VIII 
THE SOUTHERN ALPS 
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unutterable things. Far from the haunts of men, from 
the cares of a humdrum world, a new life and world 
seemed opened up — a foretaste of heaven. Ruskin in 
his Modern Painters says that “ the slope of a great Alp 
is the best image the world can give of Paradise, and 
the sublimest revelation of the Giver of life.” We 
Australians travel for thousands of miles to see the 
world and its wonders, and yet at our own doors are 
sights to be seen which even the Swiss guides them- 
selves acknowledge surpass in beauty of detail their 
own Alps. These Southern Alps, running in an un- 
broken chain for a hundred miles, range from 7000 feet 
to 12,350 feet The glaciers are far larger than the 
Swiss ones, on account of the snow-level, which is from 
2000 feet to 3000 feet lower. The native name of 
Mount Cook (Aorangi) has many different translations 
- — scud peak, sky-piercer, and light of day ; the latter 
because it is the first to catch the sunlight, and the last 
to show the evening glow. 
I don’t know how many miles we walked, but it was 
no easy climb, and we were very glad when the hut 
was reached again. Here we had more tea, cold 
mutton, bread, and marmalade, which we ate with a 
relish. Then everything was washed and the tin plates 
and pannikins put away into the tin-lined locker, the 
door locked in the little cabin, and we turned our faces 
homewards. The gray mare which carried me resented 
the side-saddle, and pursued her way dejectedly, and at 
a funereal pace. 
The river had gone down a few inches, and those 
who preferred took their horses over, while the others 
were hurled across again in mid-air. I had not started 
with the idea of having a bath, but, as luck would have 
it, in the dark my mare got into deep water and had to 
swim ; all I could do was to hang on with a possibility 
