238 ' GLACIAL ACTION IN AUSTRALASIA. 



Cromwell none have been found.* This would give a length of 

 sixty miles to the glacier. 



In the days of the old glaciers the Wakatipu Valley did not 

 drain, as at present, into the Clutha, but went due south by Athol 

 into the Oreti. Besides the numerous terminal moraines in the 

 valleys of the Rees and Dart rivers, lateral moraines are found oa 

 both sides of Lake Wakatipu. At Kingston there is a large and 

 well-marked terminal moraine, and large angular stones extend as 

 far down as Athol, where they stop. This glacier appears to have 

 been about eighty miles long. According to Mr. A. McKay, the 

 lateral moraines at Lake Wakatipu are found at 1,500ft. above the 

 level of the lake.f 



The low land on the eastern sides of Te Anau and Manapouri 

 Lakes and across the Muraroa River as far as the base of the Taki- 

 timu M ountains is strewed with angular fragments of crystalline 

 rocks, which must have come from the western side of the lakes, 

 and which have, therefore crossed a deep valley ; but there are no 

 distinct moraines at the end of either of these lakes. These angular 

 blocks extend down the Waiau Valley to the transverse hills 

 between Red -bank Creek and Blackmount. This hill appears to 

 have been the tei'minal moraine of the ancient Waiau glacier, which 

 must have been about sixty five miles in length. According to 

 Mr. S. H. Cox, the ice reached a height of 550ft. above the present 

 level of the water.| 



It is remarkable that throughout Otago the evidence of the 

 former extension of the glaciers is almost entirely confined to 

 moraines, and the ice-mai*ks do not look nearly so fresh as they 

 do in Canterbury. On the other hand, the old glacier lakes in 

 Canterbury are either filled up or have become quite shallow, 

 while in Otago they still remain very deep, and are only partially 

 filled up at their heads. 



IJ^esi Coast Sotinds. — Sir James Hector mentions several 

 moraines as occurring up the Cleddau Valley, in Milford Sovmd,§ 

 and probably they exist in most of the valleys running up into the 

 mountains. It is also probable that the bars at or near the 

 entrances to the sounds are old terminal moraines, although it is 

 possible that they may be due, in part at least, to ancient river- 

 bars which would be formed when the land Avas at a higher level. 

 Evidence of former glaciers in Preservation Inlet is found in the 

 large boulders of pink syenite which are scattered over the islands 

 and sides of the inlet near its entrance, || which must have been 

 brought down the inlet by ice. Sir James Hector has recorded 

 (I.e., p. 458) grooves and polished surfaces caused by ancient 



* Geology of Otago, Dunedin, 1875, p (i9. 



+ Keports, Geological Explorations, 1879-80, p. 146. 



t Rep. Geological Explorations, 1877-8, p. 118. 



5 Geological Expedition to West Coast of Otago. Provincial Government Gazette, 



Nov. 5th, 1863. 



I| Hutton, Report on the Geology of Otago. Dunedin, 1875 p. 68. 



