﻿10 New Zealand Institute. 



us ; and, had it not been- for tlie disaster whicli befel us in Bligli Sound, we 

 expected to have been enabled to collect much practical information respecting 

 that part of tlie Colony, and also to furnish fresh and valuable notices to the 

 Geographical, Geological, and Zoological Societies of London. It may here be 

 mentioned that the best general descriptions of the sovith-west coast of the 

 Middle Island which have hitherto been published, will be found in the " New- 

 Zealand Pilot," compiled chiefly by an honorary member of our Institute, 

 Admiral Richai'ds, F.R.S., the present Hydrographer to the Admiralty; and 

 in a paper by Dr. Hector, printed in the 34th volume (for 1864) of the 

 Journals of the Royal Geographical Society. The notes which I shall now 

 read to you were written while the 'Clio' lay disabled in Bligh Sound, and have 

 been partly embodied in my despatches to the Imperial Government. 



We left Wellington on the 4th of last February, but the ' Clio ' was much 

 delayed at first by bafiling winds, and afterwards by a strong contraiy gale 

 with a heavy sea. We reached Milford Sound on the 11th, and remained 

 there, thoroughly examining that extraordinary inlet, until the 17th February. 



Admiral Richards has observed* that the only harbours of shelter for large 

 ships along the West Coast of the Middle Island of New Zealand — a distance 

 of five hundred miles — are the thirteen sounds or inlets which penetrate its 

 south-western shore between the parallels of 44 and 46 degrees south latitude, 

 including a space of little more than one hundred miles. They are, counting 

 from the north, and according to the names given chiefly by the adventurous 

 whalers, who alone have frequented these inhospitable regions, as follows : — 1. 

 Milford Sound ; 2, Bligh Soimd ; 3. George Sound ; 4. Caswell Sound ; 5. 

 Charles Sound ; 6. Nancy Sound ; 7. Thomson Sound ; 8. Doubtful Inlet ; 9. 

 Daggs Sound; 10. Breaksea Sound; 11. Dusky Bay; 12. Chalky, or Dark 

 Cloud Inlet ; 1 3. Preservation Inlet. As I wrote to the Secretary of State for 

 the Colonies, these arms of the Great Southern Ocean, cleaving their way 

 through the massive sea wall of steep and rugged clifis, reach far into the wild 

 solitudes of the lofty mountains which form the cordillera, or " dividing 

 range," of the Middle Island. These mountains attain their highest elevation 

 further north, in Mount Cook, a snowy peak rising 13,200 feet above the sea 

 level, and visible in clear weather at a distance of more than a hundred miles 

 to the mariner approaching New Zealand ; thus forming a noble monument of 

 the illustrious navigator who first recommended the planting of an English 

 settlement in this country. To quote Admiral Richards : — " A view of the 

 siirrounding country from the summit of one of the mountains bordering the 

 coast, of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet in elevation, is perhaps one of the most grand 

 and magnificent spectacles it is possible to imagine ; and, standing on such an 

 elevation rising over the south side of Caswell Sound, Cook's description of 



* See "New Zealand Pilot," chap. ix. 



