Art. LV.—Cat's Eye Bay.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 17, 1884, Page 435

Art. LV.—Cat's Eye Bay. By Donald Sutherland. [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 13th February, 1885.] Plate XX On our way to House-roof by boat from Milford Sound last July (1884) we went into Cat's Eye Bay. As it is the only bay on this coast that I have not visited I intended to have a look at it, so we made a stay of about ten days, and I will send this sketch of it on to you as well as I can make it out. The entrance to this river is not unlike the one at Transit Beach; the bar is about dry at low water, then about 200 yards further in it deepens from 4 to 5 feet for about 400 yards; here there is a second bar being about 3 feet above low water-mark and having about a foot of water running over it at low water. The bar is about 200 yards long, then it deepens again from 2 to 18 feet, and this depth runs up about two miles, that was as far as we could get with the boat. We went up the river with the boat from the bar about two and a half miles—the river runs back about five and a half miles; there is a saddle about 800 feet high on the south branch of this river, which is the largest of the two; over this saddle the valley runs back some miles at about the same level as far as I could see towards the south-east; the north branch is very small. The formation about here is much the same as at most of the other sounds. I could find no trace of any one being here before. Kakapos, kiwis, and roas, are plentiful on the south side of the river, and there are plenty of penguins on the north-east side of it. I found some wreckage of a vessel and some copper rings on the beach. With a very high tide most of the flat is covered at high water. There are a good many reefs, mostly white quartz. I think the valley that runs to the south-east in the bay runs into the lake valley to the north of the head of George Sound. I went up to the head of George Sound after leaving Cat's Eye Bay and had a look around there, and by the bearings I took I think I am right. The Cat's Eye Valley is 400 to 500 feet higher than the lake, cutting it at about right-angles about seven or eight miles from the head of George Sound.

There are large shoals of the pilchard at the head of the Sound. They are from 6 to 10 inches long. They finished spawning on the 2nd or 3rd of this month (December). Tons of them are on the beach in Freshwater Basin. We have had very fine weather here during October and November, only three wet days, and only 5 inches of rain fell in the three days. I intend to try House-roof again if I can see my way clear, if not, I may go into Little Bay for three months next winter. On the 4th and 5th of December the tides in Milford Sound were 1 foot 6 inches higher than the ordinary spring tides, and on the 6th was the highest, being 21 inches higher than usual, the weather being fine. These are the highest tides that I have seen since I have been here.

Cats Eye Bay Bay about one mile wide, and ¾ of a mile deep. River about 5 miles long, with salt water 2 ½ miles up. Widest part of River ¼ mile. Valley about one mile wide, All flat land