CHAP. XXII.] COUNTRY NEAR AOTEA. 303 



quartz, and often rising to a height of 120 feet. 

 The rock has broken down in some places, where 

 prosilient cliffs interrupt the generally straight lines 

 of the sandy coast. Everywhere creeks and rivulets 

 fall into the sea. 



On the 7th our way led us up and down the coast 

 hills. These consist of a yellow argillaceous slate ; 

 and as I descended to the sea-coast I observed in 

 many places laminar basalt, the plates of which 

 were often of a rhomboidal shape ; and also com- 

 pact basaltic rock. Buttresses of the main chain of 

 the hills run off towards the sea-coast, forming nar- 

 row valleys. In the widest of these we encamped. 

 The neighbouring hills were moderately high, of 

 undulating outlines, and wooded towards their crests, 

 and the soil of the valleys appeared to be very fertile. 

 It rained violently in the night and during the 

 morning of the 8th, but we started in the afternoon, 

 as the weather had improved and the atmosphere 

 was clear and refreshing. The sandstone cliffs drew 

 close to the sea, and we had to follow a dangerous 

 path on the sides of the cliffs, scarcely practicable 

 except for goats. We passed a small native pa, in 

 which were a few inhabitants ; they were the first- 

 natives we had seen since leaving the Waikato. 

 We encamped in their neighbourhood : the hilly 

 coastland had now assumed the character of plateaux 

 and basins ; and although they were covered with 

 vegetation, I could discover that they owed their 

 origin to trap formation. The sandy downs of 



