462 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
the trig, I had only taken one man with me, and had sent the 
other two with tent, etc., and provisions to a small grassy flat 
about two miles up the creek which flows into the Hollyford, on 
the western side of the river, opposite to High Falls. I had 
always been of the opinion that at the head of this creek there 
would be a saddle or a pass leading to Milford Sound, and the 
result of my excursion was to prove my opinion correct. Early 
on the morning of the 13th, then, myself and one of the men 
(who was a capital climber) started for the creek. For the first 
two miles or so the ascent was easy and the ground clear, after 
which there was a mile of very rough travelling over a moraine 
composed entirely of huge clean blocks of stone. At the head 
of this moraine there is a large mountain lake about one mile 
and a-quarter long and half a mile wide, which I have christened 
‘Lake Adelaide.’ The sides of this lake are very steep, sheer 
down in many places; but at some height above it there are 
ledges running, along which travelling is easy. We chose the 
western side and, thinking to get a better view, climbed a peak 
on that side. To get at the top of this we had to cross a large 
snow-field, and several times were nearly stopped by crevasses. 
At one place we jumped a chasm over six feet wide, down which 
we could see the blue ice sixty or seventy feet below. On 
reaching the summit we were disappointed, for a belt of fog lay 
just below, effectually hiding everything but the hill-tops. Re- 
tracing our steps over the snow we kept along the foot of the 
field in the direction of where we now knew there must bea 
saddle of some kind. This was very ticklish travelling, for the 
rock was as slippery as glass with the water running over it from 
under the snow, and just below was a sheer precipice. As the 
foot of the snow-field looked very much as though pieces might 
break away at any moment, we made the best of our way along 
it, and soon had the satisfaction of reaching the saddle. Just 
then the mist lifted a little, and we found that we were within 
about four miles of the head of Milford Sound. I had no diffi- 
culty in identifying it, as I.had noted the place well when com- 
ing round in the Stella, and from the saddle we could see the 
whole length of the Sound and out to sea, Mitre Peak standing 
out well about half-way down. Having a prismatic compass 
with me, I made a rough sketch of the country around. The 
saddle is peculiar. The width on the top is not more than a 
chain, and the length about five chains. It is like a stone wall 
built across a narrow pass between two hills. On each side it 
ceoes down almost perpendicularly ; indeed, on the Milford 
Sound side you might almost say it was a sheer precipice of 
1,000ft. ; and I am sure that 300ft. below the top of the saddle, 
from one side to the other, would not measure more than five or 
six chains, if so much. At first it seemed impossible to get 
down, but after some hunting about we found a narrow cleft 
about 2ft. wide, where the side of the precipice seemed to have 
split away. In the cleft a number of blocks of sharp stone had 
got jammed, and by holding on to these we descended some | 
