CHAP. VII.] MOUNT EGMONT. 135 



a mile from high-water mark. The natives have a 

 whimsical story of an "atua" (spirit), who they say 

 was drowned here, and is still undergoing decom- 

 position. 



In some places the sandy downs at a little distance 

 from the shore are covered with a hard crust of 

 oxydated iron-clay, which forms the most fantastic 

 shapes of tubes, saucers, &c., evidently owing to the 

 oxydation of the particles of iron in the sand by 

 water and air, and subsequent adhesion to each other. 

 All this interested me much, proving a former ex- 

 tensive activity of volcanic powers, the centre of 

 which was Mount Egmont, situated at a distance of 

 twenty-five miles ; its' summit afforded me a never- 

 failing object of attraction when it was free from 

 clouds, or when the morning or evening sun gilded 

 its snowy summit with a rosy hue. 



Aqueous formations were visible on both sides 

 of Sugarloaf Point ; they consisted of cliffs of yel- 

 low clay, and in some places contain formations not 

 of coal or lignite, but of wood, embedded in dis- 

 coloured blackish earth. Towards Mokau these 

 formations are especially visible, and form every- 

 where one of the most remarkable features in the 

 geology of New Zealand. Elevated about ten feet 

 above the level of the sea, they consist, according to 

 all that I could ascertain, of the remains of trees 

 belonging to species still existing in the island, and 

 are an indubitable proof that an elevation of the 

 land above the level of the sea has taken place at a 



