THE PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE FJORDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 153 



At Preservation and Chalky Inlets — the most southerly 

 of the group — the shores of the sounds slope gently from 

 the rounded mountain ridges to the sea level, but in all the 

 others to the north, the fjord walls are steep and precipitous, 

 and continue so for many fathoms below the surface. In 

 Milford Sound, some of these chffs rise perpendicularly to a 

 Iieight of 1,500 feet above sea level. 



2. Mountain ranges. — Except in the neighbourhood of 

 Milford Sound and immediately to the south, the mountain 

 ranges at the heads of the sounds are neither high nor 

 broad. In the south the highest peak is about 5,500 feet 

 above sea level, and only eight or nine miles separates the 

 headwaters of Doubtful Sound and one of the arms of 

 Lake IManapouri, on the eastern slope of the main range. 

 About Milford Sound, however, the watershed is much 

 broader and the mountains much higher ; here assuming a 

 distinctly Alpine character, and culminating in Mount 

 Earnslaw, 9,165 feet high. For this reason, therefore, it is 

 only in the north that rivers of any important size flow 

 into the heads of the sounds. These are the Arthur and 

 the Cleddau, falling together into Freshwater Basin at the 

 head of Milford Sound, and the Hollyford Kiver, running 

 into Lake ]\IcKerrow (or Kakapo), which, though now a 

 freshwater lake, is really the fjord continuation of Martin's 

 Bay. These three rivers are fed from the snowfields and 

 glaciers of the Balloon JMountains and the Bryneira Range, 

 both of which rise well above the snow line. As Pembroke 

 Peak (6,710 feet), near Milford Sound, is permanently snow 

 clad, the snow line in these latitudes may be set down at 

 about 6,500 feet above sea level. As might be inferred from 

 the height of the watershed and the shortness of their 

 courses, the streams falling into the sounds are really 

 mountain torrents, with considerable erosive power. In the 

 southern sounds comparatively small streams have eroded 

 deep ravines back almost to their sources. 



3. Cascades. — In some places, and especially is this the 

 case at Milford Sound, the fjord has truncated the lateral 

 valleys, the waters of the latter pouring forth as cascades on 

 the placid waters of the sound. Of this character are the 

 Stirling and the Bowen Falls, in Milford Sound, the latter 

 with 540 feet of sheer drop. In the mountains at the head 

 of Milford Sound are the famous Sutherland Falls, which in 

 a drop of nearly 2,000 feet (1,904) touch the cliff face but 

 three times. 



