70 EARTHQUAKES. [PART I. 



bulky and irregular dikes of red, black, or greenish 

 Lydian stone. Sometimes the clay is more quartzose 

 and granular. This latter I observed on the Tara- 

 rua Mountains, where it forms a good stone for 

 building purposes. There are also found other 

 trappean rocks about twenty miles up the valley, 

 and on the banks of the river Hutt. 



Notwithstanding the very early formation of these 

 schistous and trappean rocks, shocks of earthquakes 

 are sometimes felt at Port Nicholson. They are 

 generally very slight. 1 



1 Several shocks were felt in May, 1840. " The first move- 

 ment," says the Port Nicholson Gazette, of May 30, 1840, "took 

 place at about twenty minutes to five o'clock on the morning of the 

 26th ; the second, an hour later. The following night there was 

 another slight shock, and after that several more, which, however, 

 were so slight as to have been felt by few. The first shock was 

 by far the severest and longest in duration ; it was not, however, 

 the cause of any mischief, though it alarmed some of the inhabit- 

 ants. It appears to have been nearly equally felt all around Port 

 Nicholson. 



" We did not notice anything unusual in the state of the atmo- 

 sphere, nor in the Appearance of the sky or sea, before the earth- 

 quake ; some persons, however, state they were struck by the re- 

 markable appearance of the clouds in the direction of the Tararua 

 range, and others by the stillness of the sea at night-time. We 

 went out immediately afte<r, or we might almost say during, the 

 first shock, to observe if anything unusual would present itself to 

 our attention, but all appeared as usual, and the morning was fine, 

 clear, quiet, and cool. 



" To some the motion appeared from west to east, and to others 

 from north to south. The first shock appeared to us to undulate 

 from both of these directions, commencing from north to south, 

 and ending from west to east ; and the second shock from north to 

 south, and ending with a motion from east to west. Some persons 

 declare they distinctly heard sounds which came from the north- 

 west, like firing cannon ; if so, it is not improbable it will be found 



