368 Transactions. 



longest ten miles in length, and their streams are diminutive torrents which 

 fail altogether or carry but little water in dry weather. In their lower 

 reaches their floors are flat, owing to the aggradation of the streams incom- 

 petent to carry their load, and to material which has been swept in by wave 

 and tide and deposited in the sheltered waters at the head of the submerged 

 valleys. This action is well seen in Okain's and Le Bon's Bays, whose 

 streams are tidal for some distance near their mouth ; but in these the filling- 

 in has not reached such a mature stage as in the case of Peraki. This 

 effect is more marked on the southern and eastern coasts, which experience 

 to a greater degree the strong northerly drift sweeping up the coast and 

 dropping its load of coarse material on the southern margin of the peninsula, 

 while the fine material is carried farther and contributes markedly to the 

 filling of the lower reaches of the bays, if it be not swept into the deeper 

 water off shore and thus be removed beyond the sphere of influence of waves 

 and shore currents. 



When viewed from the sea the land presents, as Cook said, a bold, 

 irregular surface, and the exposed headlands are terminated in high sea-cut 

 cliffs, which reach a height of nearly 800 ft. on the eastern edge of the land. 

 Here they are exposed to the full force of the gales from the south and east, 

 under whose influence the waves have cut back all the headlands which 

 project in that direction, in marked contrast to the spurs which project 

 into the plain, whose terminations are hardly truncated at all. except near 

 the coast, where within comparatively recent times they have been subject 

 to the action of the sea. 



When the peninsula was first discovered by Europeans it was almost 

 completelv clothed with forest, the only bare patches being the tops of the 

 highest hills and on the extremities of the spurs reaching down to the sea ; 

 but this has been cleared off as settlement progressed, so that patches of 

 forest more than a few acres in extent are few and far between. The rainfall 

 amounts to between 30 in. and 40 in. per year, and is well distributed over 

 the entire period, so that under its influence and with the advantage of a 

 rich soil the hills are excellently adapted for pastoral purposes, and are 

 noted for the rich grasses with which they are covered and for the excellent 

 stock they produce. 



After this general description I pass on to the more particular account 

 of the principal physical features- — viz., Lyttelton and Akaroa Harbours ; 

 and, after dealing with them, to the more important minor ones, such as 

 Little Biver Valley, Kaituna Valley, Port Levy, and Pigeon Bay. 



1. Lyttelton Harbour. (Plate XXV, figs. 1 and 2.) 



Lyttelton Harbour is about eleven miles long by three wide in its widest 

 part, which is opposite the town of Lyttelton, its general width being from 

 one and a half miles to two miles ; the entrance is one mile in width. The 

 northern side of the harbour is but slightly indented, and the land rises steeply 

 to the crater-ring, the highest points being Mount Pleasant (1,638 ft.), just 

 behind the town of Lyttelton; the Sugarloaf (1,630ft,), farther west; 

 Cass Peak (1,780 ft.) and Cooper's Knob (1,880 ft.), towards the western 

 end of the harbour. A little distance beyond this elevation the crater-ring is 

 completely broken down, and the divide between the inside and the outside 

 slopes of the harbour is for a space of about three miles reduced to approxi- 

 mately 400 ft,, and in two places, first at the head of Gebbie's Valley and again 

 a little farther east at the head of the parallel McQueen's Valley, the ridge 

 is reduced below that height and forms two passes, which are known from 



