168 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES [PART I. 



race or colour, nor increased by civilization, which 

 indeed too often blunts and destroys them. 



The country near the sea-coast bears, in many 

 places, the traces of former extensive native cultiva- 

 tion, and the ruins of several pas. Here formerly 

 lived the Nga-te-toma and Nga-te-Motunga tribes, 

 the present inhabitants of the Chatham Islands, 

 who migrated there many years ago. The whole 

 district between Taranaki and Mokau has not at 

 present a single inhabitant, although one of the 

 most favoured districts of New Zealand. Near the 

 Urenui river we again reached the sea-shore ; the 

 cliffs were here about a hundred feet high ; the 

 lowest formation was a marly clay. About twenty 

 feet above the level of the sea was a formation of 

 wood, very little altered or carbonized, and ten feet 

 in thickness, but irregular : above that was a loamy 

 soil. From the lowest formation I dug out a quan- 

 tity of protophosphate of iron ; it is found in small 

 pieces or balls, is of an earthy consistence, and of a 

 pale-blue colour ; the natives call it puke-poto, and 

 when freed from the earthy particles and washed 

 it is highly esteemed as paint. A little farther on 

 the shore becomes very picturesque ; it consists of 

 a micaceous, soft, yellowish sandstone, which the 

 waves of the sea have worn into the most fantastic 

 shapes ; sometimes it resembles the wall of a fort 

 with round towers, and surrounded by balconies, 

 crowned with beautiful shrubs. In some parts, and 



