Canterbury and Westland. 211 



The second main branch, the Clyde, has also its sources in glaciers 

 of similar size to the former, its course to the junction having a length 

 of thirteen miles ; it receives several tributaries, of which the McCoy, 

 joining three miles below the terminal face of the Clyde glacier, is the 

 largest. The bed of this branch, for the first six miles, is generally 

 not so broad as the former, the water, often running in one channel 

 and even when very low, being difficult to cross. After the junction 

 of the Sinclair branch, however, the river-bed widens considerably, 

 now flowing generally in several branches, and where the Lawrence 

 joins it, being over two miles broad. 



The Lawrence, the third main branch of importance, has its glacier 

 sources on the south-western slopes of Mount Arrowsmith ; in its 

 upper portion, the valley has generally a gorge-like character, and 

 even in its lower course, its bed is often considerably narrowed by 

 gigantic moraines, shingle cones and fans, which the river could only 

 partially remove. This branch is thirteen miles long from its principal 

 glacier source to its junction with the Clyde ; from here to the entrance- 

 of the Pangitata gorge, the river flows in numerous channels, its actual 

 shingle-bed being generally a mile broad, whilst the valley itself — in 

 which morainic accumulations, lacustrine deposits and alluvium abound, 

 with roches moutonnees raising their ice-worn summits here and there 

 above them — is often three to four miles broad. These Pangitata 

 plains, about 22 miles long, doubtless represent the same area in which 

 in the course of the Waitaki, the Mackenzie plains are situated, but 

 owing to the fact that the glaciers were not of such gigantic propor- 

 tions in the Great Grlacier Period, all the phenomena are here on a 

 smaller scale. However, it is evident ^that when the great glacier, 

 which once filled these plains retreated, and before the lower gorge was 

 excavated, a lake of considerable dimensions existed here, which after 

 being partly filled up in its upper portion, was drained in course of 

 time by the lowering of its outlet. Numerous tributaries join the 

 Pangitata in the middle course, of which the Butler, Potts, and Forest 

 Creeks are the most important. Prom the upper plains, two broad 

 openings lead into the valleys of the Ashburton and Pakaia, of which 

 I shall speak more fully when treating of the Ashburton system. At 

 the termination of the lower of these openings, the so-called Trinity 

 valley belonging to the Pangitata drainage, the gorge of the Pangitata 

 begins. Por about six miles, the river has cut such a deep and rocky 

 channel through the front ranges, that it is impassable for man or 

 horse, the bridle-track leads therefore along the ice-worn hills- 



