•56 Historical Xotes on the 



we could distinctly hear how big boulders and blocks of rock were 

 carried along, together with large trees, by the muddy rushing waters. 

 Every small water-rill hanging on the steep mountain sides was now 

 changed into a broad foaming waterfall. How enormous this rainfall 

 was, may best be judged from the fact that the level of Lake Wanaka 

 was raised over four feet in less than twenty -four hours. 



As soon as the river had fallen sufficiently, we continued our journey 

 towards its sources. Instead of being a broad shingle-bed with here 

 and there a rocky gorge, and where travelling had been comparatively 

 easy, the Wilkin now consisted of a series of rapids and waterfalls, 

 often filled with enormous blocks of rock, and the valley rose so 

 rapidly that within a few miles we had ascended to a region which was 

 clothed with sub-alpine vegetation, having all the characteristics of a 

 truly alpine country. Following the river for another day, we found 

 its bed repeatedly obstructed by old moraines, often of enormous 

 dimensions, and after observing that its main sources issue from two 

 small glaciers descending from the central range, we retraced our steps 

 to Lake Wanaka. At the end of March we returned to Mr. Wilkin's 

 station, and after a few days' preparation, started for Lake Hawea, to 

 which Mr. Robert Wilkin had kindly sent a boat, on a bullock dray, 

 for my use, over from the Molyneux. Lake Hawea is like Lake 

 Wanaka, surrounded on its lower side by morainic accumulations, en- 

 cased one in another, and which have a higher level than thqse of the 

 latter lake. The view up the lake is beautiful in the extreme, high 

 rocky mountains appearing one above the other, forming a magnificent 

 background ; whilst a wild craggy peak, its perpendicular walls washed 

 by the deep blue waters of the lake, forms a conspicuous object in the 

 foreground. For several days we were detained here by bad weather, 

 but managed, on April 5th, to reach the Hunter, the main afiluent of 

 Lake Hawea, after having first visited, on our road, the rocky islets 

 rising from it. We followed the Hunter for a few miles, flowing 

 sluggishly along through the swampy delta at the head of the lake, until 

 its bed assumed the character of a true shingle river, where the shallow- 

 ness of the reaches would not allow us to proceed any longer with the 

 boat. Shouldering our swags again, we began our toilsome march, mostly 

 through dense vegetation, towards the sources of the river, which have 

 a glacier origin. The scenery is really splendid, the view up the 

 straight valley, where a succession of craggy snow-covered peaks 

 appear for many miles one behind the other, and the lower mountain 

 sides mostly covered with luxuriant Fag us forest, is one of the most 

 ^characteristic of our New Zealand alpine landscapes. 



