34 Historical Isotes on the 



patches of snow appeared, which were remaining from the last storms, 

 and over which we worked our way higher and higher. The view became 

 exery moment grander, and having reached an altitude of 6500 feet, 

 I established my first station. Although the sun shone brilliantly from 

 a cloudless sky, it was extremely chilly in the shade amongst the rocks, 

 where we went to shelter ourselves from the icy cold wind. The 

 thermometer at eleven o'clock stood below freezing point. Again 

 on our road, the rocks became more and more broken ; hitherto they 

 had consisted of dioritic sandstones, but now slates, often of a serpen- 

 tinous nature, made their appearance, and about 7,500 feet above the 

 sea we came upon a chasm of about 10 feet wide, and, perhaps, 30 

 feet deep ; the vertical stratum of clay slates between two others of 

 dioritic sandstone having been here removed, and as it was impossible 

 to round it, and we had no ladder with us to throw across it, we were 

 obliged to retreat. The view from this point is admirable in the ex- 

 treme. The bold tent-like form of Mount Cook proper occupied the 

 foreground, surrounded by many peaks of every conceivable shape. 

 Deep below us the great Tasman glacier carried slowlv, but steadilv, 

 its heavy detritus load down to its terminal face. Xow only could I 

 form a true conception of the enormous extent of this remarkable 

 glacier, of the vast snowfields at the head of the broad valley, which 

 enveloped here some of the mountains so thoroughly, that no rocks 

 were visible, and of the extent and number of the tributary glaciers 

 joining it along its whole course. Also, the course of the fine 

 Murchison glacier was now well visible, the bold Maltebrun range 

 separating both glaciers, and contributing to their bulk by numerous 

 branches, forming a conspicuous object in the centre of the panorama. 



With a hand trembling from the cold, I executed a panoramic 

 sketch of this grand alpine scenery to fix the bearings of the principal 

 topographical features around us, my assistant. Mr. A. D. Dobson, having 

 no little trouble to keep the stand of the instrument steady from the 

 strong blasts of wind sweeping over this exposed height. Towards 

 the south the view was not less characteristic. Here the Tasman valley 

 on its whole extent was visible, with its network of innumerable branches 

 of the rapid river, the placid watershed of Lake Pukaki, surrounded by 

 rounded hills appearing on the horizon. A great deal of new snow 

 had been collected on this majestic range which rose so beautifully 

 before us, and we enjoyed the fine spectacle of witnessing, during our 

 ascent, five avalanches fall from Mount Sefton, the thunder occasioned 

 by them being reverberated by the echoes in the mountains around ue. 



