NATURE 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 18S4 



THE ALPS OF NEW ZEALAND 



The High Aips of New Zealand; or, A Trip to the 



Glaciers of the Antipodes, -with an Ascent of Mount 



Cook. By William Spotswood Green. (Macmillan, 



1883.) 



THE laborious explorations of Dr. Julius von Haast 

 and his associates, undertaken in 1862 and subse- 

 quent years, had, as their results, an excellent sketch map 

 of the New Zealand Alps, and a general knowledge of 

 their topography and geology. It was also made evident 

 that, although the summits did not attain the elevation of 

 many in the Swiss Alps, yet, as they were steep and pre- 

 cipitous, as they rose from valleys comparatively low, and 

 as the snow line descended far below its ordinary level in 

 the Northern .Alps, there would be considerable difficulty 

 in scaling the higher peaks. No real attempt on these 

 was made till the year 1881, when Mr. Green decided to 

 try his hand at mountaineering in New Zealand. 



It was of course necessary for any one contemplating 

 glacier excursions to take guides from Europe. Mr. 

 Green was fortunate enough to secure the services of 

 Emil Boss and Ulrich Kaufmann, both well knovra guides 

 from Grindelwald. His narrative shows that he could 

 not have made a better choice — the two men proved to 

 be not only first rate mountaineers, but also pleasant 

 and trustworthy companions, always uncomplaining and 

 unselfish. 



Mr. Green must have begun his journey under an un- 

 lucky star. Small-pox broke out on board among the 

 forecastle passengers before they reached Table Bay. On 

 arriving in Australia, all were put in quarantine for some 

 three weeks, where, we may add, the arrangements for 

 the reception of the unfortunates appear to have been 

 disgracefully bad. Then, when Mr. Green escaped from 

 this bondage just in time to catch the New Zealand 

 steamer, it happened to be full, so that altogether more 

 than a month of valuable time was lost. 



At last, after touching at one or two spots on the 

 western coast of the Southern Island, Mr. Green landed 

 at Christchurch, and, after a brief consultation with Dr. 

 von Haast, hastened to push up the country towards 

 Mount Cook. The physical structure of the Southern 

 Island is comparatively simple. A map of it bears some 

 resemblance, except for the smallness of the scale, and 

 the greater height of the mountains, both relative and 

 absolute, to the southern part of the Scandinavian penin- 

 sula. The watershed — that of the Southern Alps — lies 

 comparatively near to the western coast, and runs roughly 

 parallel with it ; between these is a mountain land, 

 pierced with beautiful fjords, especially towards the 

 south, and covered with dense and generally impenetrable 

 forest; on the eastern side, between the main range and the 

 sea, is a comparatively level district ; a zone of lakes 

 borders the mountain region, similar to that on the 

 southern flank of the European Alps ; and the lowlands 

 extend far into the recesses of the peaks. The Tasman 

 valley, for example, which runs up to the glacier of the 

 same name in the very heart of the chain beneath the 

 peak of Mount Cook, is described by Mr. Green as an 

 Vol. XXIX. — No. 743 



immense flat, from which the mountains rise as from a 

 shore. The end of the glacier being 2400 feet above the 

 sea, the average fall of the river is about 25 feet to a 

 mile. Mount Cook, which attains an elevation of 12,349 

 feet above the sea, is the culminating point of the 

 Southern Alps, but there are several fine peaks near it 

 which are not very much lower. A grand group of 

 glaciers descends from these, of the beauty of which Mr. 

 Green speaks in enthuiiastic terms. 



The mountains of New Zealand are of great interest 

 to the student of physical geography. The latitude of 

 Mount Cook corresponds with that of Florence in the 

 northern hemisphere, but the mean annual temperature 

 of the Southern Island is 10° lower than that of corre- 

 sponding latitudes in Western Europe. There is, how- 

 ever, much less difference between the extremes. For 

 instance, the mean summer temperature of Dunedin 

 (lat. 45° 50') is 57°'2, the mean winter y^'-j F. The 

 rainfall on the eastern coast is much the same as on 

 the English lowlands, being 33 inches at Dunedin and 

 25 inches at Christchurch ; but on the western coast, at 

 Hokitaka, it is 118 inches. Thus the snowfall on the 

 mountains is heavy, and the line of permanent snow is 

 full three thousand feet lower than on the Alps. Hence 

 the glaciers descend far below the level of those in 

 Switzerland, coming down on the western side at one 

 place to within 670 feet of the sea-level, while on the 

 eastern they terminate at about 2000 feet ; on this side 

 however, the limit of perpetual snow is about 750 feet 

 lower than on the western. On the whole the area covered 

 permanently by ice and snow in the Southern Alps is 

 about 160 square miles, or 20 more than tha; in the 

 Bernese Oberland. The Great Tasman Glacier is eighteen 

 miles long, thus exceeding the Great Aletsch by three 

 miles ; further it is two miles wide at the end, while the 

 other does not exceed a mile in any part. 



The Southern Alps present another very singular fea- 

 ture. To the south of Mount Cook the chain is severed 

 by a singular flit-topped pass — named after Dr. von 

 Haast — the ill-marked summit of which is only about 

 1600 feet above the sea ; yet to the south of it again the 

 mountains rise rapidly, and attain elevations of full ten 

 thousand feet. Thus a depression of a couple of thousand 

 feet would convert the Southern Island of New Zealand 

 into two mountainous islands, divided by a narrow 

 channel, just as the Raftsund parts Hindo and Vaago in 

 the Lofotens. 



The Alps of New Zealand are more ancient than those 

 of Europe, as they were probably uplifted in Jurassic 

 times. The oldest rocks — granites (or possibly in part 

 granitoid gneisses) appear on the western side ; these are 

 overlain by crystalline schists, to which succeed slites, 

 grits, &c., of Silurian and later ages. Probably when 

 this district is fully surveyed the New Zealand Alps will 

 be found to consist of a series of Archasan rocks overlain 

 by sedimentary deposits of considerably later date. The 

 highest rock on Mount Cook appears to be a quartzite, 

 and Mr. Green mentions the occurrence, lower down the 

 mountain, of some volcanic tuffs. 



For Mr. Green's adventures during the ascent of 

 Mount Cook we must refer readers to his volume. Suffice 

 it to say that this proved to be no easy task. The diffi- 

 culties were twofold : those of conveying the necessaiy 



