“His foundation is in the holy mountains.” Psalm 87, 1.

To attempt to give an adequate description of the Franz Josef Glacier and its wonderful setting, and so present a satisfactory picture of its extraordinary grandeur is to set out upon no mean task. Having spent over a fortnight on holiday in that wholly unique region and seven days of that in climbing the Glacier from the terminal face to its head, and in viewing it from numerous points of advantage under varying conditions, the writer hopes to be able to convey some of the impressions he received.

The Franz Josef Glacier is singularly beautiful, so beautiful indeed, and centred amidst such wild, exceptional, and picturesque surroundings that if it were situated in any other country than New Zealand it would long ago have been acclaimed “The Most Beautiful Thing in the World.” Surely no modest title to distinction, but the amazing part is that there are so many reasons for advancing in support of it. With the sole exception of its majestic neighbour, the Fox Glacier, located only seventeen miles further South, there are many who are agreed in asserting that there is no other glacier that can be compared with it in the combination of so many phenomena, and, therefore, in its exceptional loveliness.