AA Wa aa AA eS 
Smrru,—On Traditional Change in the Coast-line at Manukau Heads. 515 
walked by an ordinary pedestrian easily in one day, being only about 
twenty-five miles, 
Aihepene also told me that the Manukau bar, even within the memory 
of those living, was dry land ; and that he himself, when a boy, had accom- 
panied his parents to the bank on which H.M.8. ** Orpheus" was wrecked, for 
the purpose of fishing and collecting birds' eggs. The natives did not, as I 
understood him, live upon these banks, but used to make periodical visits to 
them in their canoes, for a few days at a time for fishing purposes, living in 
houses which they had constructed there. 
I much regret that I did not at the time make further enquiries of the 
old natives living at Waiuku and its neighbourhood, with a view of getting 
corroborative evidence of these changes. With respect to that part of the 
story, however, which relates to Manukau bar, I think there could be no 
mistake, as my informant said he had himself visited the place, and I can 
conceive of no possible reason for his imposing on me, especially as the 
information was volunteered. That such changes do take place in the 
coast-lines of various countries, without the aid of submergence or elevation, 
is well known, as, for instance, on the east coast of England, where, within 
"the historical period, vast changes have taken place; villages, the names 
only of which are now preserved in old records, have entirely disappeared— 
swallowed up by the ever-encroaching waves. 
As for any evidence remaining of such a low, sandy country having once 
existed, I think we could scarcely expect much. The Admiralty chart of 
that part of the coast is very bare of soundings, and those given do not differ 
much from soundings at the same distance from the shore for many miles 
both north and south, until the great “ bottomless pit” is reached, north of 
Kaipara Heads. The present coast is an almost continuous line of steep 
cliffs, with, at their bases, in some few places, a small strip of sandy flats, 
generally covered with high manuka ; but even these are fast disappearing, 
as I learn from a settler resident in that locality. These cliffs are covered 
on top by a range of sand-dunes, which extend uninterruptedly from 
Manukau to Waikato, and are the source from whence is derived the strip 
of fertile land lying immediately to the east of them. The origin of these 
sand-hills, occurring as they do on top of perpendicular cliffs, is often 
obscure, for we cannot suppose the sand to have been blown perpendicularly 
upwards from the beach, in direct opposition to gravity, although in the few 
gaps or gullies breaking through the cliffs down to the beach, the sand 
undoubtedly gradually is forced upwards by the strong westerly winds, and 
then accumulates in dunes on top. But on the supposition of the existence 
of the submerged country as described, occupying a position at the foot of 
an older coastline now represented by the present cliffs, a probable origin 
is suggested, thus :— 
