NEW ZEALAND— SOUTH ISLAND. 425 



broken by ridges running parallel to the main axis and consisting chiefly of debris 

 that has been carried by ancient moraines down to the valleys. In the southern 

 part the uplands present the aspect, not of a continuous range, but rather of a 

 plateau from 3,500 to 4,000 feet high dotted over with pyramidal eminences 

 some hundred yards high. But this plateau gradually contracts northwards until 

 at Milford Sound it is reduced to a mere crest dominated by the tower-shaped 

 Castle Mountain (7,210 feet). Beyond Milford Sound the range rises higher and 

 higher, presenting a succession of snowy peaks as far as Mounts Earnslaw (9,165 feet) 

 and Aspiring (9,940 feet), which maybe regarded as the southern limits of the New 

 Zealand Alps properly so-called. This range, how^ever, is abruptly interrupted by a 

 gorge, no similar example of which is presented by any other large mountain system. 

 Ascending a steep ravine, which is traversed by a foaming torrent, and crossing a 

 sill about IG feet high composed of débris, we reach a narrow plain sloping imper- 

 ceptibly westwards down to the basin of the river Awarua (Haast). The gorge, 

 which can hardly be called a pass, has like the neighbouring river been named 

 after the late geologist and explorer. Yon Haast, to whom we owe the most careful 

 study of the New Zealand orographic systems. 



North of the transverse fissure the mountains still continue to rise, and in this 

 part of the island, about the middle of the waterparting, stands the giant of New 

 Zealand, the " heaven-piercing " Ahravai'gi, now Mount Cook, which attains an 

 altitude of 13,200 feet. This glittering peak overtops all other summits, which 

 have for the most part been named after distinguished naturalists, such as Darwin, 

 Lyell, Hochstetter, Elie de Beaumont, and Malte-Brun. North of Mount Cook 

 the Alps maintain an elevation of over 8,000 feet without any great breaks for a 

 distance of about 120 miles, as far as Harper's Pass, which affords a communication 

 3,500 feet high between both slopes. But although this is the terminal point of 

 the Alpine crest, some lofty masses, such as Mount Franklin (10,000 feet), still 

 occur in the line of the main axis. 



Farther on the system ramifies in all directions, the highest ridge continuing 

 to follow the west coast, where the last lofty summit is Mount Arthur, 5,800 feet 

 high. One of the offshoots of this branch sweeps round Golden Bay to Cape 

 Farewell, north-eastern extremity of the island. It was in this district that the 

 natives found the nephrite used in the preparation of the arms and ornaments 

 which were so highly valued by the chiefs. 



The New Zealand Alps rise high above the lower limit of perpetual snow, 

 which here stands at from about 7,900 to 8,000 feet. Round Mount Cook the 

 snowfields cover many hundreds of square miles, dominated by glittering peaks 

 and discharging glaciers down both slopes of the mountains. On the east side 

 descend such magnificent frozen streams as the Tasman, commanded eastwards by 

 the isolated peak of Malte-Brun, whose outlines vaguely recall those of the Cervin. 

 In amplitude the Tasman may be compared withthe largest glaciers of the Euro- 

 pean Alps, being 12 miles long, and nearh^ 2 broad at its lower extremity, which 

 is still 2,340 feet above sea-level ; but the greater part of its surface remains con- 

 cealed beneath heaps of shingle and mud. 



