Page:Through South Westland.djvu/285

Rh beyond rearing itself up behind the trees. When at last we reached the river the fresh, cold air off its tumbling waters was like a cooling draught; we bent down over it, we wet our heads and plunged our arms in it to the elbow, and cooled ourselves in the icy waters.

And what a heavenly spot we had got to out of the heat and glare above. Enormous boulders, twenty to thirty feet high, were strewn along the bottom, and round and over them rushed the foaming waters; little dells of green grass and moss lay among the over-arching trees, and a wealth of ferns of many kinds drooped among the mossy stones that strewed the sides of the gorge. The sunshine poured down from a cloudless sky, and made play of dappled light and shade; no wind stirred, save the current of air from off the water. We chose a flat rock jutting out into the torrent; overhead, a tree with delicate light-green foliage and white, cherry-like blossoms sheltered our heads from the sun—and here we sat and rested, while we ate our lunch, feasting our eyes on one of the loveliest and grandest views I shall ever see.

For from below we gazed straight up to the jagged, green-blue edge of the glacier poised over the black cliffs streaked with waterfalls—all round us was the noise of other falls; and while the bush acted as a dark green setting to the awesome crags and precipices, the spaces above the trees was intensely blue. Nor was beauty of detail wanting in a hundred rare and lovely shrubs and ferns, and