228 Physical Geography of 



the main valley from the south, and drains the Southern Alp* for & 

 considerable distance, as far south as the ranges east of Docherty's 

 Pass. It has many affluents, issuing from glaciers of smaller size, 

 formed opposite the glaciers at the head of the Eiyers Dobson, 

 Hopkins (Lake Ohau system) and Landsborough, main tributary of 

 the Eiver Haast. 



Mahitahi. 

 Of the rivers between the Karangarua and the Paringa, only the 

 Mahitahi deserves any notice, as it leads up to Docherty's Pass, 



draining the northern slopes of the Hooker range. 



Paeixga. 

 The main branch of the Paringa is formed by two confluent 

 streams, of which the southern one issues from a glacier on 

 the western slopes of Mount Hooker, and after a north-west 

 course of about six miles, receives the northern branch — according 

 to Mr. Gerh. Mueller, not of glacier origin. After this junction, 

 the Paringa valley, for about eight miles, continues in the same 

 direction, receiving three miles above its mouth the Hall river, a small 

 stream issuing from Lake Hall, of which I have described the character- 

 istics on page 161. 



Haast. 



The next river of importance is the Haast. It has, with th« 

 exception of the Taramakau, the largest course of any river in 

 Westland, its most distant source, at the head of the Lands- 

 borough, being about forty -four miles from its mouth. Although the 

 sources issuing from small glaciers near Haast's Pass, are neither so 

 important nor so far distant as the former, they may be first alluded 

 to, as being near that remarkable break in the Southern Alps, by 

 which this river system was first explored by me. A small creek takes 

 its rise from a swampy flat on Haast's Pass, about two miles long and 

 half-a-mile broad, which, at its northern termination, joins a larger 

 water-course, coming from the west. The united stream now flows in 

 a northerly direction, and receives numerous tributaries, of which the 

 most important is one from the east, issuing from a glacier on the 

 western slopes of Mount Brewster. A few miles lower down, the 



