第30章 CHAPTER VII(4)

During a fresh,the Rakaia is not fordable,at any rate,no one ought to ford it;but the two first-named rivers may be crossed,with great care,in pretty heavy freshes,without the water going higher than the knees of the rider.It is always,however,an unpleasant task to cross a river when full without a thorough previous acquaintance with it;then,a glance at the colour and consistency of the water will give a good idea whether the fresh is coming down,at its height,or falling.When the ordinary volume of the stream is known,the height of the water can be estimated at a spot never before seen with wonderful correctness.

The Rakaia sometimes comes down with a run--a wall of water two feet high,rolling over and over,rushes down with irresistible force.Iknow a gentleman who had been looking at some sheep upon an island in the Rakaia,and,after finishing his survey,was riding leisurely to the bank on which his house was situated.Suddenly,he saw the river coming down upon him in the manner I have described,and not more than two or three hundred yards off.By a forcible application of the spur,he was enabled to reach terra firma,just in time to see the water sweeping with an awful roar over the spot that he had been traversing not a second previously.This is not frequent:a fresh generally takes four or five hours to come down,and from two days to a week,ten days,or a fortnight,to subside again.

If I were to speak of the rise of the Rakaia,or rather of the numerous branches which form it;of their vast and wasteful beds;the glaciers that they spring from,one of which comes down half-way across the river-bed (thus tending to prove that the glaciers are descending,for the river-bed is both ABOVE and BELOW the glacier);of the wonderful gorge with its terraces rising shelf upon shelf,like fortifications,many hundred feet above the river;the crystals found there,and the wild pigs--I should weary the reader too much,and fill half a volume:

the bullocks must again claim our attention,and I unwillingly revert to my subject.

On the night of our arrival at the Rakaia I did not yard the bullocks,as they seemed inclined to stay quietly with some others that were about the place;next morning they were gone.Were they up the river,or down the river,across the river,or gone back?You are at Cambridge,and have lost your bullocks.They were bred in Yorkshire,but have been used a good deal in the neighbourhood of Dorchester,and may have consequently made in either direction;they may,however,have worked down the Cam,and be in full feed for Lynn;or,again,they may be snugly stowed away in a gully half-way between the Fitzwilliam Museum and Trumpington.You saw a mob of cattle feeding quietly about Madingley on the preceding evening,and they may have joined in with these;or were they attracted by the fine feed in the neighbourhood of Cherryhinton?Where shall you go to look for them?

Matters in reality,however,are not so bad as this.A bullock cannot walk without leaving a track,if the ground he travels on is capable of receiving one.Again,if he does not know the country in advance of him,the chances are strong that he has gone back the way he came;he will travel in a track if he happens to light on one;he finds it easier going.Animals are cautious in proceeding onwards when they don't know the ground.They have ever a lion in their path until they know it,and have found it free from beasts of prey.If,however,they have been seen heading decidedly in any direction over-night,in that direction they will most likely be found sooner or later.Bullocks cannot go long without water.They will travel to a river,then they will eat,drink,and be merry,and during that period of fatal security they will be caught.

Ours had gone back ten miles,to the Waikitty;we soon obtained clues as to their whereabouts,and had them back again in time to proceed on our journey.The river being very low,we did not unload the dray and put the contents across in the boat,but drove the bullocks straight through.Eighteen weary monotonous miles over the same plains,covered with the same tussock grass,and dotted with the same cabbage-trees.

The mountains,however,grew gradually nearer,and Banks Peninsula dwindled perceptibly.That night we made Mr.M-'s station,and were thankful.

Again we did not yard the bullocks,and again we lost them.They were only five miles off,but we did not find them till afternoon,and lost a day.As they had travelled in all nearly forty miles,I had had mercy upon them,intending that they should fill themselves well during the night,and be ready for a long pull next day.Even the merciful man himself,however,would except a working bullock from the beasts who have any claim upon his good feeling.Let him go straining his eyes examining every dark spot in a circumference many long miles in extent.