Page:The journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London. Volume 34, 1864. (IA s572id13663720).pdf/260

56 by forest-clothed hills of pines, the streams flowing along quietly. The Dorè La will be found the best pass into the valley of the Kishen-Gunga. The ascent is gentle and open, and the road excellent the whole way into Kashmir, crossing the Raj Diangan Pass to descend on the Wuller Lake near Bunderpur. 

IV.—Reconnaissance Survey of the Lake Districts of Otago and Southland, New Zealand. By author:James McKerrow, Esq., District Surveyor to the Province of Otago.

Mountains and Lakes.—The most marked and striking feature in the configuration of the country now under consideration, is the great and sudden differences of elevation that diversify its surface; the elevations take the form of mountain ridges, and the depressions that of gorges, valleys, and deep rocky basins, the latter filled by lakes. The mountains rise from 4000 to 9000 feet above the sea-level; and as the line of perpetual congelation is 8000 feet above the sea-level (as determined last year from the reconnaissance survey of the Wanaka and Hawea Lake district), it follows that all elevations greater than 8000 feet are within the glacier-producing zone. The highest parts of the Forbes and Humboldt Mountains are within this zone, and are covered with ice; they are parts of the great icefields that congregate around Mount Aspiring as a centre. The Earnslaw glacier, although only covering about a square mile in extent, is still, on account of its position, a very imposing object; it lies on the south side of Earnslaw, at an elevation of from 9000 feet down to the melting point; it is 15 miles north by east of the head of the Wakatipu Lake; and, as seen from any part of the most northerly 20 miles of it, is by far the most attractive object in view. The lie of the country is nearly from north to south; and while the mountain ridges individually range in that direction, they may, when taken in the mass, be more correctly described as lying from to, and that being directly athwart the track of the almost constant winds from the Pacific Ocean, their influence on the climate of the country may be considered as of the highest importance; for not only do they break the force of these winds, but their cool tops condense the vapours into showers that might otherwise pass over so narrow an island without parting with a drop. The height of the ridges causes the downfall on them to take the form of snow, which lies on them during the greater part of the year; this circumstance,

