the A. A. A. of Science at Dunedin to 

 carry out an exploration of the entire 

 plateau, inveetigate the physiojjraphy of 

 the moorland, and make a compass, or 

 plane-table, topographical survey of itft 

 area. The easie.st approach to the sum- 

 mit from the eastern districts being by 

 way (vf Mangana, it was decided to carry 

 out the work from that side. A thermo- 

 metrical station for finding maximum 

 and minimum temperatures was estab- 

 lished on the moorland, at the rear of 

 the ^outh-eastern corner of the escarp- 

 ment during the month of September, 

 1905, and in January, 1906, a base for 

 triangulation of the southern area was 

 laid out Willi the help of Mr. D. Mac- 

 leod, of Mangana, on a flat part of the 

 moor contigTious to the station. A sur- 

 vey of a portion of the south-eastern area 

 followed. acconii)anied by an examina- 

 tion of the inlere.sting floia of this alpine 

 region, iu which the hardy Eichea. Orite 

 Olcaria and otiier alpine shrubs play a 

 conspicuous part. An examination of the 

 lake system with the watershed drained 

 by the tarns, or lakes, was made, which 

 demonstrated the incorrect position of 

 the same as shown on the existing maps, 

 in which only one is marked lying near 

 the centre of the moorland. In point of 

 fact, there are three sheets of water in the 

 Nile valley, the so-called Toul's lakes, and 

 another tarn, larger in area than any 

 of the above, situated close to the east- 

 ern face of the plateau, and possessing 

 no properly recognised name. This lake 

 is fed by small runnels from th.6 hills or 

 tors which flank it ; and at its head by 

 similar sources rising in springs about 

 800 yards from the shore. About the 

 same distance from these springs, in the 

 opposite direction, the divide, which is 

 quite level in the interval, sends its 

 drainage by ' a small brooklet down a 

 sloping vale, and through a gorge in the 

 escarpment to the foothills above Man- 

 gana. This creek, therefore, is the most 

 alpine source of the so-called "Tower 

 Hill" rivulet, which drains the valley of 

 Mangana into the South Esk. 



It may be mentioned here that the 

 summits of- the lofty crags, forming the 

 south-eastern mural boundary of the Ben 

 Lomond range do not attain anywhere a 

 greater altitude than ■i,500ft., 'although 

 they have the appearance, from the low 

 country in the eastern districts, of being 

 almost as high as the fell on which the 

 trigonometrical station is situated. 



To continue the work, and explore the 

 northern area of the moorland, a small ex- 

 pedition was formed by the writor in 

 March, 1906, to ascend the mountain by the 

 new track made by the Fingal Eoad Trust 

 from Mangana, and towards which the 

 Premier kindly had a sum of ^50 added 

 to what was collected in the district. I 

 was fortunate enough to enlist the ser- 



vices of Mr. Lyndhuret Giblin, well 

 known as an explorer and mountaineer 

 the Go%ernment Analyst (Mr. Ward) 

 and hi.s brother completing the party. 

 We left Mangana early on the morning 

 of March 29, and took the new track, 

 which is an excellent one, after once 

 mounting the spur, leading up from 

 Trotter's Valley, eUl the way to the foot 

 of the talus slopes, which descend from 

 the escarpment on all sides of the 

 plateau. Tbenoe for 900ft., or more, up 

 through the gap in the cliffs to the edge 

 of the moorland, it is very steep, but 

 when slightly improved will make the 

 ascent of no difficulty. Our camping 

 ground was selected under the shelter 

 of some erect diabase columns not far 

 from the creek above-mentioned, which 

 was named the Mackenzie Rivulet. By 

 noon on the following day all baggage and 

 stores had been "swagged" up the steep 

 track from our temporary depot below. 

 The clearing-off and uprooting of the in- 

 tensely rigid-branched alpine shrubs, 

 Orites, Olearia, and Leptofperniim (moun 

 tain ti-treej, is no mean undertaking 

 mthout good axes, and thus the forma- 

 tion of a camp site was a little difficult. 

 The elevation of it was 4,300ft., but the 

 nights were so mild that we slept com- 

 fortably with an open tent-front. 



The first two days were spent in fur- 

 ther exploration of the southern division 

 of the moorland, tracing the water- 

 courses, and surveying the upper lake 

 and its surroundings. The third day 

 ('Saturday; was fixed for the trip to the 

 north, but we were fog-bound during 

 the whole of it, and we deferred 

 the undertaking till the Mon- 

 day following, deeming it advisable 

 to carefully set our aneroids at the trig, 

 station, with the camp as a station-base, 

 before visiting the high land beyond the 

 dividing valley. We were favoured with 

 a steady "glass" on the Sunday, and in 

 the afternoon made a trip to the trig, 

 station. The official height, 5,010ft., was 

 found to be 112ft. above that given by 

 the barometer, this being probably due 

 to "lag" of the aneroid during the four 

 days, and to the smaller division of the 

 feet scale at the height from which we 

 started 4,3O0ft. On the return to camp, 

 at 6 p.m., the "reading" was as at noon. 

 We had a steady barometer on the fol- 

 lowing morning, and took careful read- 

 ings before starting. Thus, the difference 

 in altitude between the camp and any 

 heights ascended that day would be pro- 

 portionate to those observed on out trip 

 to the station on the previous day. 



Our track lay over the high eastern 

 moor belt, and across two of the charac- 

 teristic "trough" valleys, which are 

 minutely described in my treatise on the 

 mountain. On the floor of these we dis- 

 oovered three picturesque, but shallow, 

 tarns discharging southward, as was sub- 



