18 Historical Notes on tlie 



science, it will be easily understood how great ray delight was at being 

 able to make such a remarkable addition to the alpine and sub -alpine 

 flora of INTew Zealand. Similar large collections were made by me 

 during my journey to the sources of the Eangitata and Ashburton r 

 first together with my lamented friend Dr. A. Sinclair, and after his 

 death alone. 



Exploration op the Head Watebs or the Waitaki, 1862. 



After having written a progress report on the work undertaken in 

 the Kowai and on the ranges in the neighbourhood, I started again, end 

 of January, 1862, this time for the Mount Cook District, with a view 

 to ascertain if any auriferous deposits occurred in that region, and to 

 continue the regular work of the geological survey of the province. 

 The rich goldfields in the Province of Otago having in the meantime 

 been discovered, it was of course of vital importance to ascertain if 

 formations of similar nature could not be traced over the boundary 

 line into this province. During a period of over four months, I 

 accomplished with the active and hearty co-operation of Mr. Arthur 

 D. Dobson, my assistant in the topographical work, and now District 

 Engineer at Westport, the survey of the extensive river system ? 

 situated at the head of Lakes Tekapo, Pukaki, and Ohau, the 

 outlets of winch form the River Waitaki. During this journey, 

 about 130 miles were chained, and numerous points were fixed 

 from the base lines thus obtained. This brought me into the 

 very centre of the Southern Alps of Xew Zealand, which in 

 grandeur and beauty are worthy rivals of their European name- 

 sakes. Passing through. Burke's Pass, the remarkable Mackenzie 

 plains were reached, once the bed of an enormous glacier, 

 and after its retreat filled by morainic accumulations and alluvial 

 deposits^ with here and there a small range or isolated hill rising 

 above them, showing by their peculiar forms that they have been 

 rounded and ground down by the action of the huge ice stream which 

 once passed over them. Proceeding towards Lake Tekapo, the most 

 northerly of the three lakes, the outlets of which unite in the 

 Mackenzie plains, we soon reached the huge morainic accumulations, 

 several miles in breadth, by which Lake Tekapo is surrounded, and 

 which clearly show the origin of this fine sheet of water. These 

 moraines, at the termination and along both sides of the lake, 

 have a concentrical arrangement one within another, proving that the 

 huge glacier had retired repeatedly for a distance, then become 



