Otago may be described generally as a mountainous country. Even towards the east coast there are considerable hills, but the country becomes far more broken and rugged towards the west and north-west. A series of parallel chains running approximately north and south separates the basins of the chief rivers and forms the watersheds of the lake country. The mountains that radiate from the southern extremity of the Southern Alps culminate in Mount Aspiring, 9960 feet above sea level, at page 9 the junction of the old provincial boundaries of Canterbury, Westland, and Otago. In the centre the country is broken by a confused and intricate assemblage of steep ranges, intersected by rapid streams and interspersed with large and numerous lakes. The central chain is the Dunstan, about mid-way between the east and west coasts, of which the highest peak, Mount St. Bathans, is 6600 feet in altitude. Other ranges in the centre are the Hector Range, the Carrick Mountains, east of Lake Wakatipu, and the Eyre Mountains, south of Wakatipu—the source of the Waiau and Oreti rivers. Towards the east, the detached groups of hills known as the Kurow and Kakanui Hills, south of the Waitaki, and the Lammerlaw and Umbrella Hills further south, diversify the country without making it impracticable for the great agricultural and pastoral industries to which this portion of Otago is devoted. But away to the west, and more especially near the coast of Fiordland, the mountains are barren, wild, and rugged to a degree that forbids settlement, and renders even exploration a matter of extreme difficulty and danger. The Humboldt, Forbes, Livingstone, and Richardson Ranges, are the chief spurs that spring from the extremity of the Southern Alps. Further south, and within the boundary of Southland, the Stuart, Kepler, Murchison and Matterhorn Ranges form the background of the great Fiords and present an almost impenetrable barrier even to the hardy surveyor or the most adventurous tourist. A considerable area of extreme south-west of the island is still labelled “Unexplored” on the survey maps. Southland contains several imposing ranges, including the Takitimo Range with Telford Peak, 5280 feet in height, and the Hunter Range, while Eyre Peak in the north rises to 6084 feet. But the greatest height is attained by the mountains in the north and west of Otago, around and between the Lakes and the Sounds. The pride of place must be given to Mount Aspiring, but Earnslaw, 9165 feet, is a good second. The altitude is in no case so great as that reached by many of the Alpine giants that surround Mount Cook; but the magnificence of the scenery among the Lakes and Fiords leaves little to be desired. Tutoko Peak, 9042 feet, Mount page 10 Tyndale, 8116 feet, Cosmos Peak, 8000 feet, Mount Christina, 8475 foot, Double Cone (the highest summit of the Remarkables on the shore of Wakatipu) 7688 feet, Ben Nevis, 6888 feet, Pembroke Peak, 6790 feet, are among the most notable features of this Alpine region; but a fuller description of the mountains of Otago must be reserved for the section dealing with the scenery of Otago and Southland.