26 THE KEA. 



of a dark cliff, like a gigantic silken bridal veil, throwing 

 out iridescent colours as the sunbeams play among its folds. 



Northward the alpine country gradually diminishes in 

 height and grandeur, and spreads out almost from coast to 

 coast, forming the hills of Nelson and Marlborough. 



Southward the ranges rise higher until the chain is 



KEA COUNTRY: Showing the bush-clad MonNTAiNS west of dividing kange. 



crowned by Mt. Cook, which well deserves its Maori name 

 of Aorangi, or " the heaven piercer." Snow-clad and grand, 

 it rears up its sharp precipitous peaks some 13,000 feet into the 

 air, surrounded by a large number of minor peaks, second 

 only to itself in height and splendour. Here on all sides the 

 valleys are filled with huge glaciers, stretching out to eighteen 

 miles in length. The glacier streams which flow from their 

 terminal faces fill large glacier lakes ; these in turn feed the 

 rivers, which hurry down their gorges to the sea. 



Southward beyond this the mountains spread out and 

 cover Otago and Southland ; while to the west the scenery 

 along the main chain increases in imposing loveliness. The 



