It has been suggested to me that this work would be more complete if it contained at least a short record of Alpine expeditions undertaken by parties (other than those organised by the writer) to the glacier regions which have been under notice. The suggestion is one which the writer accepts with much pleasure.
The first recorded expedition to the Mount Cook district, as far as I am able to gather, is that of the late Sir Julius von Haast (then Dr. von Haast), the narrative of which may be found in his interesting and learned work ‘The Geology of Canterbury and Westland,’ published by the ‘Times’ office of Christchurch, now unfortunately out of print, and difficult of access to the majority.
His work was necessarily more that of exploration than of climbing, and although later surveys have corrected and modified many of his estimates of the sizes of glaciers and heights of mountains, it must be remembered that in the days when he visited the locality (in 1862 and 1870) the difficulties of travelling and of securing supplies were much greater than at the present time, and the work of exploration consequently much more difficult.
Of Alpine work (carried on in the sense of the word as understood by Alpine climbers) he did not effect much, his energies being chiefly confined to geological, botanical, and zoological observations whilst he was engaged in a geological survey of the province of Canterbury.
His excursions on the glaciers appear to have been confined to a short trip up the Tasman, probably to some six miles or so from the terminal face, and a short exploration of the lower portions of the Mueller and Hooker Glaciers.
His literary contributions are of greater value to science than to the domain of Alpine record; but naturally they are of the deepest interest to the latter class of literature, inasmuch as they tell the tale of the opening out of fresh Alpine fields which are destined to become—indeed they are now fast becoming—areas of great mountaineering importance.
Though Von Haast was perhaps the first man of science or literature to visit these great glaciers, yet their existence was well known to a few run-holders and early settlers who had penetrated even thus far into the mountains in the ‘early days’ of New Zealand.
It is to Mr. Edward Percy Sealy of Timaru, however, that we owe the first close acquaintance of the Mueller, Hooker, and Tasman Glaciers. Mr. Sealy was a surveyor by profession and a photographer of no mean ability, and to his energy and perseverance we are indebted for results which furnished Dr. von Haast with material for constructing his map of this part of our Alps.
Upon visiting the glaciers at the present time, and being impressed with the difficulties of transit, one cannot but be filled with admiration for the man who achieved such splendid results in photography, burdened as he was with all the necessary and cumbersome paraphernalia pertaining to the old wet-plate system then in vogue.
Mr. Sealy traversed nearly the whole length of the Mueller Glacier in 1867, and in 1869 pushed his way up the Hooker as far as the tributary Empress Glacier, and up the Tasman as far as the great turn at Mount De la Bêche.