﻿12 New Zealand Institute, 



shore, and moored head and stern to huge trunks of trees. Immediately above 

 rose Pembroke Peak to the height of nearly 7,000 feet, covered with perpetual 

 snow, and "with a glacier reaching down to within 2,000 feet of the sea. The 

 lower slopes of the mountains around are covered with fine trees, and with 

 the luxuriant and evergreen foliage of the tree-fern and the other beautiful 

 undergrowth of the New Zealand forests. Two permanent waterfalls, one 700 

 and the other 540 feet in height, add picturesque beauty to the gloomy and 

 desolate grandeur of the upper part of Milford Sound. Diiring a storm of 

 wind and rain, mingled with snow and sleet, which, though it was the middle 

 of summer, raged during three days of our stay, avalanches were often 

 heard thundering down, with a roar as of distant artillery, from the snow 

 fields above ; while a multitude of foaming cascades poured over the face of 

 the lower pi-ecipices, hurling with them into the sea masses of rock and trunks 

 of trees. On the other hand, nothing could exceed the charm of the few fine 

 days which we enjoyed during our voyage. In his work, entitled " Greater 

 Britain," (Part IL, chap. 2), Sir Charles Dilke has truly observed " that the 

 peculiarity which makes the New Zealand West Coast scenery the most 

 beautiful in the world is that here alone you can find semi-tropical vegetation 

 growing close up to the eternal snows. The latitude, and the great moisture 



of the climate, bring the glaciers very low into the valleys; 



and cause the growth of palm-like ferns on the ice-river's very edge. The 

 glaciers of Mount Cook are the longest in the world, except those at the 

 sources of the Indus ; but close about them have been found tree-ferns of 

 thirty and forty feet in height. It is not till you enter the mountains that 

 you escape the moisture of the coast, and quit for the scenery of the Alps the 

 scenery of fairy land." Again, Sir C. Dilke's description of the view from 

 Hokitika at sunrise would apply also to the same view from many other points 

 on the West Coast : " A hundred miles of the Southern Alps stood out ujjon 

 a pale blue sky in curves of gloomy white that were just beginning to blush 

 with pink, but ended to the southward in a cone of fire that stood up from 

 the ocean ; it was the snow-dome of Mount Cook struck by the rising sun. 

 The evergreen bush, flaming with the crimson of the rata blooms, hung upon 

 the mountain side, and covered the plains to the very margin of the narrow 

 sands with a dense jungle. It was one of those sights that haunt men for 

 years." 



The neighbourhood of the sea, and the semi-tropical magnificence of the 

 foliage, are features in which the ISTew Zealand Alps excel the highest moun- 

 tain ranges in Europe. As members of the Alpine Club of England have 

 already scaled the peaks of the Caucasus, it is hoped that they will ere long- 

 explore the glaciers and summits of Mount Cook, together with the elsewhere 

 unrivalled scenery of the neighbouring fiords. Mount Cook (as has been 

 already said) rises to 13,200 feet above the sea level — that is, it surpasses all 



