132 Historical Notes on the 



of the lower portion of the shingle-fan of that creek. Having 

 crossed these morainie accumulations, the present shingle-bed of 

 the river widens considerably, and the road leads over grassy flats 

 to the bed of Moa creek, the most important tributary below the 

 Cascade range. Magnificent Fag us forest clothes the lower sides of 

 the mountains which, in the Cascade range, rise to a great height and 

 are exceedingly ice-worn, whilst numerous water -falls, from whence 

 the range derives its name, appear like so many silver ribbons on the 

 bare rocks, and give a great charm to this part of the road. 

 We camped on a large flat on the northern banks of the Stewart, 

 enclosed on both sides by the shingle brought down by two tributaries, 

 with some lower ground at the base of the mountains, where a chain 

 of deep lagoons is situated. For nearly two miles the valley is more 

 than a mile broad, and in this distance it is joined by three important 

 branches, all coming from true glaciers of the central chain. 



I started on the morning of Thursday, March the 29th, to follow the 

 main branch. One mile above the junction of the western branch the' 

 valley turns towards south-west, and the hills on the right hand bank 

 of the stream become remarkably low, and consist of stratified alluvium, 

 as seen in a large slip of 200 feet high, reaching to within 100 feet of 

 the summit of the ridge. Two miles above the turn, the Stewart — the 

 bed of which had narrowed considerably and become exceedingly rough,, 

 the turbid waters falling very rapidly over large blocks — has a west and 

 east direction, and another small tributary joins it from the south. A 

 quarter of a mile of laborious walking brought us to a glacier 

 nearly 200 yards broad, descending into two branches from a high 

 dome-shaped mountain, which I named Mount Collet ; its terminal 

 face is 35S1 feet above the sea. Enormous avalanches had fallen from 

 the ranges on both sides near the terminal face, and covered it for a 

 considerable distance with its masses, so as almost entirely to conceal 

 the glacier. 



The following evening we reached the so-called Grreenlaw's hut, 

 situated a mile below the southern foot of Browning's Pass, having 

 followed the stock-road along the western bank of the Wilberf orce, 

 which offered fair travelling ground, except at a few spots where it 

 was destroyed at the crossings of alpine torrents by heavy freshets. 

 "We started early on the following day to ascend the Pass, as I 

 wished to get another set of observations, and to examine the geological 

 features of the ranges. When I passed here, about the end of the pre- 

 ceding October, on my return from the West Coast, all the ranges were 



