered straight for
the Heads, where we had been told Port Lyttelton lay. Our crew
consisted of Smith, the two Leaches, C----, and myself, with a man
named Kelson, who was a good oarsman, and we thought he would be
useful as an extra hand, but he had no notion of our freak when we
started, and was considerably chagrined when he discovered our real
intention; he had a young wife on board, whom he feared would be in
distress about him.
For some time we pulled away manfully, but at length began with some
dismay to notice two facts, one, that we were losing sight of the ship,
and the other that the hills did not appear to be any nearer!
Some one suggested returning, but as that would have looked like funk,
it was overruled, and we went to the oars with renewed vigour. After
some hours pulling we had the satisfaction to find that although the
masts of the ship were scarcely visible we were certainly drawing
nearer to the land, and could occasionally distinguish waves breaking
on the rocks. The coast apparently was quite uninhabited, with no sign
of life on land or sea. We had evidently been working against the tide
or some current, for we had been rowing steadily from 9 to 4, which
would have amounted to less than two miles an hour, whereas we could
pull five. Our course must have been true, as also the directions we
received, for on entering between the heads we found ourselves in a

lovely bay stretching away to where we were able to discern the masts
of vessels in the distance, and soon after a large white object lying upon
the shore. To satisfy our curiosity and obtain