CockaunN-Hoop.— New Zealand a Post-glacial Centre of Creation, 17 
The ** Glacial Epoch " in New Zealand is assumed by Dr. Haast, F.R.S., to 
have been synchronous with the alleged period of the general reign of frost 
in northern regions, and we are accustomed to hear of the ** PLEISTOCENE 
Guacters ” as those which have done the most work in the land of the moa. 
But there seem to be very good reasons for placing the age of their greatest 
extension back in pliocene times, about the time man was learning 
experience in Lemuria. 
When the Cordillera stood at an equally higher altitude as that claimed 
by Professor Ramsay for the Swiss Alps, we may be well satisfied with the 
ability of the rain-bearing winds coming round in their sweep back from 
equatorial regions over the warm Australian Sea to breed glaciers of magni- 
tude sufficient to do all the work claimed for them—to shape the sides of 
the valleys and glens, scoop out the basins of the southern lakes, grind out 
the fiords of the west coast, and break up and collect the materials for the 
formation of the sub-alpine plains, to be spread out there by the torrential 
rivers in after times, which, as the land has gradually risen again after 
partial submergence since, have left the remarkable terraces, whose symme- 
trical lines produce such a striking feature in the landseape—of magnitude 
sufficient to carry off masses of rock 20,000 tons in weight, if required, 
and deposit them as blocs perchés below, with as much ease as those masses 
of Mont Blane granite were borne along and left on the sides of the Rhone 
valley. Which operation probably they did perform, but the memorials 
being of less durable material, have disappeared under the gradual wear 
and tear of ages, or lie buried under the accumulations of gravel and sand 
on the plains, or beneath the sea. 
In both of these mountain systems, as in the Himalaya, changes in the 
dimensions of their ice-streams, and debacles caused by the bursting of 
glacier dams, from time to time occur, on an insignificant seale it is true, 
when compared with what we may well believe went on in the days of their 
greatest grandeur, from local causes apparently, but which causes owe their 
origin to events going on in far distant regions. It is convenient sometimes 
to compare small things with great, and the operations proceeding quietly 
now, enable a judgment to be formed as to how the same causes, working 
with more activity, might readily be able to repeat the phenomena that 
engage so much attention. 
The glaciers in the Swiss Alps, which had been retreating for thirty 
years, are advancing again at present, those descending from the heights of 
Monte Rosa are tearing up the green fields and overwhelming the gardens 
and homes of the peasantry, and, as the alternate advance and retreat of 
those of Mount Cook and adjacent mountains, present an evidence of the 
effect of ocean currents upon regions apparently far removed from their 
influence, B 
