491 
their upper-parts the character of wild mountain gorges. The masses 
of debris tilling those valleys take more and more the character of 
the ordinary mountain detritus, and are detached from the steep 
and precipitous mountain sides in the shape of sharp-edged frag- 
ments of rock, which are carried further along and rounded by 
the rushing waters of the river. The enormous mass of detritus 
in the mountains is truly astonishing. Ilaast says that mountain 
sides rising 5000 or 6000 feet above the valleys are often covered 
from their tops to the bottom with one unbroken talus of debris, 
so that not one projecting rock is to hq seen. Avalanches, numer- 
ous watercourses, frequent rainfalls together with violent storms and 
frost, arc, combined, the chief causes of this enormous denudation 
among the easily crumbling sandstones and slates. At altitudes above 
3000 feet the temperature at night for at least, six months in 
the year , is below the freezing point , while during the day it 
is so warm that generally a continued freezing and thawing takes 
place. The beds of the rivers have for a long course upwards a 
width of nearly a mile, but masses of detritus of every description, 
and gigantic blocks of rock (old moraines), which appear at times 
to shut up the whole valley, make it very difficult to proceed; even 
the vegetation assists in obstructing the way. He who has not seen 
the subalpine vegetation of New Zealand, writes Ilaast, can form no 
idea , how difficult it is to pass through it. The growth of scrub 
is in some places so dense, that it is necessary to walk literally 
on the top of it; the natural consequence being to break through, 
and then only releasing oneself with the greatest trouble and exer- 
tion. This occurs chiefly where the wind has bent the branches in 
one direction , giving them the appearance of clipped hedge rows. 
There is very indifferent feed for horses in these high alpine valleys; 
snowgrass and the leaves of the Celmesia coriacea , called “cotton 
plant” by the settlers, are often the only feed procurable. 
Deep mountain ravines issue from the sides into the main val- 
leys, and the higher the traveller ascends, the more grandly the great 
majestic character of this high mountain region becomes developed. 
From . ten to fifteen miles from the already mentioned j unction, 
