Every Object Seen On The Land Afforded Some
Agreeable Sensation, Heightened In No Ordinary Degree By The Contrast
Which Memory Presented.
No wonder then, that the description given of
the scenery should be somewhat enthusiastic; besides, for every
obvious reason, one might be inclined to expect, that Mr G. Forster
should exceed even Cook in the warmth of colouring.
It is so. He
speaks in evidently poetical feeling of the delightfully fair weather,
the lightly wafting airs, the numerous evergreens mingling with the
various shades of autumnal yellow, the wild notes of the feathered
tribe, &c. This was on getting sight of Dusky Bay. The effects of such
charming panorama were visible on all the crew; "emotions of joy and
satisfaction," he tells us, "were strongly marked in the countenance
of every individual." He is quite aware of the magic at work in his
own mind, when contemplating the picture, and accordingly very
candidly and very justly says, "So apt is mankind, after a long
absence from land, to be prejudiced in favour of the wildest shore,
that we looked upon the country at that time, as one of the most
beautiful which nature, unassisted by art, could produce. Such are the
general ideas of travellers and voyagers long exhausted by distresses;
and with such warmth of imagination they have viewed the rude cliffs
of Juan Fernandez, and the impenetrable forests of Tinian!" So much,
by the bye, as a hint for understanding the works of some other
painters! But all was not mere semblance of good. Several substantial
advantages were enjoyed, abundance of excellent fish and water-fowl,
plenty of wood and water, &c. To a naturalist besides, there was much
to occupy attention and excite curiosity, as a store of animal and
vegetable bodies was perceived, bearing little or no resemblance to
known species. But the dream of pleasure, and the hopes of much
additional science, were not of very long duration. The necessary
occupations of the different artificers, soon involved the people in
very embarrassing intricacies and much bodily labour, occasioned by
the prodigious variety and numbers of climbers, briars, shrubs, and
ferns, interwoven through the forests, and almost totally precluding
access to the interior of the country. From the appearance of these
impediments, and the quantity of rotten trees which had been either
felled by the winds, or brought low from age, it is conjectured, and
plausibly enough, that the forests in the southern parts of New
Zealand had escaped the hand of human industry since the origin of
their existence. But nature, we may often see, is prodigal of life,
and in the very act of dissolving one generation, seems to rejoice in
providing for another that is to succeed it. Thus, we are told, there
sprouted out young trees from the rich mould, to which the old ones
were at last reduced. A deceitful bark, it is added, sometimes still
covered the interior rotten substance, in which a person attempting to
step on it, might sink to the waist.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 116 of 461
Words from 59760 to 60264
of 239428
