The Ashley.

The Ashley, although not of glacier origin, is of considerable size, and drains a large extent of country. Its principal sources are situated on the southern flanks of Ashley Head and the northern portion of the Puketeraki range. For eight miles it passes through the Upper Ashley plains, during which it receives numerous tributaries, mostly from the eastern slopes of the last-mentioned range; it then enters the gorge by which the old lake-bed, now forming that plain, has page 219been drained, issuing, after a tortuous course of six miles measured in a straight line, into the Canterbury plains, where it has high terraced banks on both sides. Here it receives several affluents from the north, amongst which the Okuku is the most considerable. In its course across the Canterbury plains, its southern banks, for nearly 12 miles, are formed by the Moeraki Downs, which fall abruptly towards the river, but slope gently towards the south.