TowNSON. — On Vegetation of Westport District. 385 



the higher regions, extending from the gorge to Bullock Creek, 

 are gneissic schists, passing sometimes into graiiites, and at 

 others into mica-schists." High terraces flank the mountain, 

 varying in height from 300 ft. to 600 ft. near the Four-mile, 

 and in parts they are two miles wide. " From Cape Foulwind 

 the bulk of the rock is porphyritic granitoid gneiss, and often 

 a simple gneiss," and together with limestone these rocks have 

 been quarried for the construction of the Westport Breakwater. 

 " Near the cape, towards the mouth of the Nile River, the coast 

 is bold, being formed of gneissic granite followed inland by 

 coal-bearing rocks, and at Charleston the rocks are composed 

 of gneiss and mica-schist." From the coast-line to the base 

 of the granite mountains is a distance of seven miles, and the 

 intervening area is composed of pakihis and a succession of 

 terraces. " Blue fossiliferous sands and marl clays underlie 

 the black-sand beds and gravel deposits which form these ter- 

 races, and at Cape Foulwind they show in section, and exhibit 

 strata in some places abounding in fossils. A range of limestone 

 hills commences near the mouth of the Totaia River, and sweeps 

 inland in a semicircle from this point to Brighton." Fox's 

 River has cut part of its course through this limestone range, 

 forming one of the most beautiful gorges imaginable, for it is 

 but a stone's throw from cliff to cliff, yet they tower up mantled 

 with ferns and creepers for hundreds of feet. At the mouth 

 of this river stands a remarkable pyramidal rock composed of 

 breccia conglomerate, which is tunnelled through with lofty 

 caves, in the floor of which I found a deposit a couple of feet 

 deep of shells and refuse from Maori middens. " Away fi'om 

 the vicinity of the mouths of the larger rivers, and from a pre- 

 cipitous coast-line, the shingle passes into sands on the low- 

 sloping beaches." North of the Buller River, beyond Fairdown, 

 the shingly type of beach again makes its appearance, and con- 

 tinues past Mokihinui to the Little Wanganui River. From 

 the mouth of that river to Karamea there is a sandy beach, 

 and where the sea has cut into the bank numerous Maori ovens 

 and shell-heaps are exposed. 



" The pakihis, which take up such a large area of the flat 

 lands of that part of the coast, are open swampy plains formed 

 mostly by the action of the sea, and having an impervious 

 substratum of cemented gravel where the rain-water accu- 

 mulates and is held as in a sponge, encouraging the growth of 

 semiaquatic plants." In places where the ironsand has oxidized 

 a hard cement is formed, which is crushed in batteries for the 

 sake of the fine gold which much of it contains. Where the 

 surface is comparatively dry, low undulating sandy ridges and 

 mounds appear. These lands are quite unfitted for settlement, 

 13— Trans. 



