Miscellaneous. TH 
practicable part, where the ice on one side approached more nearly the ice 
on the other, and with an axe cut steps to where it was possible to leap ; 
then he continued cutting steps in a slanting direction until he had gained 
the top of the ice on the opposite side of the crevasse. This being done, 
we attached the packs to the middie of the cord, and he pulled them 
across. Then with our waists carefully attached, and following the steps 
he had cut, we passed over singly in the manner he himself haddone. We 
occupied two hours and a half in getting to the commencement of Haast’s 
Glacier. 
“ Dr Hector having carefully examined the surface with his glass, and 
fixed upon the best route for avoiding the ‘ crevasses,’ took the lead, three 
of us being lashed together as before by the rope. At first we had to 
ascend the glacier for some distance, to head a wide and profound crevasse 
compelling us to pass among blocks of ice and stone, the debris of ava- 
lanches which fall every ten or fifteen minutes from the higher part of 
the glacier. Luckily for us, by hurrying on we passed this danger during 
an interval, but had scarcely got beyond its reach when one of the most 
tremendous avalanches that we had witnessed came rolling down, sending 
blocks of solid ice of many tons in weight to within a few yards of where 
we stood, while the place we had so recently passed was overwhelmed 
with smaller fragments and masses of rock. ‘The height from which this 
ice cascade descends is about 1500 feet, and the mass of ice thus formed 
into a glacier is probably not less than 500 feet in thickness at its upper 
end, and at its lower about 100 feet. Its length is five miles, and in that 
distance the slope of its surface amounts to 1100 feet. 
‘* We occupied the same time in crossing Haast’s Glacier as that in 
descending the smaller one already alluded to, viz., 24 hours, and at its 
completion we encamped a few yards below where the river of that name 
commences its hurried course. Four and nine miles from its source, the 
river passes through gorges with an enormous velocity, and so rapid is the 
descent of its valley, that viewing tall trees at a comparatively short dis- 
tance off, their tops are seen on a level with the eye. Dr Hector ascer- 
tained its fall in this part of its course to be 7 in 30. Continuing our 
course for about six miles further, we were arrested in our progress by a 
precipitous cut cliff, which for about 100 feet above the surface of the river 
is quite devoid of vegetation, and presents a perpendicular smooth sur- 
face. Considering that we had been travelling the whole distance down 
the stream in a northerly direction, and thereby penetrating into the 
province of Canterbury, Dr Hector felt that he was thus on ground be- 
yond the limit of his especial duties. Having, however, taken so much 
trouble in contending with the difficulties of this district, he would obtain 
as much information as possible relative to the mountainous region to the 
westward, before proceeding any further by the valley of the Haast. 
The following morning we proceeded along the summit of the ridge to 
the highest point of the mountain, when, to our great delight, the ocean 
shore lay stretched before us at the distance of about fifteen miles. From 
this point the whole course of the river by which we had descended was 
accurately traced, and it was found to sweep through a perfect canon ata 
distance of two miles above the point at which it debouches into a river, 
the valley of which ranges from three to five miles in width, and whose 
volume of water is at least equal to the Molyneux where it leaves the 
Wanaka Lake. From careful bearings, which Dr Hector had taken 
throughout the route we had followed, we learnt that what we saw was 
Jackson’s Bay; he therefore named the river which flows into it the 
Jackson. 
‘The sight of the ocean was too great a temptation for us to be satis- 
fiedthat we had proceeded far enough, and, although our provisions were 
