Chapter 37 40.Kuma Kato

At 6 o'clock in the morning on February 7, the Jazz gave the signal to leave.The night rain had stopped, but the sky was still overcast, and the sun's rays could not penetrate a ray.The climate is not too hot, and it is bearable to travel during the day. The geographer took out a map, calculated it, and decided that it would be better to go to the place where the Kumpa River and the Kumakato River, 50 kilometers away, first go to the village of Kanawasia if you walk along the zigzag coast.There is an "overland mail road" passing by, and you can take a horse-drawn carriage to Auckland.So, the pedestrians carried their own dry food on their backs and started to walk around the shore of Austria Bay.For the sake of prudence, they were not too far away, and instinctively prepared their carbine, watching the movement on the rolling grassland.The geographer holds a refined map in his hand, and praises the correctness of the map marking with the eyes of an art appreciator.

During the day, they passed a section of sand covered with mussel and squid skulls, and the sand was mixed with a lot of iron peroxide and iron oxide.As soon as the magnet is close to the ground, it will immediately attract a layer of bright crystals. Some marine animals that like to swim in the sea are caressed by the tide, and they will not run away when they see people.Many seals have round heads, wide and raised foreheads, and expressive eyes, showing a kind and even affectionate face.It is no wonder that ancient mythology poetizes marine animals. Although the seal sounds so ugly, the poets still refer to it as a singing mermaid.These sea beasts are hunted for their oil and fur, and they congregate on the coast and are a great business.There are 3-4 walruses among the seals, their gray-blue skins are 7-8 meters long, which especially attract the attention of passers-by.They lie lazily on the thick sandy beach, sticking out their long noses that can be soft or hard, and grimacingly shaking their long, curly mustaches, which look like the beards of young masters.Little Robert was watching these interesting animals carefully, and suddenly cried out in great surprise:

"Why, these seals are eating stones!" Sure enough, several seals swallowed the stones on the shore. "The fact is absolutely true, what's all the fuss about!" Paganel echoed. "Their feed is also too special, these things are not easy to digest!" Little Robert said. "Children, they don't eat stones to fill their stomachs, but to increase their body weight and sink into the water. Believe it or not, when they return to the shore, you will see them spit out these stones." "Sure enough, after a while, half a dozen seals gained enough weight to crawl along the bank and into the water. But Sir can't waste precious time waiting for the seals to come back and watch them spit stones Yes. He urged the passers-by on, and Paganel left regretfully.

At 10 o'clock, everyone stopped at the foot of many snowflake rocks for breakfast.These rocks are supported vertically and horizontally, like the big stone beams erected by the ancient Celts (residents of central and western Europe in ancient times) on the coast.There are a lot of Xinhai mussels in a frog shell beach. This kind of mussels is very small and tastes bad.However, after Obir's careful processing and cooked on charcoal fire, everyone still tasted sweet and delicious. After resting, he moved on along the shore of the bay.On the toothed shore rocks and cliffs they saw many seabirds, frigatebirds, supergulls, and huge albatrosses sitting motionless on the top of the rocks.By 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I had traveled 15 kilometers, and I was not tired or tired.The female guests asked to continue into the evening.At this time, the road turned and went around the foot of the mountains to the north, and entered the Kumpa River valley.

The lush ground seemed to be an endless prairie. The terrain was flat and the road seemed easy, but it was disappointing at the edge.At the end of the meadow was a grove of small white flowers, interspersed with tall and numerous ferns.It is difficult for people to carve a path through the grove.At 8 o'clock in the evening, the first few hills that led to the Hakalihuata Mountains were finally rounded, and the people camped on the spot. At night, of course, we cannot relax our vigilance. They took turns standing guard with loaded guns and live ammunition.until the sun comes out.There was no fire at night.In New Zealand, there are no tigers, no lions, no bears, no wild beasts of any kind, but there are man-eating natives, who are almost two-legged black-spotted tigers, who will be drawn out by lighting a fire.All in all, the night was passable, except for a daring vole that came to nibble on the dry food, and a few sand-flies--"Gams" in the native language--that stinged very badly.

The next day, the geographer got up much more at ease than before.He was less intimidated by the new place.The Maori he feared did not appear, not even to threaten him in his dreams.He was very satisfied with this, and told the Jazz about this feeling. "I think," he said to Glenarvan, "this easy walk can be done without trouble. I reckon I'll get to the point where the river joins the Oakland Road this evening, There are not many opportunities to meet native people." "How far is it to where the two rivers meet?" Sir asked. "25 kilometers, about the same distance as yesterday."

"But the bushes are in our way, and we're going too slowly." "It won't happen in the future. Let's walk along the Kumpa River. It's easier to walk." "Then let's go." In the first few hours of the journey, the resistance was still not small.This part of New Zealand admits only travelers on foot before driving out of the way through its jungle.Those fern-tails of all kinds defended the land as strong as the Maori.But towards noon they came to the Kumpa River, and from here there was no obstacle to the north along the banks. Here is a fascinating "scenic area", with small harbors criss-crossing, the water in the harbor is clear and cool, flowing lively among the bushes. According to the survey of botanist Hooker, 2,000 species of plants have been found in New Zealand, of which five Hundreds of species are endemic to the local area.There are not many kinds of flowers, the colors are relatively monotonous, and there are almost no annual plants, but ferns, grasses and umbrellas are very prosperous.

Tall trees stand here and there on the verdant ground; there is the "Metrosidelo" with vermilion flowers, the Norfolk pine, the podocarpus with dense and upright branches, and a The cypress called "Limu" ​​looks almost the same as the European cypress.All these trunks are surrounded by ferns of various varieties. Among the branches, above the bushes, is the kingdom of parrots, flying and clamoring.One is called "Kakaliji" with green fur and a red band under its neck; the other is about the same size and is called "Nanguo Old Man" with brown-red feathers and the color under the wings is particularly bright.

McNabbs and Robert Jr. actually did not miss hunting during the march, and several sandpipers and bamboo chickens became their trophies.O'Bill plucked as he walked, so as not to stop and delay the journey. For a geographer, curiosity overwhelms the greed of his travel companions. He doesn't care about the nutritional value of wild game, and he really wants to catch a New Zealand specialty bird.He suddenly thought of a bird called the Tui, whose habits are so queer that it is sometimes called the Laughing Specialist, because it keeps laughing, and the Priest, because of its black feathers. There is a white collar garment.

"This bird of prey," Paganel said to MacNabbs, "grows so fat in winter that it can't fly, so it cuts its belly open and pecks out the fat in order to lighten its weight. Weight. It's amazing how it works!" "I don't believe what you just said, because it's so wonderful!" said McNabbs. The geographer would have liked to catch one of these birds and show the bloody bruise on its chest to the unbelievable major, but he couldn't. However, he was lucky enough to meet a pair of another strange bird called "kiwi", which biologists call "kiwi".It has no wings, no tail, and has four toes on each foot. It has a snipe's long beak and is covered with white feathers and hair. It looks very strange.It eats anything, pupae, insects, worms, seeds, it eats them all.This kind of bird came to this remote area in order to escape the pursuit of people, cats and dogs, and gradually became extinct.Its shapeless body and ridiculous movements often attract the attention of travelers.When the Asrorab and the Sele came to Oceania for exploration, the French Academy of Sciences specially asked Guy Mengville to take such a strange bird back as a specimen.However, although the Ju family promised various heavy rewards to the natives, he never got a live "kiwi".

Paganel was so lucky that he was lucky enough to catch two "kiwi" birds, and they will be sent to the Paris Zoo in the future. On the cage of the bird is hung a "gift from Mr. Jacques Paganel" brand, to satisfy his competitive spirit. At this time, the caravan was walking in high spirits along the banks of the Kumpa River.The place was uninhabited, with no trace of human footsteps left, and the river ran through the grass or on the sand.Pedestrians can see all the way to the hills that block the valley to the east. The hills are strangely shaped, and their silhouettes are immersed in the hazy mist. They seem to be many giant beasts, similar to those monsters that lived in the pre-flood period. It can be said that they are a group of long whales. turned into a fossil.Looking at these rugged mountains, you can know that this is a volcanic geological structure.Originally, the North and South Islands of New Zealand were formed by volcanic eruptions.Now the fire of the earth surges in its guts, making it vibrate, quiver, and sometimes burst forth from the mouths of craters and intermittent boiling springs.At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, everyone had successfully walked 15 kilometers, and they were less than 8 kilometers away from the confluence of the two rivers. When they got there, they went to the Oakland Highway and planned to camp there.As for the trip from there to the capital, it only takes 2-3 days; moreover, there is also a postal bus that travels between Hawke's Bay and Auckland once every half day, which is extremely convenient. "Therefore," said Sir, "we shall sleep rough once more to-night." "May it be the last time!" said the Geographer. "If only that was the case. Camping is a real ordeal." "Mr. Paganel, if I remember correctly, there is a village where the two rivers meet. Let's find a hotel and rest there overnight, shall we?" Captain Mengele asked. "Yes, there is a Kanavasia village, but in this kind of Maori village, it is difficult to find a tavern or a tavern. There are only some thatched huts where the natives live. Not only can we not spend the night there, but we must Be careful to avoid it." "You are always so afraid of the Maori, Mr. Paganel!" said Sir. "My dear sir, it is better to be careful with the Maori. The relationship between the Maori and the British is tense now. People like us, they only worry about not being able to catch them, and I don't want to try their hospitality. Therefore, I think we It would be wiser to avoid the village of Kanavasia, and to avoid encountering the natives. Once we reach Drury, we can safely and boldly rest and recover from the fatigue of the journey." Everyone agreed with Paganel's opinion.Lady Helene would rather spend her last night in the open air than go on a daring adventure.Neither Miss Mary nor she asked to stop, and they continued walking along the bank. Two hours later, dusk settled over the land, and the sun took advantage of the sudden brightening of the clouds to cast its last rays before sinking toward the western horizon.The distant peaks to the east were dyed red by the brilliance of the setting sun.This seemed to be a hasty salute to the passengers. Jazz and his party hastened their pace. They knew that dusk was short in this high latitude zone, and night would soon fall. They had to rush to the place where the two rivers converged before it got dark.At this time, a thick fog rose from the ground, and the road could no longer be discerned. Although the vision is blinded by the shadows, the perception is still sensitive.Soon, the louder and louder the sound of running water told everyone that the destination was approaching. At 8 o'clock, the travel team arrived at the confluence of the two rivers, where the roar of the surging waves was unavoidable. "Ah! the Kuma Kato River is here at last," cried the Geographer, "and the road to Oakland goes up the right bank of this river." "We'll camp here tonight," said the major. "There's a shadow ahead, probably a jungle, which will cover us well. Let's rest after supper!" "We'll have biscuits and dried meat for supper today. No fire. We'll come and go tomorrow morning. We're lucky the fog keeps us out of sight," said the geographer. When they arrived in the grove, they obeyed Paganel's words and ate dinner quietly.Due to the long journey, all of them were very tired, and after a while, they fell asleep.