PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 441 



present southern boundary. To-day a number of small ponds ap- 

 parently remain as remnants of this former extension of the inlet, and 

 a very slight depression would change the whole of Manga Rakau 

 Swamp — an extensive area which lies just south-west of the inlet — 

 into open water. 



Wanganui Inlet is an excellent example of a depressed system of 

 small stream valleys. Formerly a river flowed north-eastward along 

 the south-eastern base of the cuesta above described, and receiving a 

 number of tributaries from the south-east, east, and north, entered 

 the ocean at the strait now connecting Wanganui Inlet with the main 

 body of salt water. Subsequent to this time came the depression of 

 the land, which produced the original West Wanganui Inlet. The 

 tributaries entering the former river from the north gave the irregula 

 north-eastern arm of West Wanganui Inlet, and similarly were pro- 

 duced the bays on the south-eastern side and the main south-western 

 arm. The probable decrease in the size of West Wanganui Inlet on 

 the south-western side seems due to insilting of the entering streams 

 rather than to elevation since the period of depression, as there is 

 apparently no evidence of that phenomenon having occurred. When 

 the shallowness of West Wanganui Inlet is considered, it will be realised 

 how comparatively little insilting would be required to change even 

 its present surface into dry land. Sand dunes, advancing from the 

 coast on the northern side of the strait connecting the inlet with the 

 sea are even now gradually decreasing its area. 



The water which formerly drained to West Wanganui Inlet from 

 the south-west has been captured successively by the Sandhill River 

 and the Patarau River, so that the great south-west and north-east 

 valley is now deserted by all main drainage channels, which instead 

 traverse its course. A small stream entering the Patarau River from 

 the north-east forms an obsequent stream, being disposed contrary 

 to the original drainage. The water gap, through which the Patarau 

 River flows to the sea through the cuesta above mentioned, is a very 

 modern feature, being a deep narrow gorge, with almost vertical walls. 



Northward from the water gap of the Patarau to the strait join- 

 ing West Wanganui Inlet with the open sea, a number of wind gaps 

 notch the crest of the cuesta, and mark where streams flowing either 

 westward to the ocean or eastward to the inlet have cut back into the 

 limestone cuesta. 



Curious open caves and stately bizarre rock columns are en evidence 

 along the seashore of the ocean, and are also to be seen, to a lesser 

 degree, along the shore of the inlet itself. 



At full tide Wanganui Inlet and the surrounding country presents 

 a landscape of great beauty. To the eastward low hills, clothed with 

 a vegetation of almost tropical magnificence, rise from cresentic bays 

 of yellow sand. To the westward wooded slopes lead up to the steep 

 escarpment of drab weathering limestone, bare of vegetation, but 

 carved into many a beautiful castellate form ; while away to the south- 

 ward majestic peaks of broken rugged outline stand clearly defined 

 against the sky. 



