The words "chain" and "spine" are misnomers, at any rate in the South Island, inasmuch as they are not sufficiently expressive of breadth.

The rain-bringing winds in New Zealand blow chiefly from the north-west and south-west.

The moisture-laden clouds rolling up from the ocean gather and condense against the western flanks of the mountains, where an abundant rainfall has nourished through ages past an unbroken and evergreen forest.

Nothing could well be more utterly different than these matted jungles of the wet west coast--with their prevailing tint of rich dark green, their narrow, rank, moist valleys and steep mountain sides--and the eastern scenery of the South Island.

The sounds or fiords of the south-west are perhaps the loveliest series of gulfs in the world.