880 — Transactions.— Geology. 
It will be seen then from the above :— 
(1.) That the principal drainage of Mount Cook is to the S.E., by way 
of the Hooker and Great Tasman glacier; but at the same time it is 
highly probable that a large quantity of snow from the main range is 
carried down to the West Coast by the Wataroha, which falls into 
the sea north of Okarito. 
(2.) That a snow-field of very considerable proportions lies to the west- 
ward of Mount Cook, not, however, having any immediate connection 
with it. | 
(3.) That this snow-field stretches back to the Dome, to the eastward of 
which the River Wataroha, in all probability, takes its rise from an, 
as yet, unknown glacier, and consequently that, from Mount Cook, 
the line of water-shed must retreat to the eastward. 
It will further be seen that the Francis Joseph and Fox Glaciers are fed 
from this snow-field irrespective of Mount Cook, and that the Balfour 
Glacier derives the greater portion of its ice, at all events, from the same 
source, but that it may also, to some extent, be fed by avalanches from 
Mount Cook, which mountain would also perform, in a large measure, the 
funetion of condenser for the whole field. 
We spent some hours on the snow-field, and then commenced our 
descent, and, not being satisfied with the way we had come up, thought it 
better to try the spur for some distance, and then to get into another creek, 
which, from our point of observation, appeared to rise by easier gradients. 
We were decidedly unlucky in our choice, having great difficulty in ever 
getting to the creek at all, and, after reaching it, I counted 36 waterfalls 
that we had to descend before reaching the edge of the glacier, and we only 
arrived at our camp when it was quite dark, having had to cross the glacier 
with very little more light than that afforded by the moon, and having had 
considerable experience of what Mr. McKay described as the “ Boulder 
Hornpipe." : 
Before closing this paper, I wish to call attention to a few points of 
interest, which have come under my notice, with respect to the present 
glaciers. 
In the year 1870, Dr. Haast made the height above the sea of the 
terminal face of the Francis Joseph Glacier, 705 feet, and of the Fox 
Glacier, 702 feet. 
In 1868, Mr. J. R. Hackett made the height of the Francis Joseph 
Glacier 640 feet above sea level ; and when at the Fox Glacier last J anuary, 
I found the elevation of the terminal face to be only 660 feet above the 
level of the sea, 
