A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



north of Mount Cook from the ranges, appearing between the wooded hillocks at the 

 foot of the Alps. The sun being near his setting, every moment new changes were 

 effected ; the shades grew longer and darker, and whilst already the lower portion lay 

 in a deep shade, the summits were still shining with an intense rosy hue. Turning 

 towards the sea, the same contrast of colours was exhibited, the sea being deep blue, 

 whilst the sky was of such a deep crimson and orange colour that if we could see it 



faithfully rendered by 

 an artist we should con- 

 sider it highly exagger- 

 ated. But the beauty 

 of. the magnificent scene 

 did not fade away even 

 after the large orb of 

 the sun had disappeared, 

 because as night ad- 

 vanced the full moon 

 threw her soft silver 

 light over the whole 

 picture, and lake and 

 sea, forest and snowy 

 giants still were visible, 

 and my heart swelled 

 with such a pure delight 

 as only the contempla- 

 tion of Nature can offer 

 to her admirers." 



Continuing his jour- 

 ney along the coast to 

 the Waiau River, Dr. 



Haast says: "The view from the mouth of the Waiau River is most magnificent, as the 

 valley, being straight and nearly two miles broad, allows us to gaze at the Southern Alps 

 from foot to summit, having in the foreground the enormous ice masses of the Francis 

 Joseph Glacier appearing between a rich forest vegetation." Following the course of the 

 Waiau, the party at last reached the Agassiz Glacier, and " turning a rocky point we 

 had at once the white unsullied face of the ice before us, broken up in a thousand 

 turrets, needles and other fantastic forms, the terminal face of the Glacier being still 

 hidden by a grove of pines, ratas, beeches -and arborescent ferns in the foreground, 

 which gave to the whole picture a -still stranger appearance." 



OTAGO. 



Regaining Tfmaru by the same route followed in leaving it, the railway soon carries 

 the tourist to the southern confines of the province of Canterbury. Crossing the 

 spacious bridge, which spans the impetuous Waitaki where it approaches the ocean after a 

 rapid course from the base of Mount Cook, the train enters the splendid province of 



IN THE PUBLIC GARDENS OF OAMARU. 



