1856.] the successive Changes of the Temple of Serapis. 213 



Sir Charles then alluded to his discovery, in 1 828, of marine 

 shells in volcanic tuff, at the height of nearly 2000 feet, in the island 



were furnished by Mr. Edward Roberts, of the Royal Engineer 

 Department, who has since (March 1856), on his return to London, 

 communicated other particulars to Sir C. Lyell. Mr. Walter 

 Mantell, also now in London, and who was in Wellington (New 

 Zealand) during the shocks of last year, besides confirming the 

 statements of Mr. Roberts, has supplied valuable information re- 

 specting the geological structure of the country upraised or depressed 

 during the catastrophe. The upheaval around Wellington was only 

 from one and a half to four feet, but went on increasing gradually 

 to Muka Muka Point, 12 miles distant, in a direct line to the south- 

 east, where it reached its maximum, amounting to nine feet, and 

 beyond, or eastward of which, there was no movement. Mr. Roberts 

 was enabled to make these measurements with accuracy, as a white 

 zone of rock, covered with nullipores just below the level of low 

 tide, was upraised. 



The perpendicular cliff, at the point above mentioned, formed 

 part of the seaward termination of the Rimutaka chain of hills, 

 which consist of argillite (not slaty), of ancient geological date. 

 Their eastern escarpment faces a low country, consisting of very 

 modern tertiary strata, which also terminate when they reach the 

 sea in a cliff, 80 feet high, and considerably lower than that formed 

 by the older rocks. This tertiary cliff remained absolutely un- 

 moved, the junction of the older and newer rocks constituting a 

 line of fault, running north and south, for a great distance (accord- 

 ing to a resident, 90 miles,) inland along the base of the hills, 

 where rising abruptly they bound the low tertiary plains. A 

 fissure open in part of its course, and in which some cattle were 

 engulphed in 1855, marks the line of fault in many places. 



Among other proofs of subsidence experienced on the opposite 

 side of Cook's Straits, or in the northern part of the Middle 

 Island, contemporaneously with the upheaval above mentioned, 

 Mr. Roberts states, that settlers have now to go three miles further 

 up the river Wairau to obtain supplies of fresh water, than they 

 did before the earthquake of January 1855. There was no volcanic 

 eruption in the northern island at the time of these events ; but the 

 natives allege that the temperature of the Taupo hot-springs was 

 sensibly elevated just before the catastrophe. 



During a previous earthquake in 1832, other alterations in the 

 relative level of land and sea occurred ; and many of the colonists 

 fear a repetition of such movements every seven years, for in 1841 

 and in 1848 there were violent convulsions. The larger part, 

 however, of New Zealand has not suffered any injury during the 

 same period from earthquakes. 



