4516 Tue ZooLtocist—JUuLyY, 1875. 
reached the foot of the Peninsula, where now the ferry road crosses 
the Heathcote, and consequently that the whole breadth of the sand- 
dunes from opposite that locality to the Sumner bar, where they 
have now their south-eastern termination, have been formed since. 
There are some Maori ovens and kitchen middens on the northern 
side of the Heathcote estuary, but they invariably contain only 
shell-beds. 
Position of the Cave-—When the cavity, now called the Moa- 
bone Point Cave, was enlarged by the waves of the sea, the estuary 
of the Heathcote-Avon in its present form was not yet in existence. 
Close to this cavity, on its western side, a hard doleritic lava- 
stream—now passed through by the Sumner road cutting—reached 
for some distance into the sea, forming a small headland, against 
which, principally on its eastern side, the waves of the Pacific 
Ocean broke with considerable force. Masses of rock were 
detached by the surf being taken along in an easterly direction 
for about a quarter of a mile forming a ridge, gradually becoming 
lower, and losing itself among the sands. The formation of 
this ridge principally took place when this portion of the 
Peninsula was some twelve to fifteen feet lower than at present, 
the upper line of boulders being about sixteen feet above the 
present high-water mark. When the land rose again the sea was 
cut off by this boulder ridge from the entrance of the cave, a huge 
rock lying here nearly across, protecting it at the same time from 
being filled up by the deposits of drift sands now forming on the 
flat close to it. A second and lower line of boulders was formed in 
front of the former about five feet above the present high-water 
mark, with a small terraced space behind it. Since then other 
deposits, formed in the Avon-Heathcote estuary, have been added 
as a small belt in front of this last line of boulders, brought into its 
present position by the action of the open sea. 
Before giving a description of the cave as | found it before 
beginning my labours, I may observe that the same was well known 
from the very beginning of the Canterbury settlement. It was even 
inhabited by some of the earliest settlers, and for some time after- 
wards afforded shelter to lime-burners, fishermen, and road parties, 
of whom, as will be seen in the sequel, ample traces were left 
behind. The entrance of the cave, which is about forty feet from 
the crown of the Sumner Road, which has here an altitude of 18°59 
feet above high-water mark, is situated nearly five feet lower, or 
