ER Gi in pt 
1876.] Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand. 391 
example of the manner in which glaciers are enabled to form 
lake basins, not only by the blocking up of narrow valleys by the 
masses of dirt and stones carried down on the surface of the ice, 
but also through the wearing down of the rocks throughout the 
upper and middle course of the glacier at the same time that 
they are protected from waste at the lower end by the formation 
of a terminal moraine. Such we conceive to be the simplest, 
although imperfect reading, of the grand history of Lake Waka- 
tipu. Other great changes probably took place, however, the 
records of which have been erased. 
Nearly the same words may be written of many other lakes 
which fill rock-basins, or are confined by ancient moraines, like 
many of the “ lochs ” of Scotland, and the long, beautiful sheets 
of water in the State of New York, of which Lakes Otsego and 
Seneca are examples. The glaciers to which these lakes owe 
their origin belonged to the glacial epoch of geologists, and were 
far mightier than the one whose footsteps we have traced. The 
excavation of the great lake basins between the United States 
and Canada has been traced back to the same great ice age. 
Not only are we allowed to read the past history of this inter- 
esting lake, but we may also look beyond the veil that obscures 
its future. As the combined action of ice and water have been 
the instruments for its formation, so are they also working its de- 
struction. After the formation of the moraine at Kingston the 
waters sought a new outlet from the valley over the falls of the 
Kawarau, which are constantly being worn away by the action 
of the water, thus tending to drain the lake to a lower level, as 
we see by the terraces along its shores that it has been already 
lowered. While the outlet is every moment becoming deeper, 
the streams that flow from the foot of the glaciers, together with 
every little rill and rivulet that is born among the mountains, is 
continually bringing down its burden of sediment, however small, 
Which is deposited in the lake, and does its share towards filling 
the valley. If this process seems very slow, or inadequate to 
accomplish so great a work, we must remember that the opera- 
tions of nature, unlike those of man, are not crowded into a brief 
life-time, but continue on through ages. The very glacier that 
cut this magnificent valley to the depth of a mile and a half in 
Solid rock, was formed of the little vesicles of mist that were 
Wafted by the wind against the cold mountain-tops, which caused 
sa to crystallize and accumulate on the summits as snow and 
