THE COLD LAKES OF NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7265, 26 January 1889, Page 6

THE COLD LAKES OF NEW ZEALAND.

By W. N. Blair, C.E.

Wakatipu, the last lake in the central group, is probably the best known in New Zealand, being the favourite resort r> tourists, who now visit it by excursk W train in great numbers. The lake is 5 miles long, and from i to 8 miles wide, and covers an area of 114 square miles. It stands at a level of 1050 feet above the sea, and is 1400 feet deep. In shape it is some, what like an elongated letter S, and has a general resemblance to Lake Maggiore in the north of Italy. The outline of the shore is very regular, there being only two or three indentations that can be called bays. The scenery of Lake Wakatipu is very grand. The eye is wholly occupied with huge mountain masses and towering peaks, to the exclusion of anything that requires inspec tion. Lake "Wakatipu is literally surrounded by a wall of moun_ tains, and the gateways in the wall ar e few and narrow. Like the other lakes in the central group, Wakatipu has comparatively little forest; the flatter slopes are covered with fern, the common bracken of Sept. land; for a few hundred feet after-that comes the ordinary tussock grass of the country, which continues i well up to the snow-line. The ledges in the steeper parts of the mountains are generally filled with evergreen shrubs, which make a fitting contrast to the sombre grey of the schist rocks, and the ravines and waterfalls are fringed with vegetation of the same kind.

From the deck of the steamer on the lake can be seen about forty well-known peaks from 4000 to upward of 9000 ft high. There are seven orer 8000, and the great majority of the remainder range from 5000 to 7000. Much of the charm of the Otago lake scenery is due to the facility with which it can be seen, and with which comparison can be made between the various heights. The larger lakes in the European Alps lie outside the principal mountain masses, and frequently the best view of a peak is that got from a pass or spur half-way up; whereas in New Ze&land the lakes wind in among and around the grandest mountains, and every height is easily measurable. Commencing at the Kingston end of Lake Wakatipu, the mountains soon get bold and rugged, the Bay and Bayonet Peaks, and Mount Dick, on the western side, rise sheer and craggy from the water's edge. Although less steep at the base, the Remarkables, on the eastern side, is perhaps the most impregnable of the rampart* that surround the lake. It is comparatively straight and level, but closely serrated, and so steep at the top as hitherto to defy colonial climbers. The wall is buttressed in a very extraordinary manner by narrow rock spurs, the sides of which are too steep lor snow to lie on; but as it lies on the intervening flat places, the winter aspect of the mountain is that of a curious mosaic in black and white. In the middle reach of the lake, there is a tolerably solid range on the northern side, but the mountains on the southern side are more or less isolated, and at one place there is a narrow valley leading to the Tβ Anau country. The finest scenery of all is at the head of the lake: there is no single peak so imposing as Mount Cook, but the general view is grand in the extreme, for the whole lake is guarded by a mighty array of mountains, whose predominantcbaracteristic is massiveness. The centre-piece in the scene is Earnslaw, which may aptly be called the Mont Blanc of New Zealand, for in general appearance it closely resembles the monarch of the European Alps, the only difference is thatthelatter is somewhat more rounded on the summit. One of the most prominent features of Earnslaw is an immense glacier that occupies a hollow at a high elevation on the mountain's aide. At the end of winter it presents a smooch glassy appearance, like the frozen surface of a lake; but the movement over its sloping irregular bed in summer causes it to break up into huge steps, the front of each being the exposed edge of a crevasse. The glacier begins at the foot of a steep part of the mountain, and is jammed in between two spurs in a carious manner, so that the whole thing is not unlike a gigantic seat. A classical enthusiast has called it" Jove's Chair ;" bat we prefer the more homely comparison of the old Scotch lady, who said, " It is just like the 4 Great White Throne.'"

There are three picturesque islands on Lake Wakatipu, about 7 miles from the head ; they command the best view of the mountains, and are in consequence a favourite resort of picnic parties. The glacier origin of the central lakes is commonly accepted, and in the case of Wakatipu it is apparent on every hand. The mountain slopes generally consist of sm»ll ledges, smooth and round, suggestive of the work of a machine that had a downward and forward motion. There are several glacier deposits along .the shores, and the terminal moraine at Kingston is probably the most perfect l«j Otago. It stands about 250 feet above the present lake level, and extends about a mile and a half down the valley. The railway, which is made through the moraine, is laid out to follow one of the gullies that led the water from the glacier to the main river beyond. This is one of two unique experiences in railway making in New Zealand: the other is in Canterbury, where a tunnel is made through th.c wall of an ancient volcano, the harbour of Lyttelton being the crater. As the heavily freighted excursion train comes winding down the steep face of the moraine, with every brake screwed down, we may imagine the noise to be a microphonic reproduction of the crunching sound of the glacier, pushing forward a, load that all the locomotives in Europe could not move, and the fanciful passenger in the Lyttelton tunnel may compare the engine's head-light to the spark that lit the original Plutonic, fire. .' . As already stated, the depth of Lake Wakatipu is 1400 feet, but this is only in one place, the general depth, being 1200 feet. The soundings are remarkably uniform, and there is no shallow watef along the shore; the slopes q$ %he moun* tains appear to continue right down to the bottom of the lake.

The central lakes are mainly supplied by rivers carrying glacier sediment; consequently, the water at their head U more or less muddy, but it leaves them quite pure: the large lakes act as settling basins, and otherwise purify the water in the most effectnal manner. Unfortunately, the purity of the Clutha is not long retained; the diggers, restore the sediment extracted by the lakes, and tfye riyer rolls down to the sea in a discoloured stafe all th.§ year round* The rivers at the heads ef the lakeg, like many others among the mountains, are remarkable for the sylvan beauty of their immediate surroundings. They flow through flat grassy valleys, divided into glades and parks by belts and clumps of bush, laid out by nature in a way that art can never excel. The hush mostly black bfrch. p£ qe£<sh, fagua fS 1 »?• whi< * In shape resembles the Macrocaspa; and ieofited trees are frequently seen in positions that seem to have been specially selected by Nature's landscape gardener. The vafley of the Route Burn h«s been compared with the policies of Taymouth Castle, but with an extensive background of magnificent Alpine scenery. , rs-»» The Clutha is only \Bo> miles lone, hnt it wh|ch therg %s a aTdiS vieußly &££<*. Th V? ver for tbe most part runs through rocky gorges ; but, witVthe ratception of a few miles near the Blue Maintains, the scenery fs not striking The most remarkable feature on its wnoii course is a succession of wCiel&Ms races that occur on the. WanaEa ba&nch ' they are as smooth a«d *<£»££ set SltSi 4 to& ** **** fn have all the appearance of an immense railway embankment stopped *"

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sequence no regular means of conveyance, and no proper accommodation at publichouses. , ... Te Anau, the most northerly or the western lakes, is the largest in the Middle Island. The main body of water, which extends due north and south, is 38 miles long, and from 1 to 6 miles broad; it has three Arms or fiords running off from the western side and winding among the mountains,' their dimensions being from 10 to 18 miles lone, and from 1 to 3 miles broad. The lake covers an area of 132 square miles: it stands 700 feet above sea-level, and is from 720 to WO feet deep. The.country for 25 miles on the eastern shores of Te Anau is low and undulating, bat the fiords and other portions of the lake partake more or less of the character of Wakatipu »nd Wanaka. Although not nearly so high, the mountains generally rise steeper Irom the water's edge, and, with the exception of some 15 miles of the low country just mentioned, there is a fringe of dense bush all round. Te Anau has ten islands of various sizes and shapes, some of them being very picturesque. .... ,_ Manapouri is of an indescribable shape and indefinite dimensions, being so cut up into bays, gulfs, and arms as to make it iuipossible to determine what is length or what is breadth. An idea of its size can, however, be obtained from the area, which is fifty square miles. The altitude is 610 feet; the depth has never been ascertained, but it must be very great, the bottom being supposed to descend considerably below sea-level, as in Uie case cf the other large lakes. Manapouri has five beautiful wooded islands lhat stretch across the lake near the foot, and constitute a prominent feature in the landscape; unlike much of the colonial nomenclature of localities, they have received euphonious and poetical, if not appropriate names :— Rona, Pomona, and others suggestive of Canute and Minna Troil. The lake is hterally embossed in the mountains as a brilliant set in emeralds, with ouier rings ot rougher and o'arker gems, that change their colours with every mood of the- sky. The islands as well as the mountain spurs rise abruptly from the water, frequently with a convex outline, a good idea of which is conveyed in the name of one of the headlands —" The Beehive" ; above the level of the bush and ths beehives the curve becomes concave, and the mountains rise tier upon tier, an amphitheatre of gigantic proportions. The general effect is of wondrous beauty and silent solemn grandeur. The same impression is made on the Maoris, for the name of the lake can be translated into "sorrowing heart" or "dark inliuence;" evidently they consider it the abode of some deity who does not usually take a cheerful view of sublunary affairs. Te Anau and Manapouri are only 5 miles apart', consequently the surrounding scejiery is common to both. The lakes are guarded to the -westward by irregular detachments of moantains, huddled promiscuously together like •a. badly trained army. They, however, show a good front, and sweep round the head of Te Anau and onwards to Wakatipu in a regular curve, like, the circle of the Ben Ohau range' in the Mackenziexountry. There are some forty named and. measured peaks in the vicinity, but they are considerably lower than those round the central lakes, the general height being only from 4000 to 5000 feet. The view from the shoulder of the Takatimos, an isolated range that bounds the Tβ Anau {country on the south, is at once Alpine and sylvan. Mountains, lakes aridrivers; forests, plains, and rolling downs,'are brought together in a way that is seldom seen, and the picture will be still mote complete a few years hence, when the low country is dotted over with cosy homesteads. Mono w di, the third of the western lakes, lies in a subsidiary valley about Iβ miles from Manapouri, and 500 feet above sealevel ; it is 14 miles long, and from half a mile to a mile broad, the area being 11 square milee. It curves round the end of a mountain range, and in shape resembles the boomerang of the Australian natives. Like the other lakes in the western wilds, Monowai is surrounded by rugged mountains fringed with bush, but there is an open valley nearly all the way from the river Waiau; consequently |it is easy of access. , ■■ The vegetation of the western lake country is varied and profuse. It includes all sorts and conditions of plants, from the great red beech-tree, Faguafuaca, six f«jet in diameter, to " wee modest" flowers as delicate as the lily of the valley. With the exception of fuschia and three or four others, all the shrubs in the Middle Island are evergreen ; but it does not follow that the woods are monotonous, for the foliage is of every conceivable colour and tint, from the burnished green of the laurel to the rusty brown ofthe pepper tree and the silver grey of the OlearUt. Although not so apparen to the unscientific eye, geologists tell us that the western lakes, as well as those in the central group, have been formed by glacial action. Professor Hutton points out a large hill situated about eight miles down the ■ valley as the terminal moraine of a huge glacier that had the whole of the Te Anau country for its lair. Possibly -the scarcity of morianic deposits is due to the variety of formations that occur in the Waiau watershed. Rocks of all kinds are met with, from gneiss and schist, harder than basalt, to granular limestone as soft as chalk. One of the most interesting geological features is a series of immense terraces, four or five in number, that mark successive water levels. Relatively to the lakes, they occupy the same position as those on the upper Clutha.

The Waiau, which drains the western lakes, is one of the finest rivers in New Zealand: no part of it is uninteresting; and there are fresh beauties and new objects of interest at every turn. For a short distance below the lake the river flow's as smoothly and slowly as a canal, but, after that, rocky gorges and shingle reaches alternate all the way to the sea. The average fall is 10 feet a mile, and there are no fords or bridges and few ferries. The southern lakes have only been seen by explorers, and by but few of these. The first trustworthy map of th.@ district bears the date of June 18§3, Tha reason the Jakes have been so. Jorigf unknown is the inaccessible nature of the country With the of the mountain tops it is all covered with dense bush, In addition to which the low ground is swampy. Hauroto. the largest of the, southern lakes, lies 4 miles south-west from Lake Monowai. It is 21 miles* loflg, afld from three-quarters to a mile and a half broad, with aa inlet 4 miles long and qne apd a half broad, the total area being 83$ square .miles. The lake winds among the mountains in lone; flat curves the. inlet being nearly detached by two islands that stretch across its mouth. , The altitude of Hauro&t in 610 feet, the same as Manapouri, a.nd 16 Is only 15 miles fre&|i the sea.; consequently t>-e river, which has. ©ever beau tswet out, must have. Upge waterfalls, br be little morelhae a foanalng torrent for its whole length, Poutlritiri lies generally parallel with Haoroto, but 7 miles wes,t from it, and mufth nearer Foveatuc Straits, its lower end being only 6. miles from the sea. The lake is 18 n\Ue» long and of the same width aetuutfeto; the area is I<% square miles, and the altitude 120 feet. In shape it is a reduced copy of Lake Wakattan. with the bends stretched out flatter, The outline of the shor§ M exactly the same, feeing and. otherwise quite femlar, ,' , . ?a.e southern end of the South Island Is fcnqwntothe natives by a name which aienifles " the last joint of the tail," and it would be equally applicable to Hakapoua, the third and last lake |n the southern groap, for it is the togs* southerly one in New Zealand, W<J the most Insigniflcant or the twelve herein described. It is only ♦ tone to ball a mile wide, a.nd VftQfts Rt a low iaftel, about 4 miles trom theeoasi.

_ The eosftiiern lakes are situated amone the mountains, like the others in Otago, bat there is no high range between them ana. the sea. Thirty peaks In their immediate vicinity have been named and measured j they range from 3500 to 5000 i£S& Wg*H bt * fc ™* c ftfeat majority are under W Bey<md the fact that the mountains *re ragged, the valleys swampy, and tbe woodsTdamp and impenetrable, we have little information with reference to the coon try that surrounds the southern lakes. _ Thia completes our de&eripton o f the Cold Lakes of New Zealand, It is confined entire); to, their physical aspect. .legendary-or historical AJ?s&fa«tonß to eamraead them. Until &c advent of iha white men, thirty yeax» ago |h® CQontrj had no inhabitaofc*. The JSagria occasionally visited the interior on fishing and hunting ejcpeditions, and m search of greenstone with which to make weapons and, ornaments, but there n^..? 0 'fl?^. c Population, The only aj?a the to M eoodandfeU" of squatters locj&fas fioreheep co«n«i7, diggers prospec^fa^f^

locomotives, w perform thevmb i3,5n,000 men weuld be required. the »Uroeda is given at per «nnum. ho* to perioral «*J^gg»uwnaadhoreeawculd cab