412 Tr ansae tions . — Misce I laneous . 



about 350 square miles of the low areas in the middle basin, 

 in the form of a broad shallow lake dotted with numerous 

 islands, which are now the clay hills and ridges of the valley. 

 At that time the land to the east, north, and western sides of 

 the basin stood higher than it now does — sufficiently so to 

 enclose the waters of the shallow lake: then were the alluvial 

 deposits of the valley laid down, and subsequently a tilt or 

 oscillation in the surface-level of the valley took place, empty- 

 ing the lake. 



The almost direct course of the Waikato Eiver from Cam- 

 bridge to Ngaruawahia, and the absence of a wide river- valley, 

 may be taken as indicating the rapid formation of the river- 

 bed. In a flat alluvial valley we should naturally expect to 

 find a winding river and a broad valley, instead of which we 

 find that the Waikato Eiver has cut its course almost straight 

 in a north-westerly direction until it is stopped by the Haka- 

 rimata Eanges, along the base of which it flows in a northerly 

 direction to Taupiri. 



Mr. James Stewart, in his paper on " Evidences of Eecent 

 Change in the Elevation of the Waikato District,'"'' shows proof 

 of subsidence as follows : " The proofs of subsidence we at 

 present adduce are two. The first lies in the sunken forest in 

 Lower Waikato : thus we find at a distance of forty-five or fifty 

 miles from the sea the remains of an ancient forest, the trunks 

 of whose trees are standing as they grew. They are found as 

 snags where their roots are of a certainty far below the level 

 of high water in the ocean." These trees, of course, could 

 never have grown in that position. 



Again, Mr. Stewart shows that the cylinders of the railway- 

 bridge at Ngaruawahia are sunk several feet below low-water 

 mark in the Auckland Harbour, and at this depth river-pebbles 

 and shingle were found, indicating an ancient river-bed, which 

 must of course have been higher than it now is to allow the 

 river to flow to the sea. The same evidence was found in sink- 

 ing the cylinders for the Hamilton railway-bridge, alluvium 

 and river-gravel being found in a position considerably below 

 the level of the water in the ocean. 



In a section of a bore for coal at the Huntly coal-mines, 

 large gravel was found at 94ft. below the surface, or about 

 60ft. below sea-level ; pumice was found at 32ft. below sea-level. 

 In the valleys of the lower basin of the Waikato trunks of 

 large trees are to be found in positions where their roots would 

 certainly be below sea-level. On the clay hills in the swamps 

 near Eangiriri, water-worn blocks of pumice are to be seen de- 

 posited in little depressions and on small terraces 20ft. or 30ft. 

 above the level of the swamps — positions to which only the 



* " Trans. N.Z. Inst.," vol. viii., p. 430. 



