Hill. — On Distribution of Pumice. 805 



the N.E., and the pumice band, which is nearly 3 feet in 

 thickness, is quite conformable to the underlying and overlying 

 blue marls and clays. In this pumice band I found a single 

 ovoid pebble 5 inches long, 3 inches wide, and about 1-| thick. 

 It is evidently a volcanic bomb. In the Geological Keport re- 

 ferred to above, it is stated that at the " Hole in the Wall " are 

 calcareous marls, between which is a " grit bed forming the roof 

 of the archway." The grit referred to is pure pumice, and could 

 not be distinguished from bedded pumice in the Taupo District. 

 The rocks at this place are classed by the Geological Department 

 as belonging to the Cretaceo-tertiary formation. On the south 

 side of Poverty Bay is the cape known as Young Nick's Head — 

 the first land named in New Zealand by Captain Cook. The 

 rocks forming the cape are identical, both in character and 

 fossils, to the Tologa Bay beds, except that, instead of one 

 pumice band, two pumice bands are met with, the upper one 

 being less pure than the lower one. The rock immediately 

 overlying the upper band is very fossiliferous, Foraminifera 

 being abundant. At the mouth of the Mohaka River, which 

 empties itself into Hawke's Bay to the north of Napier, the 

 blue-clay marls are largely exposed. These marls are also 

 classed by the Geological Department as Cretaceo-tertiary. 

 Interbedded with the marls is a pumice band of from 10 to 15 

 inches in thickness, and it is constant wherever exposed. This 

 pumice band is of the same colour as the overlying beds, and on 

 its upper surface numerous fossil Foraminifera are met with. 

 The rocks at this place dip to the south-east at an angle of 

 about eight degrees. Cape Kidnappers, which forms the southern 

 boundary of Hawke's Bay, is shown on the geological map 

 as belonging to the Cretaceo-tertiary formation ; and a 

 similar pumice band of about 15 inches is seen exposed near 

 to the most eastern point of the cape. It is interbedded 

 conformably with the underlying marls, and dips to the 

 west by north at an angle of about five degrees. Further 

 evidence of the general diffusion of a pumice band through 

 so-called Cretaceo-tertiary rocks is to be found inland be- 

 tween Poverty Bay and Wairoa, at Ahi-manu, Te Kapu, and 

 other places. The pumice bands, three in number at the 

 former place, are at least 1,200 feet above the sea-level. At 

 Porongahau, also, in the direction of Cape Turnagain, the 

 pumice band is met with in similar rocks to those exposed in so 

 many places along the coast. Of the general diffusion of a 

 pumice band among rocks of a much older date than the later 

 Pliocene there can be no doubt whatever, as the foregoing facts 

 go to prove ; but I am of the opinion that these so-called 

 Cretaceo-tertiary rocks are younger than the official classifica- 

 tion would make them. For my part, I am inclined to place 

 them intermediate between the Eocene and Miocene, and I think 

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