It was witli intense admiration that I gazed on the indescribably 
magnificent panorama before me. All around the patriarchs of the 
alps were enthroned, veiled in solemn, silver coverings of dazzling 
snow with venerable heads, whence flowed their long icy beards. 
Only the thunder of the avalanches, or the mournful cry of the 
large alpine parrot broke through the stillness of virgin nature. A 
deep feeling of veneration and holy overcame me, when I reflected 
that on the spot where I stood in the solitary wilderness, human 
foot had never pressed before.” 
The exploration of the Havelock valley was followed by an 
exploration of the second branch of the Rangitata, the Clyde. The 
first tributary from the left, or from North, was named Lawrence. 
It springs from Mt. Arrowsmith, a mountain-colossus about 10,000 feet 
high , from the slopes of which huge glaciers descend in all direc- 
tions. Like the Lawrence so also the other tributaries of the Clyde, 
St. Clair-Creek, and M’Coy Creek, are glacier streams. Following 
the main valley to its upper end I)r. Ilaast discovered the principal 
glacier descending from Mt. Tyndall , 1 which he named the Great 
Clyde glacier. The end of this glacier is 3762 feet above the sea; 
it forms an ice-wall 1300 feet broad and 120 feet high. The river 
springs from a large glacial cave; and above the cave, about twenty 
feet below the surface of the glacier, a second stream issued forth 
from a round hole as from the gutter of a house. The glacier was 
entirely covered with stones, so that the ice was scarcely visible 
on the surface. 
The third region of glaciers, which Dr. Ilaast visited, was that 
of the Ashburton river. The Ashburton glacier lies at the eastern 
foot of Mt. Arrowsmith. It descends to a height of 4823 feet, and 
at its terminal face is only 300 feet broad, and 30 to 40 feet high. 
It pushes a large moraine ahead of it, and appears very remarkable 
by its clean surface, which bears no stones whatever, as well ashy 
the clear stratification of its ice. Its inclination near the terminal 
face amounts to 7 or 8 degrees; farther up the valley an ice-fall is to 
1 Named by Dr. Haast after our much esteemed friend Prof. J. Tyndall in 
London 
