THE SOUTHERN ALPS. SLE 
survey it has a height of 12,320ft., but I willingly adopt Mr 
Roberts’ calculation as the right one; he took the average of 
twenty-two measurements and his calculation is therefore a final 
one. Of course, a mountain covered with snow might vary 2oft. 
in height during the year, according as a snow cornice may 
crown the summit or not. Mount de la Béche is the bulkiest 
mountain of the group; near the top, particularly towards the 
south, high glacier plateaux are situated—plateaux something 
like those from which the Linda glacier and Hochstetter glacier 
descend. 
At 10 a.m. we continued our march, and soon got to a place 
where the crevasses were so wide that we could hear the echo 
from the other side when speaking on the margin. Feeling our 
way through this labyrinth of crevasses, we could only make 
slow progress. The crevasses are due to the same causes which 
give rise to the crevasses on the western slope of Mount de la 
Béche. Projecting from this slope we see ridges with rocky 
_ steps, which are parts of terraces, and which run along the 
whole of the eastern incline of Mount de la Béche. These ter- 
races are filled with ice, forming a continuous coating from top 
to bottom. When the ice comes down from the highest terrace 
it bends over, and thus forms large transverse crevasses, which 
split up the ice coating into a series of ridges, like those turned 
up by the plough; on the lower terraces crevasses are formed in 
a similar manner. These may continue for several miles along 
the southern slope of the Hochstetter Dome. Although no rock 
appears over the surface in that part of the nevé of the Tasman 
glacier, still there are irregularities on the surface of the ice, 
whereby valleys in the ice are formed. Wherever the ice moves 
over projecting rocks crevasses will be formed ; and wherever 
the ice-stream flows along a valley the crevasses are filled up 
again, so that the ice in the valleys is not so much crevassed as 
that in the elevated parts; on this account, it is a rule with 
mountaineers to keep to the bottom of these glacier valleys. 
Making our way up the undulating ice-slopes, winding about 
between the crevasses, we at length got over most of them, and 
reached the saddle between the Hochstetter Dome and Mount 
Eli de Beaumont at 12.30 p.m. From this saddle we could see 
the flat land on the West Coast, and here we had the first view 
of the western ocean. From here we could discern the route we 
had to take, and found that our observations taken from the 
Linda ridge were correct. The westerly lower peak of the Hoch- 
stetter Dome is round, the easterly one is pointed. We made 
for the latter. There was a large crevasse before us, which was 
soon reached ; we had not only to find a place where it was 
bridged over by the debris of an avalanche and get over it, but 
we also had to cut steps up the other slope—a steep wall of ice. 
Although the height was only rioft., this took an hour. This 
crevasse is formed, as others, by the ice moving down over a 
convex plane. Another crevasse, of a much more formidable 
character, and which we expected would stop our advance, lies 
