Hill. — Geology of Haivkes Bay. 459 



period there was no portion of the mountains covered with 

 perpetual snow. It may have been that the physical con- 

 ditions, as regards climate and winds, were unlike what they 

 now are, and that in the latitude of 39° or 40° S. glaciers 

 existed at a much lower elevation. We know that in the 

 Southern Alps the Franz-Josef Glacier, on the west side of 

 Mount Cook, comes to within 700ft. of sea-level; whilst the 

 Tasman Glacier, from the same mountain but on the eastern 

 side, has its terminal face at an elevation of 2,350fc. above the 

 sea. These glaciers are situated in a latitude corresponding 

 to the south of France and north of Italy, in Europe ; and, if 

 physical conditions can exist in a warm temperate area like 

 New Zealand so that important glaciers can descend to within 

 a few hundred feet of sea-level, and be surrounded at the same 

 time by arborescent ferns and a luxuriant vegetation such as 

 are reported to exist in the vicinity of the Franz-Josef Glacier, 

 it may have been quite possible for glaciers to have existed on 

 the Euahine and Kaweka Mountains, whilst at the same time 

 a warm temperate flora such as now prevails flourished on 

 the mountain-side and in the warmer valleys below. 



On the top of the Kaweka Range there is a mountain-tarn, 

 and many large boulders are lying about. Farther to the south 

 there are peculiar terrace-like walls, and there are also traces 

 of what I suppose are moraines, made up of subangular stones 

 lying in parallel bands, and arranged in as regular a way as if 

 put down by human hands. On the Euahine also there are 

 several large areas covered with blocks of sandstone, and there 

 are tarns and deposits similar to those on the Kaweka. 

 Assuming that these regularly-arranged rocks are terminal 

 moraines, they only serve to show that small accumulations 

 of ice have existed on the mountains, but that the ice did not 

 descend lower than 4,500ft. from sea- level. But a difficulty 

 presents itself on the supposition that no glaciers other than 

 small and unimportant ones have existed in the western 

 mountains. I have referred to deposits coming from the 

 Ruahine and overlying the older Pleistocene deposits on the 

 western side of the Ruataniwha Plain, and, in fact, extending 

 from Hampden to Woodville. These deposits consist of long 

 ridges of rough semiangular shingle and boulders, mixed with 

 clay and loose soils, running almost at right angles to the 

 mountains, and terminating on the plains in high faces or 

 bluffs from 20ft. to 50ft. in height, with a somewhat steep and 

 even overhanging slope. These ridges run for miles back 

 towards the mountains, widening as they go, and all of them 

 subsequently merge where the slope is suddenly terminated 

 by a deep longitudinal valley which intervenes between the 

 ridges and the foot of the mountains. Two years ago in 

 August I stood on the margin of this valley, which was then 



