DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF NEW ZEALAND. 



"37 



Nearly all the rivers of the South Island take their rise in the grand central 

 mountain chain. The Wairau falls into Cook Strait at Cloudy Bay, and close to 

 the same source rise the Waimea and Motueka, flowing into Blind Bay, and tin- 

 Kaituna and Waitohe which flow into Pelorus and Queen Charlotte Sounds. The 

 Huller reaches the ocean some miles north of Cape Foulwind, and the Awatere, rising 

 in the Kaikoura Range, finds the sea near the White Bluff, and still farther south is 

 the mouth of the Clarence. The Waiau-ua and Hurunui, Waimakariri, Rakaia, Ashburton, 



THE TOWN OK NELSON. 



Rangitata, Selwyn, Hinds, Ashley and other smaller streams follow, and there are several 

 of what are called leakage rivers, like the Heathcote, Avon, Styx, Little Rakaia and 

 others whose course is intermittent. In Otago are the Waitaki and Awarua, the Ahuriri, 

 Taieri and the Clutha, or Molyneux, which is the largest river in the South Island, 

 receiving among other tributaries the Kawarau. The Mataura, Oreti and Waiau follow, 

 the last-named receiving the Mararoa, Monowai, Borland, Dean, Lillburn, Wairaki and 

 Orawea^ along the one hundred and forty miles of its course. On the west coast are 

 the Awarua, Hokitika, Arahura, Teremakau, Grey and Buller Rivers. The Aorere gives 

 its name to a densely-wooded timber valley before it finds its way into Blind Bay. 



MARLBOROUGH AND NELSON. 



After leaving Wellington, the first port of call in the South Island is Picton, situ- 

 ated on the immediately opposite side of Cook Strait at its narrowest part, and within 

 the deep recess of Captain Cook's favourite haven, Queen Charlotte Sound, which he 

 has tersely described as "a collection of the finest harbours in the world." Passing 

 through the Tory Channel, the entrance to the Sound is ample, the water deep, the 



