Hardcastle. — On the Timaru Loess. 413 



(1) bands of soil and subsoil ore-granules, (2) humus-stains, 

 (3) worm-borings, (4) bird-stones — all in the same bands ; (5) a 

 buried water-hole in connection with one of them, (6) series 

 of " evaporation-veins " in connection with more than one, 

 (7) and, lastly, the exceptional occurrence of current-bedding, 

 in silt and mud-beds near watercourses. All these evidences 

 are mutually corroborated, and point to but one conclusion — 

 the conclusion above stated. 



Marine, lacustrine, or fluviatile agencies are eirtirely out of 

 the question. The Timaru plateau stands above all the sur- 

 rounding country, and on the summit of Mount Horrible the 

 loess rises to over 1,000ft. above the sea. Neither lake nor 

 river could have lain or flowed over this region. Nor 

 can submergence beneath the sea be invoked in explanation. 

 The bands containing the several characters above described 

 are all flat or curved with definite relation to the present 

 drainage-lines. This relation would be impossible were the 

 loess a marine deposit. Not a single shell or other mark of 

 the sea has presented itself to me in the original deposit. I 

 am informed that Mr. McKay found a marine shell in the 

 loess. I am compelled to conclude that it must have been 

 obtained from a slope-deposit or other rearrangement of the 

 original formation ; in such cases they are not uncommon. 

 The Timaru region has not been beneath the sea for long ages. 

 The dolerite buries an older land-surface, with distinguishable 

 soil, impressions of plants, worm-borings, and moa-bones ; 

 this soil being formed upon the surface of a considerable thick- 

 ness — some hundreds of feet — of river-gravels, sands, and 

 clays. 



Having found the loess to be a dry-land deposit, we must 

 find the still-missing factor in the dust-heap theory. 



The Source of the Dust. — There was only one source pos- 

 sible in these latitudes for such a quantity of dust ; and a mere 

 hint as to its nature will suffice. If we consider the loess to 

 belong to the great Ice Age there is no difficulty. The dust 

 was " rock-meal," produced by the great ice mill, and spread 

 out by rivers of sludge for the winds to dry, and pick up, and 

 bear away, losing more or less of their load whenever they 

 passed over a vegetated region. The material itself to-day 

 bears testimony that such was its origin. Under the action 

 of running water it tends to separate into darker- and lighter- 

 coloured layers, the darker being the more oxidized particles. 

 Sir J. von Haast remarked the resemblance of the stratified silt 

 he saw to glacier-silt, and quite recent rearrangements by 

 rains of the material of the cliff present precisely the same 

 appearance. No other agent than ice could have produced so 

 great a quantity of such fine material. 



Other Loess Deposits. — The small dolerite sheet of the 



