184 Physical Geography of 



Mount Haidinger, Mount Tasman ; and last, but not least, their crown- 

 ing summit, Mount Cook, the latter being separated from Mount 

 Tasman by a rocky comb of considerable altitude. Numerous 

 tributary glaciers descend from the eastern slopes of these peaks, of 

 which the one between Mount de la Beche and Mount Haidinger, and 

 another between Mount Tasman and Mount Cook, which I have named 

 the Hochstetter glacier, are the most important ; the latter forming 

 one of the finest ice cascades imaginable. From the western flanks 

 descends the beautiful Francis Joseph glacier, the main source of the 

 Waiau river, of the principal features of which I have given some 

 details in the first part. Another glacier of similar size, and descend- 

 ing to the same low region, is the Prince Alfred glacier ; its outlet 

 forms the main source of the "Weheka, one of the principal rivers on 

 the West Coast. Some other glaciers of considerable size also descend 

 here from the western flanks of the Southern Alps, of which the 

 Balfour glacier is fed by the snow-fields on the western flanks of Mount 

 Cook. 



I may here allude to the curious fact, that for a long time the 

 identity of Mount Cook, as seen from the "West Coast, was disputed 

 even officially by members of the Survey Department, they mistaking 

 Mount Tasman (or what some still persist in calling the Dome) for 

 Mount Cook, the peculiar orographical features of the ranges causing 

 this mistake. We are so accustomed to see Mount Cook in its peculiar 

 tent-like form from the east coast, when we observe it from or near 

 Bank's Peninsula, or from Timaru, that when it appears to us as a sharp 

 pyramid or needle, standing behind another mountain of a dome-like 

 form, we fail, at first, to recognise it. However, the explanation is very 

 simple : — Mount Tasman, situated so much more to the west than 

 Mount Cook, hides the latter almost entirely, not only as seen from 

 Hokitika, but its northern aspect when we look against the front, as it 

 were, of its peculiar tent-like form, is so very different from its 

 appearance as seen from east or west, when on or near the same 

 latitude, that the explorer is easily deceived. However, when advanc- 

 ing south along the coast, we observe that the beautiful peak, which at 

 Hokitika appears to the left of Mount Tasman, gradually shifts its 

 position, so that near the mouth of the Wanganui river its highest 

 summit stands in one line with Mount Tasman, so as scarcely to be 

 recognised by a casual observer. Near Okarito, Mount Cook already 

 Btanda to the left, but still appears to belong to the somewhat lower 

 mountain in front ; but at the mouth of the Waiau, the deep depression 



