384 Transactions. 



The shingle of the river-bed and terraced banks is mainly com- 

 posed of granitic detritus brought down from the ranges by 

 tributary streams, or due to falls of granite rock from the pre- 

 cipitous mountain-faces overlooking the gorge. " Thf*rc are 

 alluvial flats in many parts of the river's course which, tliough 

 generally above high-flood mark, must nevertheless be regarded 

 as having been deposited by the river during the modern period, 

 and were formed when the river was running at a higher level 

 than it does at the present time." From this point to the 

 mouth of the gorge, six miles away from Westport, the river 

 bends and turns in a succession of noisy rapids and still pools, 

 at the head of the falls gliding with an unrippled and glassy 

 sweep over the gently inclined shingle-bed, until, reaching the 

 constricted channel where the unyielding granite rocks contract 

 its bed, it frets and froths in a turmoil of broken water. Lovely 

 vistas through overarching tree-tops ; sunny reaches of blue 

 water rippling over glittering shingle-beds : frowning precipices 

 and crags, moss and fern clad from base to summit, captivate 

 the eye at every turn of the road. 



" Below the junction with the Ohika River the gorge is cut 

 through granite mountaiiis which dip down to the water's edge. 

 At Hawk's Crag the breccias are met with, which extend for some 

 miles up the Blackwater and constitute between that stream 

 and the Little Ohika the most rugged and inaccessible country 

 of the whole Paparoa district. The same rocks form very 

 rugged country east of the Mount William Ridge to Hawk's 

 Crag. The BuUer then breaks through the Paparoa-Papahua 

 chain of mountains, where the outer slopes of the ranges are 

 granite, until passing Mount Rochfort the steep slope west from 

 the plateau shows coal-measures tilted to high angles, and resting 

 on the granite. Along the foot of the range high-level terraces 

 extend from the mouth of the gorge to Fairdown, and below 

 these, gradually sloping to the coast-line, are the pakihis — 

 swampy plains which are partly due to the action of the river, 

 but principally littoral marine formation." From the gorge- 

 mouth to where the river enters the sea it runs over a winding bed 

 of shingle, and there is always a strong current. " The Maitai 

 slates appear in the gorge of the Waimangaroa River, and east 

 of the granite belt are developed throughout the watershed 

 as the fundamental rock on which rest the Cretaceo-tertiary 

 or Cretaceous coal-measures." Mount William and Mount 

 Frederic also belong to the Cvetaceo-tertiary coal-bearing for- 

 mation. Further north slates again appear in the Mokihinui 

 River bed, and as far as I recollect granites and slate formed 

 the chief rocks on Mount Glasgow. 



" South of the BuUer, in the Paparoa Range, the rocks in 



