THE WE§T COAST GLACIERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 17

THE WE§T COAST GLACIERS.

' ÜBlGLECj5fieD.* NATURAL BEAUTIES. - The -glacier' district of South - Weetland* according to Mi-John M'Leod, who acts as a guide to its wonders, is the most beauti' ful and perhaps the most neglected part of the .^DotadnionS * 3Th"e Franz Josef and Fo£ . .Glaeiefs, are <4 *i)su^diy -easy to climb and • ,Mr.^M'Leod walks all about them: in a pai-- of ordinary boots, with his hands in Ms .pockets. . He scoffs at the mention pf . ice-axes,;. ,alf>e.nstoeks,-and ropes. There . 1( oreljio clacks, top v. wide to be eteppsd^ mOyer,. o rT-frese.-, gfaeiers extend right down, jxtfjo^the 'luxuriant, -forest 750 ft above the sea, and a motor-car on the good road .from Greymoufch. or Hokitika can 'approach/ within two, miles of the Franz Josef. The t W«4hobJßiv«r s .flows out from under this glacier through, a > natural tunnel. In the .winter, whet* .there - are "not many blocks of, ice ■ falling > from > the roof of the cavity, it is safe to nsrallc^ about 100 yards up the istreansi-ftt .-In ,-the gravel of its bed Mr M'Leod m finds hits .of "glacier gold"— smooth' fragments of the precious metal like „irreg|dltfrlyi«Hapßd 'wafers. He showed a. .Dominion' ojepbrter • a small phial full of .these -i piecesi- '-which he had collected to 'make a watch chain. He stated that the Franz Josef-glacier moves very-'slowly, pegs which. hef><dT<&t&H)ni having travelled only| The road from Ross, -where^the trs«*ay ends, goes' through magnificent bush scenery, but most of the rivers «need» bridging,, 4? they" are impassable during --'several- months of the' year. "The? Government -"has- briHged- the Whateroa, which -was 'the worst of 'them, and. Mr M'Leod hopes ( that other rivers will be Spanned 3ft£fio~><reryt distant date. Just now fijEey-are^n easily '"'fordable. j^aUStt^UtJfi^ JWOLFE'S-SCHNAPPS— A cheering cordial .that restores imeutaLijriEQii*.