CussEN. — On the Piako and Waikato Biver-basins. 407 



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 far below the level of high water in the ocean." 

 The cylinders of the railway-bridge at Ngaruawahia are sunk 

 several feet lower than high-water mark in Auckland Harbour, 

 and at this depth river-pebbles and shingle were found, indi- 

 cating an ancient river-bed. 



In a section of a bore for coal at Huutly large gravel was 

 found 60ft. below the level of the sea. 



On the clay-hills in the swamps at Waikare Lake water- 

 worn blocks of pumice are deposited in saucer-like depressions 

 on top of the hills, 30ft. above the level of the lake, positions 

 to which only the water of the lake at a former elevation 

 could take them. Near the trig, station at Pukeotaka, near 

 the Miranda, a mass of rounded boulders appear, which mark 

 an old river-bed when the country was very much lower than 

 now, and w^hen the stream from the Lower Waikato basin 

 flowed into the Hauraki Gulf at Pukorokoro. That elevation 

 is plainly shown along the western side of the Hauraki Gulf 

 within recent times is proved by Mr. Percy Smith in his 

 paper on " Changes in Level of Coast-line in North New Zea- 

 land." * Whether these subterranean movements are going on 

 at present or not we have no conclusive proof. The records 

 of the height of the recent flood at various places, as com- 

 pared with that of 1875, would appear to give some evidence of 

 recent depression in the Lower Waikato basin. Thus, in the 

 recent flood the water rose in the Waikato Eiver at Mercer 

 2ft. higher than it did in the flood of 1875 ; at Hamilton it 

 was 5ft. lower ; at Ngaruawahia the same ; and the Waipa 

 at Alexandra did not rise within 6ft. of the flood of 1875. It 

 may be that the flooded state of the Whangamarino Swamps 

 and streams of the country generally caused the difference ; 

 but, considering that the flood was at its highest at Mercer 

 for several days, and the enormous difference in supply which 

 5ft. of depth in the Waikato and Waipa would make, this 

 seems scarcely probable. 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xiii., p. 398. 



