Page:Mannering - With axe and rope in the New Zealand Alps.djvu/21

Rh large glacier-fed rivers have cut their way, and meander over the plains (probably of entirely fluviatile formation) which slope gradually from the outer bases of the foot-hills to the eastern ocean.

The peaks of the Alps range in height from 7,000 to 12,350 feet above sea-level, the majority of those over 10,000 feet being contiguous to the culminating point in altitude—Aorangi—more popularly known as Mount Cook. Here also are found the largest glaciers.

The snow-line is a low one when compared with that of Alpine countries in the northern hemisphere and in relative latitudes. It would be difficult to compute its average altitude, but in parts where large glaciers and snow-fields exist it is even as low as 5,000 feet above sea-level.

By comparison with Switzerland, for instance, it may safely be said that the snow-line in New Zealand is from 2,000 to 3,000 feet lower; consequently we have the same Alpine conditions at a much lower level. Owing to this interesting fact, we find that the New Zealand glaciers attain far greater dimensions than those of Switzerland, although the peaks do not rise to such a height above sea-level.

In themselves, I believe the mountains compare favourably as to size or actual height above the valleys below them; Aorangi, for instance, rising for nearly 10,000 feet from the Hooker Glacier, and Mount Sefton 8,500 feet from the Mueller Glacier, whilst the western precipices of Mount Tasman (11,475 feet) are stupendous.

The enormous length attained in remote times by the New Zealand glaciers is evident on all hands at