,200 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



mile in each direction returning thence by way of Miller's Flat. The best excursion from 

 Queenstown is unquestionably that to the summit of Ben Lomond, and if the tourist 

 be an expert Alpine climber, he will doubtless feel inclined to ascend its neighbour, 

 Mount Howen, as well. A bridle-track leads from the hotel to " The Saddle," from 

 which may be seen, to the right and left respectively, Mount Howen and Ben Lomond. 

 The former is the easier of ascent, but the view from the other peak is far preferable. 

 .A little beyond "The Saddle," the mountaineer must tether his horse, and divest himself 

 of all superfluous clothing in order the more comfortably to clamber up the steep side 

 of the colossal giant. A moderately athletic person will gain the summit in about three- 

 quarters of an hour, and once there a most extensive panorama amply rewards his exer- 

 tions. " Turning his face to the east, his eye will catch Frankton and the long range 

 of the Hector Mountains. The forward peaks of the Range, with their jagged edges, 

 we know at a glance. They are the Remarkables, which seem to haunt us every-where. 

 At their base sweeps round the Kawarau River, which a little way down is joined by 

 the Shotover, then by the Arrow, and hurries on through the Carrick Ranges with its 

 mass of dirty waters to meet and contaminate the Clutha at Cromwell. On the left 

 bank of the River are spread out the wide plains of the Arrow. Lake Hayes glasses 

 itself in the midst, surrounded with green fields, and flanked on the far horizon by the 

 Crown Terraces rich with their ripening wheat and corn. Travelling northwards, the eye 

 rests on the southern peaks of the Harris Mountains and the long stretches of the 

 Richardson Ranges. Nothing can be more magnificent than the view in this direction. 

 At the foot of Ben Lomond, westward from the Shotover Valley, there are multitudes 

 of low round hills covered with bracken, and gradually increasing in height as they 

 increase in distance. They lie in sloping riclges, ' rounded by old glaciers into long dark 

 billowy swellings, like the backs of plunging dolphins.' In the ravines there are dense 

 timber-forests, and here and there birch, pine and niannka climb their sides, like 

 scattered armies, in broad green battalions, and at last, in the far horizon, the high 

 summits crown themselves peak after peak in one long glory of eternal snow. Farther 

 westward, at the head of the Lake, lie the Forbes Mountains, and on its remoter side 

 the Humboldt and Thompson Mountains." Just at the foot of Ben Lomond, like a 

 mirror set among the hills, nestles the little Moke Lake, with its copper-mine 



Another very attractive excursion is the twenty-mile drive, through the Shotover 

 Valley to Skipper's, where a lovely water-fall may be seen, and where also one obtains 

 a very good idea of the progress and magnitude of gold-mining operations in this part 

 of the colony. The Rev. W. S. Green says : " Wakatipu is amazingly beautiful ; the 

 only lake in Europe which can surpass it is Lucerne ; but to see no more of Wakatipu 

 than what can be seen by a trip to Queenstown and back is to see Lucerne and omit 

 the Bay of Uri." From Queenstown the head of Lake Wakatipu may be reached by 

 two routes, of which the one that proceeds by land along the eastern shore will be 

 chosen only by those who an; fond of " roughing it." The other and shorter route is by 

 steamer. There are no less than seven peaks over eight thousand feet high, while the 

 snow-line of the district may be drawn at a little over seven thousand feet. The forest- 

 line reaches three thousand five hundred feet above sea-level. " Rounding Pigeon Island, 

 the grandest scenery of Wakatipu opens full upon our view ; a little behind us on our left, 



