On The Right, At A Considerable Distance, Rises The Long Range Of
Mountains Which The Inhabitants Of Christ Church Suppose To Be The
Backbone Of The Island, And Which They Call The Snowy Range.
The real
axis of the island, however, lies much farther back, and between it and
the range now in
Sight the land has no rest, but is continually steep up
and steep down, as if Nature had determined to try how much mountain she
could place upon a given space; she had, however, still some regard for
utility, for the mountains are rarely precipitous - very steep, often
rocky and shingly when they have attained a great elevation, but seldom,
if ever, until in immediate proximity to the West Coast range, abrupt
like the descent from the top of Snowdon towards Capel Curig or the
precipices of Clogwyn du'r arddu. The great range is truly Alpine, and
the front range occasionally reaches an altitude of nearly 7000 feet.
The result of this absence of precipice is, that there are no waterfalls
in the front ranges and few in the back, and these few very
insignificant as regards the volume of the water. In Switzerland one
has the falls of the Rhine, of the Aar, the Giesbach, the Staubbach, and
cataracts great and small innumerable; here there is nothing of the
kind, quite as many large rivers, but few waterfalls, to make up for
which the rivers run with an almost incredible fall. Mount Peel is
twenty-five miles from the sea, and the river-bed of the Rangitata
underneath that mountain is 800 feet above the sea line, the river
running in a straight course though winding about in its wasteful river-
bed.
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