652 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



its ice-fall, we climbed the steep rocks of the spur from Mount Tasman, 

 and after ten hours' work settled ourselves for the night on some stones 

 beneath a large boulder about 3000 feet above the Tasman glacier. 



Starting from our bivouac at six a. m., we reached the plateau 

 above the Hochstetter glacier, and then by a glacier coming down 

 between the northern arete and the arete connecting Mount Cook 

 with Mount Tasman, which I have called the Linda glacier, we 

 gained the last steep ice slopes of the peak, and after about five 

 hours' step-cutting stood on the highest ridge at 6'20 p.m. The 

 wind was N. W., the ice thawing rapidly; temperature about 40°. As 

 my thermometer was broken I could not take the exact temperature; 

 it may therefore have been even higher than 40°; it could not have 

 been much lower. My aneroid read 19-35 inches, which, with cor- 

 rection to bring it into comparison with the standard instrument in 

 the post office at Timaru, would be 19-05, and by comparison with the 

 sea-level readings, furnished to me for that day by Dr. Hector, Super- 

 intendent of the Meteorological department, ISTew Zealand, our eleva- 

 tion above the sea level would appear to have been between 12,300 

 and 12,500 feet, according as the possible corrections are adopted. 



The mountain has been measured trigonometrically from twenty - 

 two stations by Mr. G. J. Roberts of the "Westland Survey Department, 

 and his result of 12,349 feet is no doubt the true elevation. Though 

 a heavy gale was driving dark masses of rain-clouds in eddies round 

 the ice cornice on which we stood, we could see quite enough to 

 satisfy ourselves that we were on the ice cap of the highest peak. 

 "We could not see the distant view; but there is no other pinnacle of 

 the mountain that can enter into competition with the peak we 

 climbed. A peak that seems almost as high, when looked at from the 

 Tasman valley, only owes its chance of comparison to its being nearer 

 the spectator. One peak alone with its little cap of ice presents itself 

 as the Sochste Spitze, from any point of view from which a true esti- 

 mate of the mountain can be formed. In the hour of daylight that 

 remained we descended about 2000 feet ; it then became quite dark, 

 and as heavy showers of rain and sleet beat upon us I called a halt. 

 Spending the nine hours of darkness standing on a ledge of rock, we 

 resumed our descent next morning, reaching the Tasman glacier at six, 

 and our camp at 7-30 p. m. 



The vegetation in these high alpine regions was most interesting : ve- 

 ronicas of various species were of the larger plants the most numerous ; 

 the Veronica macrantha with its large white flowers was especially beau- 

 tiful, and quite takes the place of the little rhododendron of Switzer- 

 land. Above the mean snow line, which is about 3000 feet lower 

 than a similar line in the European Alps, numerous alpine plants and 

 a few dwarfed stragglers from lower regions, flourished in suitable 

 situations. Of these alpine plants I made a collection, noting the 

 highest point at which I observed them growing- Mr. Armstrong, of 

 the Botanical Gardens, Christchurch, kindly named most of these for 

 me ; the few he was doubtful about I have since shown to Sir Joseph 



