1864.] MTJECHISON NEW ZEALAND. 129 



2. Note on communicating the Notes and Map of Dk. Julius Haast 

 upon the Glaciers and Rock-Basins of New Zealand. By Sir 

 11. I. MuRCHisoN, K.C.B., E.E.S., F.G.S. 



[Abstract.] 



In a letter to Sir E. I. Murchison, Dr. Haast informed him that for 

 five years he had attentively followed the discussions on glacier- 

 theoi'ies, and that, independently of other authors, he came, in March 

 1862, to the same conclusions in New Zealand as Professor Ramsay 

 had come to in Europe, namely, " that the numerous lakes met with 

 on both sides of the high Alpine chain of New Zealand were formed 

 by the action of glaciers." He further stated, that this view was 

 communicated to various friends in Europe, and printed in his 

 Colonial Reports, as Geologist of the Province of Canterbuiy. 



Until recently, the constant field- and other occupations of Dr* 

 Haast have prevented his carrying out his intention of writing a 

 paper on the subject for the Geological Society. This paper he hopes 

 to transmit soon; and in the meantime he has forwarded to Sir 

 Roderick Murchison the following notes, as a resume of his views, 

 and has illustrated them by a skilfully executed MS. map, the 

 general features only of which are given on p. 134. He has also 

 transmitted to the Royal Geographical Society a series of very 

 beautifully coloured sketches of aU the chief glaciers of New 

 Zealand, and their moraines. 



Sir Roderick Murchison then quotes Dr. Haast as follows : — 



" I fully agree with you that aU valleys have not been excavated 

 by glaciers ; the more so as there is every proof that glaciers, like 

 watercourses, choose any natural depressions, be it line of junction 

 of two formations, fault, synclinal trough, or, as in the southern 

 Alps, very often anticHnal breaks, to bring down the enormous 

 masses of neves, which, through the rising of the country or meteoro- 

 logical causes, have accumulated on the (at first) plateau-like 

 ranges. 



" But, at the same time, it is natural that such a mass of ice, of 

 such an enormous weight and tremendous vis a tergo, will be able 

 to scoop out sooner much larger and deeper valleys and gorges 

 than the waters of a river, however considerable, the more so as 

 the transporting power of the glacier is not only so much greater, 

 but also adds to its weight. A glacier transporting an enormous 

 load of debris on its surface AviU thus be able to scoop its valley 

 much deeper, and wiU bring away much more easily the detached 

 debris from the ranges, which would only obstruct the course of a 

 river." 



With reference to Dr. Falconer's remarks published in the ' Pro- 

 ceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,' Dr. Haast writes as 

 follows : — 



"I cannot agree with him concerning the filling up by glacier-ice 

 of deep preexisting rocky basins, over which afterwards the glacier 

 advances. What becomes of the ice in the deep hollow in contact 

 with the rocky bottom at a higher temperature, and of the water 



