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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 10 (May 1, 1929.)

The Magic of Water

page 34

The Magic of Water

(By Will B. Morton.)

(Illustrated by Elsie K. Morton.)

How beautiful the water is!
To me ‘tis wondrous fair—
No spot can ever lonely be
If water sparkle there.
It hath a thousand tongues of mirth,
Of grandeur, or delight,
And every heart is gladder made
When water greets the sight.
—Mrs. E. Oakes Smith.

Rain! Rain!! Rain!!! steady and persistent. Although only a heavy summer shower, the bush track is already a pathway of squelching leaves and bush mould, while the branches of the trees shower big drops on us from their drenched foliage. The river beside us is a roaring torrent, splashing and foaming among its boulders, and rivulets are racing down the banks to swell the flow.

The mountains are wreathed in mist; clouds descending low have enveloped their summits. A waterfall shows against a precipitous rock face like a narrow white veil …. water is the predominating feature of our surroundings.

With boots saturated and clothes flapping and clammy about our limbs we wend our way hostel-wards down the Bealey River, returning from a trip to the glacier.

And now we have left the bush and are on the road—the old-time coaching road from Otira to Arthur's Pass. Conversation gradually comes to an end as our little party settles down to a steady gait on the home stretch of a couple of miles. Each to his or her own reflections. “A penny for them” would doubtless evoke anticipations of a hot meal … a hot bath first if lucky enough to be one of the few to grab the chance at the one and only bathroom. Meantime … Water, above and below … one of the most commonplace elements in the world.

Tawhai Falls, Tongariro National Park, N.I. The falls are to be utilised for the generation of electricity for lighting the new Hostel at the Park.

Tawhai Falls, Tongariro National Park, N.I. The falls are to be utilised for the generation of electricity for lighting the new Hostel at the Park.

Wonderful, though, if you think of all that it does and the magic of its various transformations … Ice, Snow, Frost, Mist, Clouds, Steam … and just Water! How Nature exploits its infinite possibilities of use and ornament. To mankind and, indeed every living animal and plant, water is a vital part of their make up. Rather surprising, too, that in an apple or a grape, for instance, there's only about 2 per cent, that isn't water!

A handful of dried-up seeds will remain unchanged for years, but put them in the ground so that moisture penetrates to the parched cells within, and they swell and life and growth are renewed.

Nature uses water to produce many of her most stupendous works and glorious sights. The towering cliffs of the river gorges are carved out … water and aeons of time. Vast page 35 rocks are gradually split asunder; water penetrates their crevices, freezing and at the same time expanding with tremendous force till it splits them in pieces. Rivers carry on the work of whittling down the stone to boulders, gravel and sand.

And then, too, the awesome grandeur of icebergs with their lofty pinnacles and sheer cleft faces, and glaciers with their snow-fields sparkling in the sunshine, and ice-chasms and caves of ethereal blue. How much the beauty of mountain peaks is enhanced by their mantle of snow, while a snow-clad summit piercing a bank of clouds and seemingly afloat on their billowing white field is a scene of almost unearthly beauty.

Waters in Conflict. Rapids at the top of Arapuni Waterfall, North Island.

Waters in Conflict.
Rapids at the top of Arapuni Waterfall, North Island.

The hills and lesser peaks have their green, bush-clad slopes, but, viewed from afar, even the rugged forest foliage is smoothed to an undulating velvet texture. The majestic towering summits call for the bolder and more expansive adornment of the mist wreaths which soften the stark grandeur of rock and crag. Water, evanescent in form but imperishable of substance, matches the moods of the everlasting mountains.

What charm and grandeur is displayed by moving water … the mountain torrents and cascades; impressive waterfalls; swiftly flowing river rapids; waves booming deeply as they break on the sea-shore.

And Steam! … but now we touch on the strictly utilitarian aspect of water. Steam power has had a big share in building up our social and industrial world as we know it to-day. Ocean travel and transport; railways; factories; electric lighting, heating and tramways. But by an interesting turn of events steam is now being ousted by water in another form … just Water. Water from lakes and rivers with its quota of power taken from it and used to generate hydro-electric power which means so much in the city and country life of the modernworld.

Colour is abundant in the world about us, but its supreme glory is attained through the medium of water. In Nature's most vividly coloured picture—a brilliant sunset—the galaxy of wonderful colours is reflected by the clouds. And there is the beauty too, of the rays of sunrise and of sunset turning the snow-clad slopes of the mountains to crimson or rose-pink … the rainbow and the enchanting beauty of reflections in still waters. The thought of reflections always brings to mind a memorable scene of surpassing splendour … South Australia … The Murray River at sunset. An exceptionally high and prolonged flood has raised the water page 36 far above the banks and the margin of flat country is inundated. The water reaches well up the trunks of the line of gum trees fringing each bank, its flow so gradual there is barely a ripple at the tree trunks. It is like an endless lake. The sun is setting in flaming crimson and gold as the little steamer, bound for Mildura, wends her way along the avenue of trees.

Leaning over the rail, one gazes down as into a vast bowl, the inverted dome of the sky, flecked with pink clouds, merging at one side into the glory of the sunset—a bowl adorned with the most glorious decoration imaginable. Every tree is double, its inverted image hanging in the limpid clearness of the hemisphere below. So calm is the water that its mirrow-like surface is almost unseen and we seem to be drawn along through empty space … Then sunset and the world of reflections gradually fades, eerle shadows form among the trees, the searchlight on the steamer's bridge flashes out and we continue along the weird and shadowy water grove….

“There's the Punch-bowl” says someone, breaking in on these reflections. “Not much further now!” A graceful fall, the Otira; the force that is now dissipating itself in cascades of spray and foaming eddies in the Punch-bowl at the foot was utilised years ago to produce power for piercing the Alps to form the Otira tunnel; was conveyed through a pipe-line to turbines in which the power of its swift flow was abstracted. The pipe-line and machinery have long since been removed and the water once more leaps in sheer freedom over the precipice.

Far up that wondrous river,
There remains a scene of grandeur. …”

And now the huts of Arthur's Pass are showing up, while in the distance is the Hostel, and beyond, a plume of steam rising in the misty air denotes a train at the station.

Still raining, but Ah! that hot dinner—more than a meal—a luxury; First of all, though, a hot bath if we are lucky. Water again … but hot this time! Such a commonplace element, yet one of Nature's supreme wonder-workers! and man's universal servant!

“…… How profound
The gulf! and how the giant element
From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound …”
—Byron.

A lovely vista on the Auckland side of the Makau River.

A lovely vista on the Auckland side of the Makau River.

page 37
State Hydro-Electric Scheme. The Arapuni Dam in the gorge of the Waikato River, North Island, New Zealand. The dam is 210 feet high.

State Hydro-Electric Scheme.
The Arapuni Dam in the gorge of the Waikato River, North Island, New Zealand. The dam is 210 feet high.