Page:Mannering - With axe and rope in the New Zealand Alps.djvu/185



APPENDIX

has been suggested to me that this work would be more complete if it contained at least a short record of Alpine expeditious undertaken by parties (other than those organised by the writer) to the glacier regions which have been under notice. The suggestion is one which the writer accepts with much pleasure.

The first recorded expedition to the Mount Cook district, as far as I am able to gather, is that of the late Sir Julius von Haast (then Dr. von Haast), the narrative of which may be found in his interesting and learned work 'The Geology of Canterbury and Westland,' published by the 'Times' office of Christchurch, now unfortunately out of print, and difficult of access to the majority.

His work was necessarily more that of exploration than of climbing, and although later surveys have corrected and modified many of his estimates of the sizes of glaciers and heights of mountains, it must be remembered that in the days when he visited the locality (in 1862 and 1870) the difficulties of travelling and of securing supplies were much greater than at the present time, and the work of exploration consequently much more difficult.

Of Alpine work (carried on in the sense of the word as understood by Alpine climbers) he did not effect much, his energies being chiefly confined to geological, botanical, and zoological observations whilst he was engaged in a geological survey of the province of Canterbury.

His excursions on the glaciers appear to have been confined to a short trip up the Tasman, probably to some six miles or