ESSAY 
ON THE 
GEOLOGY OF THE NORTH ISLAND 
OF 
NEW ZEALAND. 
By tue Hon. J. COUTTS CRAWFORD, F.G.S. 
[Written for the New Zealand Exhibition, 1865.] 
Ur to the time when the first systematic colonization of New Zealand 
commenced, but little appears to have been known of the geology of the 
country. The prevailing idea concerning the North Island was, that it 
was a region of. volcanic rocks only; and the greenstone weapons of the 
aborigines, the material for the manufacture of which was said to be pro- 
cured from some mysterious lake in the South Island, proved that rocks of 
nephrite were found there. 
In the year 1839, however, the directors of the New Zealand Company, 
with intelligent foresight, selected a talented and experienced naturalist to 
proceed to the colony with their first expedition in the ship “Tory,” and to 
the person so appointed to report on the natural history and geology of the 
colony, Dr. Ernest Dieffenbach, we owe our first systematic information as to 
the geology of the North Island. About the same time the late Mr. John 
Bidwill, a man of excellent scientific attainments, and known to fame from the 
Araucaria which he discovered at Moreton Bay, and which bears his name, 
performed a journey through the North Island; and, having succeeded in 
effecting the ascent of Tongariro, or more probably of its lateral cone called 
Ngauruhoe, gave interesting information concerning the volcanic system of 
the interior, and other geological matters. I am glad to have this oppor- 
tunity of bearing testimony to the merits of an old and valued friend. The 
communications of Mr. Walter Mantell to the Geological Society also threw 
much light on the paleontology of New Zealand; and his observations on the 
deposits of moa bones, and subsequent deductions as to the existence, at the 
same period, of man and the moa, are extremely curious and interesting. 
Contributions towards the knowledge of the rocks of the colony con- 
tinued to be made from time to time by Mr. Charles Heaphy and Mr, 
Theophilus Heale, of Auckland. 
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