370 Transactions. 



however, there are cliffs which rise to 500 ft. The summit of the crater-ring 

 is in a remarkable state of preservation, and nowhere does it sink below 

 1,000 ft. in height, while the prominent peaks rise to just over 2,000 ft. 

 The most important of these are : On the western side — Mount Bossu 

 (2,386 it.), Carew's Point (2,598 ft,), Saddle Hill (2,758 ft,), French Peak 

 (2,675 ft,), Rocky Peak (2,297 ft.) ; and on the eastern side— Duvauchelle 

 Peak (2,406 ft.), Okain's Peak (1,880 ft.), Laverick's Peak (2.478 ft.), 

 Brasenose (2,375 ft.), and Flag Peak (2,668 ft.), immediately above the 

 town of Akaroa. The inside of the crater-ring shows well-developed signs 

 of stream erosion, and the valleys so formed are prolonged beneath sea-level. 

 These are best developed near the head of the harbour, where we have the 

 indentations known as French Farm Bay, Barry's Bay, Duvauchelle's Bay, 

 Robinson Bay. and German Bay — all valleys with their lower extremities 

 drowned by the sea, and divided from each other by ridges which are 

 cut back at their extremities to some extent by wave action. Other in- 

 dentations of the shore which do not show this so markedly are French Bay 

 (near which the town of Akaroa is situated), Wainui and Lucas Bays, two 

 embayments in the western side. The most prominent of all the ridges which 

 stretch into the harbour is the pear-shaped peninsula of Onawe, one mile 

 in length, which rises at its termination into a rounded hill, 348 ft. in height, 

 from which the peninsula stretches back with decreasing height and 

 narrowing cross-section till at the isthmus joining it to one of the ridges 

 which descend from the crater-ring it is almost cut across by the sea. 



The general soundings of the harbour as disclosed by charts indicate a 

 gradual deepening from the northern end to the entrance, and suggest that 

 the floor is merely an extension of the gradient of the valleys which are formed 

 at the head. The topographic features thus present a striking analogy to 

 those of Lyttelton Harbour, just referred to ; but Akaroa is the more 

 typical caldera of the two. 



3. Little River Valley, Kaituna Valley, etc. 



Little River Valley, the chief one on the southern side of the peninsula, was 

 considered by Haast to be one of the eruptive centres from which its rocks 

 were poured out. In the opinion of the present author its formation can 

 be attributed almost entirely to stream erosion. The main valley is about 

 ten miles in length, the lower portion, six miles in length with" a breadth of 

 approximately one mile, being occupied by Lake Forsyth, which is separated 

 from the sea by a narrow bar of shingle. When Europeans first visited the 

 spot it was open to the sea and used as a boat-harbour by the Maoris, but 

 the continual drift of shingle up the coast has now completely cut it off from 

 the sea. The lake is shallow, and the water is brackish. Just above the 

 head of the lake the valley divides, the eastern branch, called the Okute 

 Valley, reaching up to the crater-ring of Akaroa between Saddle Hill and 

 French Farm Peak. It is further divided into the Western Valley, which 

 runs north-west towards the head of Port Levy and is excluded from the 

 slopes which belong to the Akaroa crater-ring. The main valley, however, 

 continues with several small branches, and drains a considerable portion of 

 the north-western slopes of the Akaroa volcano, as well as a large portion 

 of the ridge which stretches west from it and passes through Mount Sinclair 

 and Mount Fitzgerald and divides the Little River Valley from Pigeon Bay 

 and Port Levy on the north. Mount Sinclair is, however, the most striking 

 physical feature at its head. The walls of the valley are steep, and are 

 formed of long ridges whose terminations are between 300 ft. and 400 ft. 



