REVIEW.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 7476, 16 February 1885, Page 5

REVIEW.

THE. TASMAN GLACIER AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.* Dr E. von Lendenfeld’s valuable contribution to the supplementary volume of “ Petermann’s Mitteilungen” for 1884, lends an unusual and manifold interest to that particular number of the justly celebrated geographical publication. More than twenty years have passed since Dr Julius von Haast, acting in ' his then capacity of Provincial Geologist of Canterbury, pluckily pushed his first explorations into the grand, wild, unknown country lying at the base of Mount Cook. The record of his enterprise, diligence and scientific acquirements in those expeditions have made him a name in connection with our Alpine fastnesses, which can never be taken away. He was the Columbus of that region. Every scientific man whose researches, literary or pedestrian, take him into the Southern Alps, will be indebted to their first explorer for much accurate information, collected under circumstances oftentimes the very reverse of favourable. Since Dr von Haast’s time, until Dr von Lendenfeld came here, nobody with any great pretensions to be styled a man of science had thoroughly “ done,” scientifically, the features of the glaciers, mountains, ice streams, lakes, and moraines—the topography, geography, and general geology, &c., of the chief points of interest in one of the most wonderful Apine mountain ranges in the world. Our knowledge of the region had not been greatly advanced in the interval between ’62 and ’B3. , The conquering visit, and rapid march, of the Rev W. S. Green had a mountaineering and artistic, rather than a scientific, value. The result of his splendid climb, he has told graphically, picturesquely and well, in the pages of the Alpine Journal, and in those of*his own very readable book on “ The High Alps of New Zealand;” but there the matter ended with him. Dr von Lendenfeld not only performed a grand feat in his ascent of the Hochstetter Dome, but he collated his own and other people’s observations with much labour, and has given us a great deal of most instructive reading on the subjects mentioned above. The labours of the two men are as different as their national temperaments. On the whole, perhaps; the Teuton has done better, and more lasting, service than the Anglo-Saxon; but that is an arguable point, and, especially as comparisons are odious, need not be introduced here. Mr Green is an amusing and highly instructive traveller; Dr von Lendenfeld an earnest, and almost profoundly instructive, geologist, meteorologist, cartographer, photographer, and mathematician. For these reasons, while we in Canterbury shall always remember his and Frau von Lendenfeld’s memorable feat, the value of the outcome of that feat will probably be better appreciated by men of science in the old world, for it is to the pages of his work that they must turn for the latest and completest information on the Mount Cook district. A German is nothing if not exhaustive when he takes a task of this kind in hand, ' and Dr von Lendenfeld’s national predilection for minute detail, > joined to the scientific ardour with which he has tackled his vast subject, would render the essay very wearisome were it written for the ordinary reader. Luckily it is not; and it addresses itself, moreover, to a foreign public. Were this not the case, the ten or twelve introductory pages on the geological and other features of the central portion of the New Zealand Alps and their rivers would be unnecessary. These are followed by a minute description of each separate mountain, making up the group of which the author regards the Hochstetter Dome as the central point. The extreme amount of detail involved may be guessed when we say that no less than 22 mountains are most minutely described, and nine of the glaciers around their slopes. Dr von Lendenfeld was able to show the incorrectness of the old maps in some particulars, though he makes it evident that Dr Julius von Haast’s early cartography of the .region was, all things considered, very accurate. The Hochstetter Dome, for instance, has hitherto been placed in the Malte-Brun. chain, but this last authority counts it as one of the peaks of the main range of the southern Alps. Like all explorers. Dr von Lendenfeld has freely exercised his privilege of affixing names of his own choosing to different points of interest. The great glacier on the northern slopes of Hochstetter Dome he has called after Mr Edward Whymper, the celebrated mountaineer, whose ascent of-the - Matterhorn had such a fatal, calamitous result for some of his companions, and whose late explorations in the Andes have left him still the most noteworthy of all mountain climbers. A fine peak of nearly 9000 ft altitude he has named Mount Green; and another, slightly more elevated. Mount Jervois, in compliment to our present Governor. The morphology and ice dynamics of the huge frozen stream and its tributaries are handled with scientific care, and the enormous moraines which are the horror of travellers among our Alps, and the most striking feature of our great mountain, also receive due attention. The geology, flora and fauna, of the district have evidently less attraction for the Doctor than his mathematical calculations and observations. They are dismissed with very short descriptions. “ Spaniards,” keas, and flies seem to have been a mixed source of annoyance and wonderment. Remarks on the meteorology and barometric peculiarities of the region are accompanied by some voluminous tables, containing interesting comparisons between those taken at Lincoln and those taken on the Tasman Glacier. Hut the chief interest of the pamphlet to an ordinary reader would certainly centre round the short and modest description which Dr von Lendenfeld has given of his ascent of the “ Dome ” itself—a moun- ' tain of nearly 10,000 ft. Generally, our author, although by no means disinclined to dogmatise, is not guilty of any expressions to which, as Colonists, we can take exception. But, in his introductory sentences to the account of his ascent there are a few lines which cannot be passed over. To abuse our poor little narrowgauge railways, and their deliberate method of progression, may pass as chaff; but when Dr Lendenfeld goes on to say that our first-class carriages are the same, both in regard to their fittings and upholstery, as well as the social standing and education of their occupants, as German third-class, we must object. Even if the first part were true, it would be a piece of rudeness to say so in the sneering way in which it is put. But anyone who has had the misfortune, or been so misguided as, to try a journey in a German third-class carriage knows how very false such a statement is. Coming from one who received (as all foreigners do receive here) the . greatest attention, privately and officially, it is the more spiteful. But to return to the ascent. The story of that long climb has already been told in these columns, and there is no need to tell it again. The Doctor tells it well, but hot so artistically and graphically as Mr Green. The beauty of the scene at the summit may easily be imagined. They were up on a pinnacle nearly 9000 feet in height, and the last hours of daylight were come. The view extended from sea to sea on east and • ” Der Tasman Gletscher nnd Seine Umgobtmg, ,, Justus Perthes. Gotha, 1881.

west. Such a panorama has never been seen by mortal eye in these islands. It must have been a thrilling monient.,; “ All New Zealand lay at our feet/* says Dr von Lendenfeld, “ the, eye ranged from the East coast to the West. Away to'the north-west and south-west stretched the long line of the southern Alps. The sun s_anjr into the sea, and bathed us in rosy light, while the western ocean gleamed like molten gold. Dark violet overspread the eastern world, and the silent shadows of the m ountain s in the deep, unfrequented valleys, from out of which no cowherd’s call, no friendly “jodel” struck on our listening f ars. Higher and higher up the mountains crept the cold blue over the western cliffs, and ever of a darker, deeper hue glowed the grim peaks under the parting rays of the setting sun.” They had been 13 hours on foot then —it was more than twice that space of time ere they threw themselves down to sleep in their little bivouac, having rested less than two hours in the interval. Considering that one of the party was a lady, it was a tremendous feat of endurance. But, as we said before, the journey had more scientific value than anything else, and it is for the scientific results attained that the pamphlet will be prized. The principal claimed by the Doctor are briefly these: — The triangulation of the Tasman glacier and its neighbourhood; the taking of aneroid measurements, photographs, and sketches, which allowed him to map with accuracy the whole of the largest New Zealand glacier; the fixing of the position of the several mountain chains, the localities of the chief watersheds, and the general configuration of the whole region. Then the heights and positions of a number of important peaks were accurately determined for the first time; the untrodden upper stretches of-the great ice-stream explored, and the first ascent of a great peak made. From this it will be seen that Dr von Lendenfeld is not inclined to hide his light under a bushel. Nor is he ultragenerous ; for while he compliments Mr Green on his graphic writing and so forth, he quite refuses him the credit of having reached the summit of Mount Cook. D pon many other matters, such as the peculiarities of our New Zealand moraines and glaciers, &c., he says much that has been said before. On the whole, he cannot for one moment compare our Alpine region with that of Switzerland. There are no peaks' like the Matterhorn, the Dent Blanche, or the Dent du Giant; the great glacier basin is so narrow that the sense of grandeur is not the same; the moraines spoil the glaciers. “Plant blackberries and thistles in place of firs, strew the ice with boulders everywhere, banish mankind, cattle, and cultivation from the Swiss valleys, and you have the New Zealand Alpine region.” There is truth in all this, but opinions differ nevertheless. Mr Green and his two guides (Switzers born and bred) were profoundly impressed with the rugged grandeur and impressive scenery of our high Alps—they were quite enthusiastic on the subject. Still, Dr von Lendenfeld has a right to think and say what he pleases, and he has done a good work. His hearty thanks to Dr von Haast, to the local Survey Department, and to the squatters who showed him hospitality, are shortly expressed in his introduction.