102 Transactions. — Botany. 



to be reached, which but for such natural roads would be very 

 inaccessible. To the northward are Esk Head, the Candle- 

 sticks, and the Snow-cap Range, giving rise to, proceeding 

 from east to west, the Eivers Esk, Poulter, and Hawdon ; to 

 the eastward is the Puketeraki Range ; to the southward the 

 Mount Torlesse Range ; to the westward the Craigieburn 

 Mountains, giving rise to the Broken River and its tributaries. 



Leaving the table-land and going in a westerly direction, 

 the upper valley of the Waimakariri, tw-enty-two miles in 

 length, is entered, its bottom occupied almost entirely by the 

 wide stony bed of the river, and with mountains rising steeply 

 on either side. On the north is a portion of the Dividing- 

 range, giving rise to the River Bealey, River Crow, and the 

 north branch of the River Waimakariri ; on the south is the 

 Black Range, giving rise to Bruce's Creek, Broad Creek, and 

 several other unnamed creeks. At its western extremity the 

 valley narrows, and turns quite suddenly to the south, soon 

 rising above the forest -line. Here it is traversed by the main 

 branch of the "Waimakariri, the White River, which rises in 

 a large glacier situated at the head of the valley. This 

 valley is three or four miles long ; the mountains are steep 

 and rugged, and the river a foaming torrent. 



In height the mountains vary from about 2,400 m. to 

 1,350 m., Mounts Rolleston, Armstrong, Davie, and Greenlaw 

 in the Dividing-range, Mounts Franklin, Hunt, and MeCrae 

 in the Snow-cap Range, Mount Enys in the Craigieburn 

 Mountains, and the main peaks of Mount Torlesse, Mount 

 Binser, and the Puketeraki Mountams, being among the most 

 lofty. 



Unlike the Westland rivers, those of the Waimakariri 

 rarely become impassable gorges. It is usually fairly easy to 

 follow them from mouth to source. The Dry Creek from 

 Mount Torlesse, the Broken River, River Esk, and River 

 Poulter in the table-land, the Craigieburn River, Andrew's 

 Creek, and the River Miuchin, above Lake Minchin, present 

 exceptions, but in no instance, the last-named river excepted, 

 do we find anythmg approaching the Otira Gorge, to quote a 

 familiar example. 



Geology. 



The mountains both of the eastern and western plant- 

 regions belong geologically to Haast's " Mount Torlesse For- 

 mation," which contains rocks of various ages, from the 

 Carboniferous to the Lower Jurassic [loc. cit., pp. 266-280), 

 consisting of sandstones, slates, and shales of various kinds. 

 These sandstones are most easily split by the weather, and 

 such excessive weathering, more particularly in the eastern 

 region, has given rise to f/^6m-fields, locally called shingle- 

 slips, of very great dimensions, whose appearance, &c., will be 



