﻿DoBSON.— Ou Traces of Ancient Glaciers in Nelson Province. 339 



ceive— the main glaciers lying in an oval valley surrounded on three sides by 

 mountains rising 1,500 feet above it, full of cliffs and rugged pinnacles capped 

 with large snow fields, must have been extremely grand. 



Near the head of the Wangapeka, at the foot of Mount Target, is a small 

 glacier, about one mile long and about 200 yards across in the widest part, in 

 whose centre occurred an ice cascade 150 feet high, and the ice was here con- 

 tracted to about sixty yards in width. The lower part of the bed is at present 

 a swampy fiat covered with grass, the moraines having dammed back all debris 

 brought down by the mountain streams, the old bed has been filled np nearly 

 level with the top of the terminal moraine. The terminal face is about 3,600 

 feet above sea level. 



Much larger glaciers existed on the west side of the range than on the east ; 

 these for the most part poured their waters into the branches of the Crow 

 River, a ti-ibutary of the Karamea. The two largest occupied the north and 

 south branches of that stream ; the northern one was about four miles long, 

 and from half to a quai-ter of a mile wide. The terminal moraines being 

 about 2,700 feet above the sea level, a large snow field supplied this glacier — 

 the whole of the west slope of the main range from the peaks near Jones' 

 Saddle to Hough's Saddle, and all the east slopes of the mountains forming the 

 west side of the basin — containing in the aggregate about nine square miles. 

 The old glacier bed has been very much filled with detritus from the moun- 

 tains, which has buried the moraines, so that it is difiicult to find unmistakable 

 signs of ice action without cai'eful search. The terminal moraine has been 

 almost completely hidden, but may be found where the present sti-eam has cut 

 its way through it. 



The glacier which occupied the southern branch descended from the north- 

 east slopes of Mount Target, and is of considerably less extent than the 

 one last described. I was unable when in that district to spare the time to 

 search for signs of its terminal face, but I should think it must have been 

 about 3,000 feet above sea level. These glacial remains, which I have attempted 

 to describe, are only a few of the principal ones of a great number. At the 

 head of every gully near the main peaks small flats are visible covered with 

 grass, which undoubtedly have been formed by the filling up of old beds, the 

 moraines acting as dams to retain the material washed down the mountains. 

 The largest glaciers in all cases occurred near the highest peaks. During the 

 period the line of perpetual snow must have been very much lower down the 

 mountains than it is at present. I should be inclined to think that it was 

 about on a level which is now only about 4,500 feet above the sea, and from 

 the very distinct manner in which many of the old beds are still marked, and 

 the unburied state of many of the moraines, I think the disappearance of the 

 ice must have been at a very recent date. No one can behold Lake Te Warau 



