us; and, had it not been for the disaster which befel us in Bligh Sound, we expected to have been enabled to collect much practical information respecting that part of the Colony, and also to furnish fresh and valuable notices to the Geographical, Geological, and Zoological Societies of London. It may here be mentioned that the best general descriptions of the south-west coast of the Middle Island which have hitherto been published, will be found in the "New Zealand Pilot," compiled chiefly by an honorary member of our Institute, Admiral Richards, F.R.S., the present Hydrographer to the Admiralty; and in a paper by Dr. Hector, printed in the 34th volume (for 1864) of the Journals of the Royal Geographical Society. The notes which I shall now read to you were written while the 'Clio' lay disabled in Bligh Sound, and have been partly embodied in my despatches to the Imperial Government.
We left Wellington on the 4th of last February, but the 'Clio' was much delayed at first by baffling winds, and afterwards by a strong contrary gale with a heavy sea. We reached Milford Sound on the 11th, and remained there, thoroughly examining that extraordinary inlet, until the 17th February.
Admiral Richards has observed[1] that the only harbours of shelter for large ships along the West Coast of the Middle Island of New Zealand—a distance of five hundred miles—are the thirteen sounds or inlets which penetrate its south-western shore between the parallels of 44 and 46 degrees south latitude, including a space of little more than one hundred miles. They are, counting from the north, and according to the names given chiefly by the adventurous whalers, who alone have frequented these inhospitable regions, as follows:—1. Milford Sound; 2, Bligh Sound; 3. George Sound; 4. Caswell Sound; 5. Charles Sound; 6. Nancy Sound; 7. Thomson Sound; 8. Doubtful Inlet; 9. Daggs Sound; 10. Breaksea Sound; 11. Dusky Bay; 12. Chalky, or Dark Cloud Inlet; 13. Preservation Inlet. As I wrote to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, these arms of the Great Southern Ocean, cleaving their way through the massive sea wall of steep and rugged cliffs, reach far into the wild solitudes of the lofty mountains which form the cordillera, or "dividing range," of the Middle Island. These mountains attain their highest elevation further north, in Mount Cook, a snowy peak rising 13,200 feet above the sea level, and visible in clear weather at a distance of more than a hundred miles to the mariner approaching New Zealand; thus forming a noble monument of the illustrious navigator who first recommended the planting of an English settlement in this country. To quote Admiral Richards:—"A view of the surrounding country from the summit of one of the mountains bordering the coast, of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet in elevation, is perhaps one of the most grand and magnificent spectacles it is possible to imagine; and, standing on such an elevation rising over the south side of Caswell Sound, Cook's description of
- ↑ See "New Zealand Pilot," chap. ix.
