70 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
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•4 
CHAPTER II. 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
From the entrance of Blind Bay, the mountain chains by which it 
is enclosed may he distinctly traced as they stretch towards the 
south. That on its western side is continuous tor a consider¬ 
able distance, rising at Separation Point, and running thence 
southward towards the western extremity of Mount Murchison, 
where it appears to terminate abruptly. On the eastern side of 
the hay, over the low hills which surround the city of Nelson, are 
seen the high mountains named Ben Nevis and Gordon’s Knob, 
forming part of a chain beginning near Queen Charlotte Sound, 
and running thence to the Spencer mountains. Between these 
two ranges an undulating table land is visible, apparently 
of little height, which stretches in a south-westerly direction to 
the base of Mount Murchison. On ascending the last-named 
mountain, an opening between the eastern and western chains 
becomes visible, extending as far as the eye can reach in a south- 
south-westerly direction. At a distance of seventy-five miles in 
a straight line from the city of Nelson, this opening or fissure, 
on each side of which the above-named ranges have been up- 
heaved, and which up to that point maintains an average breadth 
of eight to ten miles, narrows, and the mountain chains reach 
their greatest altitude. Their spurs run into each other, almost 
uniting their rugged masses, and forming for eight miles a succes¬ 
sion of narrow gorges, through which several rivers flow. The 
mountains then again recede from each other, the eastern chain 
• running in a southerly direction, and the western turning south¬ 
west towards the ~West Ooast, whilst the lower land between 
widens to a considerable extent. 
In the northern part of this remarkable fissure, the lakes which 
occur are found at the foot of the eastern chain, whilst on its 
southern sides lakes are found (in the Province of Canterbury) 
lying at the foot of the western range, thus indicating the natural 
watershed of the island. 
But this is not the only fissure by which the northern part of 
this island is divided; another large opening cuts in a transverse 
direction through the two mountain systems above described. 
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