Fitz-Patrick Family

A Trip to Howick.
[B. FITZ-PATRICK.
Three weeks ago a merry little party, composed of some friends and myself, set out from Maritzburg for a rough and tumble outing on the banks of the Umgeni at Howick. It was a lovely day, and hardly a cloud was to be seen in the sky as we set out from home to the railway station. Everything was prepared the night before. An early breakfast enabled us to catch the 8.45 a.m. train, which landed us at Howick station a little after 10 o'clock. Arriving there we turned sharp to tho right and made towards Otto's Bluff. To walk over the flat was easy work, but when we came to a large krantz overlooking tho river our real trials began. This krantz was between three and four hundred feet high, the surface of which was covered with large rocks, stones and trees. These trees were a great nuisance; the branches in places were so low that we had to crawl like snakes under them. The descent was accomplished without any serious mishap; an occasional roll over, which at first looked rather serious, only added to the fun. About halfway down a buck jumped up almost under our feet, and trotted off to safer quarters. At last we reached the river after a good half hour's scramble. Having put out rods together we soon were busy fishing, but for some time the fish would not bite at all, till we threw some bait into the river. This brought success. The first fish, a beautiful half pounder, fell to H.'s rod. Within half an hour five more were added. We then moved on to another place where the flat rocks jutted out into the bed of the river. There we added two more to the number. The accidents were almost as numerous as the fish. Two rods were broken, half of another lost, and a fish ran off with one boy's line, float, hook and all. At half-past twelve we had lunch, and thankful we were to get it. After lunch we fished a little more, and then nearly stripped ourselves in order to cross the river. Here the most delightful part of our trip began. First of all we tried to cross in one or two places but failed to do so because the water was too deep and the rocks too slippery. After several attempts we found a crossing and managed to land safely on the other side without a ducking, save in one place where H. went a little bit too low, and slipped off the edge of a rock into deep water, but as he had hold of P.'s stick he was quickly pulled out and landed on the other side. We then undressed on a rock in the water and had a bathe. Not being used to the river, and being unable to swim much we went round the rock to try the depth. As we were going round the rock, H. slipped, and was being carried down by the river, but he cluug on to M. like grim death, and although they both rolled over, we soon saw they were all right, and after a good splashing we dressed ourselves and made for the falls. After walking half an hour or so we had to re-cross the river, and had to jump from rock to rock and occasionally slipped into the water. We reached the falls about half past two. It was a beautiful day for seeing them falls, as we could get quite close to the basin. Here we remained for half an hour or so and, then with rods packed up we began to climb to the top. It was weary work climbing up, aud we were very tired with our long walk, so we had a good rest, after which we walked leisurely towards the station, which we reached in plenty of time to catch the half past four train. Maritzburg was reached at six o'clock, home at half past, aud we were in bed very soon after. I am quite sure that we all slept soundly that night, and so ended our pleasant trip.

The Fitz-Patrick Family

Bernard John Gowran Fitz-Patrick

Bernard Barnaby Fitz-Patrick

Denis John Gowran Fitz-Patrick

Peter Neville Fitz-Patrick