136 Historical Notes on the 



valley, rise some very interesting conical hills and other roclies 

 moutonnees, jutting out from the stony slopes of the Craigieburn range. 

 They are mostly covered with a luxuriant vegetation, and some are so 

 perfect in form that they have been mistaken for volcanic cones by the 

 settlers. Advancing towards the junction of the eastern branch of the 

 Harper with the Avoca, which is the principal one, a large opening is 

 visible leading along the western slopes of the Cragieburn range 

 towards the Canterbury plains, filled with a number of huge roclies 

 moutonnees. Magnificent Fagus forest covers most of the valley and 

 hill sides of the Avoca above the junction, the river winding consider- 

 ably between the picturesque ranges. This, combined with the 

 splendid peaks on both sides, makes it one of the most beautiful valleys 

 in our Alps. It thus presents us with a great diversity of views, very 

 unlike those of our large alpine valleys, often so straight that, 

 from the junction of the principal branches that portion of the 

 Southern Alps, with its glaciers whence their sources are derived, are 

 well discernible. 



We camped twelve miles above the junction of the Harper with the 

 Avoca, at an altitude of 3194 feet above the sea. For the last three 

 miles the river-bed had already become very narrow, and assumed the 

 character of a mountain torrent, flowing over great boulders, so that 

 crossing it was not without difficulties. Here also the beech forest 

 (the so-called white birch of the settlers), is growing luxuriantly 

 along the banks, and for several hundred feet on the mountain sides. 

 In ascending the valley next day, I observed that the Fagus forest 

 grew to about 3800 feet, or 1370 and 1440 feet higher than in the 

 valleys of the Eakaia proper and the Wilberf orce respectively. As the 

 aspect is nearly the same, at least as far as the Wilberf orce is concerned, 

 it is difficult to account for such a great difference, except that the 

 narrowness of the valley under consideration may act as a funnel, 

 through which the warm air of the East Coast ascends more easily than 

 in the broader valleys. I observed here, growing on the grassy flats 

 along the river, some shrubby Veronicas, as for instance, Veronica 

 lycopodioides and cupressoides, plants which are common in the smaller 

 branches of the Waimakariri and near Porter's Pass, but which I never 

 observed in the other branches of the Eakaia. During the night, rain 

 from the south-west set in, increasing towards morning ; the 

 barometer fell rapidly, and all seemed to point to a breaking up of the 

 fine weather which had hitherto prevailed. Fearing that the river 

 would rise so as to prevent our crossing, I started early to ascend to its 

 sources. 



