14 Transactions. 



southern termination of a high range leading to Mount Hector, is not dis- 

 cernible in the outline of hills, being overtopped and rendered invisible 

 by Mount Alpha (4,466 ft.). Finally, after a fairly level stretch of country, 

 there succeed a few ragged peaks, near which is the remarkable razorback 

 ridge (to be jDresently described) overshadowed by Mount Hector (5,014 ft.), 

 the highest peak which can be seen. Descending on the Otaki side there 

 are some rounded summits (4,700 ft.), and at a much lower elevation Mount 

 Dennan (4,010 ft.). Below this is a saucer-shaped depression (" Table 

 Top ") rising on the Otaki side to a rounded knob, the last peak silhouetted 

 against the sky. 



The \\Titer cannot find any record of a collector or naturalist having 

 crossed the range from Kaitoke to Otaki. Indeed, even Mount Hector 

 would appear not to have been botanically explored until December, 1906 

 ',{see Petrie, " Account of a Visit to Mount Hector " : Trans. N.Z. Inst., 

 1907, p. 289), when the writer made his first collection there. 



Leaving Wellington by the 7 a.m. train on Boxing Day, 1907, Kaitoke 

 is reached about 9 a.m. The day is fine — a light breeze from the north- 

 east, blue sky with patches of cloud, and a barometer of 30-4 in,, giving 

 presage of fair weather for the venture. The party consists of Mr. Alfred 

 Jones (an expert bushman), W. B. Aston, and the writer. The swags 

 include 5 lb. boiled beef, 3 lb. ham, 5 lb. ship-biscuits, a small loaf, 2 lb. 

 oatmeal, 2 lb. sugar, | lb. butter, a little tea, chocolate, and raisins, col- 

 lecting-boxes, drying-papers, a blanket each, and a tent. The tent is 

 worthy of a brief description. It weighs under 4 lb. — dimensions 5| ft. by 

 1\ ft. — and includes a flexible wire rope used instead of a ridge-pole. One 

 end of the rope is fixed to a tree, and the other is threaded through the 

 apex of the tent-roof and fixed to another tree. All that now remains is 

 to fasten the guy-ropes, made of light fishing-line, to stumps, &c., near the 

 ground, and peg down the sides. The advantage of having a light and 

 easily pitched tent such as this in climbing-expeditions, where everything 

 has to be carried on one's back, can hardly be overestimated. The tent is 

 made by Messrs. Hutcheson, Wilson, and Co., Jervois Quay, and is similar 

 to those supplied to the Tourist Department for alpine climbers, with the 

 exception that it has no floor. The material is that of which the fine top- 

 sails of yachts are made, technically known as japarra — an Egyptian 

 fabric. 



At least three routes are open to the explorer of the Tararuas from 

 Kaitoke. The Mount Marchant track involves climbing the bare ridge 

 connecting the Rimutakas with the Tararua Range, and following the spur 

 over Mount Marchant, thence taking a large sweep to the north-east over 

 many lesser tops on the high range by a track marked on the map " well 

 blazed " to Mount Omega (3,669 ft.), between which and Mount Alpha 

 (4,466 ft.) there remains a deep valley to be crossed before attaining the 

 liigh leading range of which Mount Hector is the culminating point. The 

 writer is informed that it is not necessary to climb to the top of Mount 

 Marchant, but that the spur may be attained on the farther side by 

 a passage through the bush on the north-east flank of the mountain. 



The second and third routes are the same with the difference that the 

 first few miles is over a spur — four hours' walk — or through the river gorge 

 — nine and a half hours' walk — at the traveller's discretion, to the junction 

 of the Main Hutt with the Lesser Hutt River. The spur route is always 

 available, and is remarkably easy travelling, through dead standing bush 

 which was swept by the fires of last year and completely denuded of under- 



