VON HOCHSTETTER'S NEW ZEALAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1229, 30 April 1864, Page 5

VON HOCHSTETTER'S NEW ZEALAND.

This long-looked-for work has at length made its appearance among us, in its first and original shape, in the mother-tongue of the author and the type of the Viennese press. ! With every desire to be thankful, we are yet but half satisfied. It is something to see the book in the possession of a savant compatriot with the author; but we want something else than this. We want the work in English, and an abundance of copies; for the public will be greedy for the knowledge to be gathered from this —the best of books on New Zealand. In the year 1858, the Austrian frigate the Novara was sent on a scientific and exploring expedition round the world, Dr. Ferdinand Von Hochstetter was appointed geologist and naturalist to the expedition, and the work now published is the result of his observations during the nine months spent by him in this colony. The book contains an immense mass of information, clearly digested and arranged; the subjects, though from their very nature, treated scientifically, being divested of any unnecessary technicalities. The first portion embraces sketches of the physical and geographical features of the country, and an outline of the principal traditions and superstitions of the aboriginal inhabitants, and a notice of the historical and political events which have occurred since its occupation by the present possessors of the soil. The whole of the country is described in a vivid and graphic style, its animal, vegetable, and mineral productions being all more or less dilated upon. Two interesting chapters are devoted to those valuable products, gold and coal. Both these chapters well deserve perusal. Although we have become so familiarised with the discoveries of the precious metal that any fresh announcement of success obtained by prospectors and diggers fails to excite our astonishment, yet much information may be derived from this part of the work before us. The author humorously describes the first breaking out of the gold-fever, consequent upon the discoveries in Otago, in language of which we quote a specimen : —" The news spread rapidly through the provinces of Canterbury, Nelson, Wellington, Hawke's Bay, and Auckland. From these localities poured hundreds and thousands of intending diggers to the south, which was reported to be so rich in gold. Intelligence from the Waikato, and of the Maori war, which had hitherto formed the staple commodities of the journals, were merged in the new cry of 'Latest from Dunedin,' and 'Further details from the gold-fields;' and one facetious wjriter went so far as to assert that the nurses lulled the children to sleep with the ditty— ' Gold, gold, gold, fine bright gold; Wangapeka, Tuapeka, gold, gold, gold.' "

The following is the sentence with which the author closes this chapter:—"At no distant date, a golden age will dawn upon New Zealand, through the discovery and development of the treasures now hidden in her vast fields of coal and minerals, an age which will follow the bronze and iron ages of art and industry. Such is the wish with which I conclude this chapter."

Dr. Hochstetter could not, on account of his limited stay, visit more than a small part of the provinces of Nelson and Canterbury. This hiatus valde dejlendus has been supplied by information which was furnished by Dr. Haast, our Provincial Geologist, and has been interwoven with the author's own observations.

Among the numerous chapters in the work the sixteenth, containing a description of the SoutherTi Alps, will probably be for the inhabitants of this Province the most interesting. If our space would permit, we should have great pleasure in giving a translation of the whole chapter, but must now, however, content ourselves with giving the heading and some extracts. The following heading alone, will give some idea of the variety Of its contents,and the many important scientific questions of which it treats

" Southern Alps proper. Dr. Haast's merits. Canterbury Plains. The Itangitata River, from its mouth to its glacial source. Formation of the terraces. The Forbes glacier. Red snow. Havelock, Clyde, and Ashburton glaciers. The Tekapo and Pukeki Lakes. The great Godley glacier. The glacial region near Mount Cook. Limit of perpetual snow and of glacial ice. Principal summits of the Alps. Kaimatau, Mount Tyndall, and Mount Cook. Character of the vegetation. Nestor Notabilis, the King of the Alps. Orographieal mean line. Geological sections. Shingle rivers. Alpine Lakes. High plateaux. Extensive distribution of the drift formation. Theory of the action of floods. Theory of the action of ice. Explanations of the combined effect of ice and water through oceanic floods and glaciers in connexion with the elevations and depressions of the land." Appendix.—Altitudes in the Southern Alps, accoffling to observations by Dr. Haast." The author then proceeds to give a description; of the topographical features of the Southern Alps, and continues as follows :—" The first navigators on the coast of New Zealand looked already with wonder at those magnificent Alpine masses, covered with perpetual snow, the giant summit of which now bears Cook's name. The wild forms of the enormous rocky masses on the West Coast towering to the skies, and bidding defiance to the terrific breakers, were always an object of deep admiration to the sailors visiting these shores, but to our times this mountain region remained a wilderness, untrodden by the foot of man. On the discovery of New Zealand it was uninhabited, for the natives shunned this solitary mountain wilderness, and it remains so to this day, incontestably one of the most remarkable and grand objects which has been reserved for the physico-geographical and geological investigations of our time. It is only within the last ten years, since European colonists from the rapidly rising and prosperous settlements of Lyttelton and Christchurch, situated in the neighbourhood of the magnificent harbours of Banks' Peninsula, have taken possession of the fruitful plains at the eastern foot of the Alps, that any attempt has been made to penetrate the unknown mountain districts. Some few squatters have advanced with their runs to the valleys and downs, covered with a luxuriant vegetation at the foot of the Alps proper, and of late years intrepid men inspired by their enthusiasm for scientific enquiry have penetrated to the icy glaciers of the highest mountain masses. Thus we see now the chaos of this grand alpine system become through geographical and geological examination more and more disentangled, and the regularity of its formation brought to light. Foremost among the alpine' explorers of New Zealand stands the name of my energetic friend, Dr. J. Haast, who, as Government geologist of the Province of Canterbury, penetrated, in 1861, to the sources of the Kangitata, and in 1862 undertook the task of exploring the head waters of the Waitangi, in the neighbourhood of Mount Cook. His animated descriptions and interesting communications form the subject of this chapter, and we shall follow his footsteps as they proceed from the Canterbury plains to the foot of the mountains, and then penetrate among the alps themselves.

Dr. Ferdinand von Hochstetter, after giving a vivid description of the Canterbury plains, so well known to our readers, brings us along the Rangitata, through the gorge into the Alps, and describes the terraces, the " roches inoutonnees" or sugar-loaves of the settlers, and many other features peculiar to the former extension of the glacier* in the drift period, and proceeds thus : " In fact no greater contrast can be conceived, than the long horizontal lines of terraces on the sides of the valleys, their steps ascending the valleys like broad artificially laid out roads, and the broken outlines of wild jagged rocky peaks above them. The river-bed itself has still, even here, the considerable breadth of two miles. The banks are covered partly with dense scrub, partly with fagus forest, and partly with a growth of grass and with the " Acyphylla latifolia," the speargrass of the settlers. At the upper end of this deeply excavated valley, twenty miles long, the terraces disappear gradually, and the river divides itself into two branches—the Havelock and the Clyde. At the junction of the Clyde with the Havelock, the bed of the river lies about 2100 ft. above the level of the sea. The broad valley of the Rangitata is here divided into two branches which rise higher and

higher to the flunks of mountains covered with perpetual snow and ice, and bear in their npper-parts the character of wild mountain gorges. The masses of debris which fill these valleys take more and more the character of the mountain detritus, and arc detached from the steep precipitous and mountain sides in the form of sharp-edged fragments of rocks, which are carried further along and rounded by the rushing waters of the rivers. The enormous masses of detritus in the mountains is truly astonishing. Haast 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 be seen. Avalanches, numerous watercourses, frequent rainfalls, together with violent storms and frost, combine chiefly to cause 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 freezing point, whilst during the day it is so warm that generally a continued freezing and thawing takes place.

" The river beds have however for a long course upwards a width of nearly a mile, but masses of detritus of every description, such as avalanches carry down, gigantic blocks of rocks (old. moraines), which appear at times to shut up the entire 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 Haast, can form no idea how difficult it is to penetrate through it. The growth of scrub is sometimes 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 from the branches and briars with the greatest trouble and exertion. 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 ' Celiuesia coriacea,' the ' cotton plant' ofjtlie settlers, are often the only feed procurable. " Deep mountain ravines issue from the sides into the main valleys, and the higher one ascends, tiie more grandly the great majestic character of this high mountain region becomes developed. From ten to fifteen miles above the already mentioned junction, both branches divide into numerous streams, which issue from the glittering archways under the extensive valley glaciers (glaciers of the first order), plunging with deafening roar over a chaos of broken rocks, whilst high above from the crest of the mountains, cascades fall down from the high glaciers (glaciers of the second order), which are suspended from the vast snow fields like gigantic icedrops; the latter either come down like ribbons of silver between the bare walls of rock, or spring from crag to crag in picturesque water falls, dissolving iuto spray, and falling into the valley iu the form of gentle rain."

Dr. Haast writes as follows about his first glacier journeys in those distant mountain regions:— " On March 14 (1861) I broke up camp in the Havelock valley and followed up the first stream coming in on the right,which I named after the distinguished English naturalist Forbes; I had to cross numerous mountain streams, which issuing from high glaciers, plunged down the steep declivities of the mountains with a noise of thunder, and after a laborious scramble of several hours over the fallen rubbish and enormous blocks of rocks, came at last in sight of the first valley glacier, which I named the Forbes. At its lower end the breadth was 600 feet, and the height 100 feet, consisting of well stratified ice, the layers of a thickness from three to five feet, concave and apparently adopting the form of the valley. The ice itself was dirty and the glacier completely covered with fragments of rocks, some of them of an astonishing size. From a glacial cave twenty feet high and equally wide, issued a discoloured glacial stream, which sought foaming and roaring for a course among enormous blocks of rocks, as they fell continually from the top of the terminal face of the glacier. I climbed into the cave, where I found protection from the falling pieces of rock and ice ; a beautiful azure blue twilight shone through the grotto, but the walls of ice were so loose that a

single blow from the hammer shattered large masses into a thousand pieces. But I was not allowed to stay there* very long. Seeing that a part of the vault was giving way, I retreated, and being warned by the call of my companions, I had to stop behind a large rock, whilst an enormous fragment fell down into the river with a tremendous crash. The temperature of the water near its issue from the glacial cave was 32.2 Fahr.; three miles lower down from the glacier it was already 38.9 Fahr. By joint observations with my aneroids and the boiling water apparatus, I found the altitude of the glacier to be 3837 feet above the sea level." After giving some further details of a more physical bearing on the surrounding glaciers, Dr. Haast ends the description of his first visit to New Zealand glaciers with the following words:—

"It was with 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 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 (nestor notabilis) broke through the stillness of virgin nature. A deep feeling of veneration and holy awe overcame me, when I reflected that on the spot where I stood in the solitary wilderness, human foot had never pressed before."

Although we should like to give a more detailed translation of this highly-interesting chapter, we must refrain from doing so for want of space.

Another very interesting chapter is headed 4 Coals,' and shows that although at present lying waste and useless, an inexhaustible supply of this valuable fuel is waiting to be raised by the hand of enterprising man. Dr. Von Hochstetter gives the analysis of coals and lignites of some of the best known localities, made by C. Von Hauer, at the Imperial Geological State Institute of Austria, with the exception of the Grey river coal, which had been previously analysed by Dr. Percy, Government School of Mines, London. We shall extract from these tables only the amount of carbon, as this element constitutes the greater or less value of coal. Carbon. Australian Newcastle coal (Hauer) ... 78*00 Grey coal, secondary (Percy) 7900 Pakawau, secondary, province of Nelson (Hauer) ... ' 66.72 Drury, near Auckland, lignite (Hauer) ... 68.00 Motupipi, tertiary lignite (Hauer) 55 - 57 The chapter on gold gives us interesting notes on the gold drifts of Nelson; and the learned author states once more his conviction that not only the known fields are rich enough to pay the digger, but that every day new ones would be discovered. An entire chapter is devoted to -the wingless birds of New Zealand, the Kiwi and Moa, from which the reader will derive much instruction. Dr. Yon Hochstetter himself pronounces his belief that the cannabalism of the Maoris was occasioned by the extinction of these birds, which, to the time when New Zealand was first colonized by the natives, enjoyed undisturbed possession of both islands. The hunting of these gave them ample occupation and food, while they increased in number to a large nation; but when this principal means of existence, their staple food, was exhausted, there remained nothing sufficiently nourishing or easy of access for their support; and in the struggle for subsistence began the horrid practice of cannibalism, which, as the author thinks, is against human nature, and to which even the white man in the same struggle for subsistence has recourse when shipwrecked or on the point of starvation. As we hear from well informed sources, Dr. Yon Hochstetter has, notwithstanding the most flattering reviews in the leading scientific home papers, not yet been able to find an English publisher for a translation of his work. It seems that those applied to are afraid of the great cost the magnificent illustrations contained therein would entail on them, and that the price would thus be too high to ensure a ready sale. As this work is of high interest and practical value for the colony, it would be of the greatest advantage to ensure for ourselves its reproduction in English in some form or other. And we trust that members of the General Assembly will feel it their duty to expend some of the public money for this object.

The work is beautifully got up, and is illustrated by some views of New Zealand scenery exquisitely executed in lithotint, the sketches being furnished by Dr. Huast, Dr. Fisher, Mr. Campbell and the author; and there are a number of spirited woodengravings representing the subjects mentioned in the text. Amongst them we must not omit to particularise one of the Government buildings, Christchurch; this has been re-produced 011 wood from a photograph furnished by Dr. Barker. Some of the engravings are remarkably good, equalling in delicacy and clearness the productions of English engravers who have hitherto been considered as almost unrivalled in this branch of art. The binding and typography are both excellent, and the value of the work is further enhanced by two welldrawn and well-colored maps, one of the whole colony, and the other of the southern portion of the province of Auckland. A reference to the former gives as clear an idea of New Zealand as it is possible to convey by similar means, whilst a glance at the latter will greatly assist the reader in following the narrative of Dr. Hochstetter's expedition and adventures.