no wind. After reaching the western summit, the pass extends about eight miles to its eastern descent, through very broken country, strewn with boulders and rocks, the débris of an old glacier moraine, freely intersected by streams; on either side towering precipices rising some eight thousand feet, with crevices full of ice, topped by perpetual snow.
This high plateau presents much attraction to a botanist in fine weather, though, as we saw it, it was only a mass of hummocks of snow. In amongst the rocks are numerous varieties of veronica and alpine plants, notably the ranunculus, known as the Mt. Cook Lily, with large, plate-shaped leaves, and white starry blossom. It is also the haunt of the New Zealand crow, a shapely bird, purple, shot with black, and reddish yellow rings under the eyes, very tame, scarcely moving out of your way. Also the New Zealand mountain parrot, the Kea, with its curious hooked beak, likewise tame and impudent, swooping close to our heads, as a protest against intrusion into its solitary haunts. In places a stunted mountain birch grows freely, and a curious Dracena, or dragon tree, with a seed that resembles a pineapple, of deep red colour.
Slowly we made our way down the eastern side of the pass, through the long valley of the Bealey river to the point where it joins the Waimakariri, usually forded with some difficulty, as the riverbed is three-quarters of a mile in width, intersected by many streams, but on this occasion one level surface of snow, as the whole river was frozen up, so that we crossed easily and found a welcome at a small hotel, where the coach stops for fresh horses, and dinner.
"Gentlemen," said the landlord, "I didn't expect
