_NEW ZEALAND GLACIERS. “447 
and thus formed a lake similar to the Merjelen-see in Switzer- 
land. At the same time the main drainage of the great glacier 
passed along at a lower level, and issued from its ice cave miles 
lower down, as the stream of the great Aletsch does at the 
present day. ; 
That the Tasman Glacier has been down the present valley 
at almost its present level, past the foot of the slopes on which 
the terraces occur, is proved by the existence of several little 
mounds of old terminal moraine which the river has failed to 
remove ; and until the structure of these terraces is more closely 
examined it is quite possible to suppose that they may have 
been formed by the direct action of the glacier banking up the 
debris that fell from the mountain sides. 
The heat as we journeyed up the river bed was intense, dark 
masses of rain-clouds blocked up the Hooker valley, while the 
Tasman remained clear, except for a passivg shower. Along the 
course of the river small whirlwinds followed each other atjregular 
intervals, making themselves visible by the cloud of fine sand 
which they whirled upwards to a height of from 50 to 100 
feet. 
At 3 P.M., on February 12th, we commenced to ford the 
Tasman, and at 6.30 we reached its further shore. Halting for 
the, night at Birch Hill sheep station, we started early next 
morning, and were camped at the foot of the Tasman glacier by 
mid-day. 
Early on the 15th we started from the camp, taking with us 
some slight poles for observations on the motion of the glaciers, 
my photographic apparatus, our ice axes, and provisions for the 
day. Crossing a rude bridge which we had constructed, an 
hour’s smart walking over grass-covered flats brought us to the 
terminal moraine, which rises up here in grassy knolls to a height 
of 200 feet, and, assuming a more recent appearance to the 
eastward, extends right across the valley, a distance of about two 
miles in a straight line. Nowhere is ice visible except near the 
farther shore where the river breaks forth. The truncated form 
of this termination of the glacier shows, I think, that it cannot 
be retreating very rapidly, if it is retreating at all, as the absence 
of any heaps of terminal moraine on the flat plains near to its 
face proves that the river outlet must have changed many times 
along the present terminal face to have so completely swept 
the valley of all outliers, except one small heap which has been 
protected by boulders of unusual dimensions. It may be 
stationary, but from consideration of the appearance of the 
terminal face, and from observations on the relations of the 
present lateral moraine to more ancient ones, to which I shall 
allude further on, I would conclude that the glacier is at present 
advancing ; or if it is not doing so at the present moment, it has 
done so since its last retreat, as there is good evidence to prove 
that at a period not very remote the glacier was smaller than it 
now is. 
We ascended the outer line of grass-covered moraine, and 
