648 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



other possible invaders during our absence, we started for the glacier. 

 On reaching a pack which I had sent on to the foot of the moraine, 

 we rearranged our loads, Kaufmann and Boss dividing all they had to 

 carry into four loads, while my "swag" was quite as much as I could 

 manage over the rough ground. My men adopted the plan of carrying 

 each one load for an hour or so, and then, setting it down, scrambling 

 back again for the others, thus making the whole journey twice. In 

 this manner we arrived at the camping-ground we had chosen, near 

 the shore of a little blue lake, where the whole drainage of the valley 

 that forced its way beneath the boulders bubbled forth to the surface. 

 The lake was embosomed in dense scrub, which here clothed the high 

 moraine and the mountain sides. This scrub was composed of dwarf 

 pines ; birch, or more correctly beech (^Fagus) ; veronicas, sixty species 

 of which are indigenous to New Zealand, and shrubs of podocarpus, 

 coprosma, clracophyllum, &c., and as we came along we could not 

 resist eating the sweet red berries of Podocarpus nivalis, though at the 

 time we did not know what ill effects might ensue. Of smaller 

 plants, the fine white Ranunculus lyallii was everywhere abundant ; 

 it goes by the name of Mount Cook lily among the colonists, and we 

 found its large succulent leaves most useful in our hats as a protection 

 against the fierce rays of the mid-day sun. A little white violet 

 became common from this camp upwards, and ferns nestled under the 

 shade of every damp rock. 



Keas, or Mount Cook parrots {Nestor notabilis), now made their 

 appearance, and came screaming close to the tent. Kaufmann shot a 

 couple, and soon had them picked, and in the soup-kettle, while Boss 

 added a brace of ducks to our larder. Parrot soup proved so good, 

 that from this day forward we were never without some in the kettle. 

 Since sheep were introduced into New Zealand these parrots have 

 acquired a taste for kidney fat, and perching on the poor unresisting 

 animals, eat through their flesh, in order to obtain this delicacy. 

 Further up the glacier these birds were so tame, that I knocked 

 one on the head with a stick which I had in my hand. In the crops 

 of about a dozen specimens of the kea which I examined, I found 

 nothing but the green pips of the berries of Podocarpus nivalis, and 

 the birds seemed confined to the zone where these berries were ripe. 



As night closed in heavy drops of rain fell, and soon it began to blow 

 a gale ; but, ensconced in our felt sleeping-bags, we at first defied the 

 elements, and slept well. After midnight, however, the weather became 

 so terrible that sleep was impossible. The tent could not have been blown 

 away, as it was made on Mr. Whymper's plan, the sides and floor being 

 L.11 in one ; but I felt sure it must soon split ; it fluttered and banged, 

 and the torrents of rain never ceased lashing its sides. Thunder crashed 

 round the mountain peaks, and when morning came there was no improve- 

 ment. So far the tent resisted the rain, but nowKaufmann's sleeping 

 bag was getting wet from soaking the damp through the tent wall, 

 then a pool formed in our opossum rug, and it was no longer possible 

 to keep dry. There was no chance of lighting a fire, so we sat in the 



