Geological Survey of Canterbury. 101 



exhibiting by its rough anticlinal arrangement, that it formed the 

 northern lateral moraine of that large postpliocene glacier. This accu- 

 mulation, first only 40 feet high, rises as we advance towards 

 the south, to at least 250 feet, indicating more than anything else the 

 enormous denudation which must have taken place before the present 

 glaciers would form the channels they now occupy. And if we con- 

 sider that the accumulations come mostly from the highest portion 

 of the central chain, the lower portion having been generally ground 

 down by the ice, or become removed by the rivers issuing from below 

 these huge glaciers, the philosopher is filled with admiration and 

 wonder, when the great truth once more is revealed to him, that 

 Nature, to obtain great results, uses gigantic but simple means, of 

 which we have scarcely any true conception. Between the Okarita 

 lake and the Waiau comparatively little water reaches the sea, 

 which may easily be accounted for by assuming that a large spur runs 

 in a south-westerly direction, from Mount Elie de Beaumont to the 

 valley of the Waiau, so that only ."the water collecting on the western 

 side of that spur could form small channels through those moraines. 



There are two smaller rivers which we had to pass before we 

 reached the "Waiau, both being called the Totara, but generally easily 

 crossable if they flow at all, their mouths being ofteu closed by 

 shifting sands of the sea-shore, behind which they then form 

 lagoons ; but when breaking through, for a few days often present 

 an impassable barrier to the traveller. When we passed the first 

 time, the northern Totara was running, but could be easily crossed, 

 whilst the southern one was closed; and on our return, owing 

 to the continuance of the fair weather and light south-west winds, we 

 found them both closed, so that we could travel dry footed for eight 

 miles along that well irrigated coast. At eleven o'clock we arrived at 

 the mouth of the Waiau, where two diggers, who had been our 

 travelling companions, left us ; they were bound for a creek between 

 the Waiau and Waikukupa, where some payable finds, according to 

 rumour, had just been made by some prospecting party. 



The view from the mouth of that river is most magnificent, as the 

 valley, being straight and nearly two miles broad, allows us to gaze at 

 the Southern Alps from foot to summit, having in the foreground the 

 enormous ice masses of the Francis Joseph glacier appearing between 

 the rich forest vegetation. The Waiau is a true shingle river, flowing in 

 several branches through its wide valley, the semi-opaque bluish 

 colour of its waters at once revealing its glacier origin. Owing to the 



