CrawrorD.— Geology of the North Island of New Zealand. 317 
eye of the traveller will first light upon the magnificent cone of Mount 
Egmont, forming, with its bold outlying spur, the grand buttress of igneous 
rocks which protects the great tertiary basin of the North Island from the 
encroachments of the waves driven upon the shore by the westerly gales. 
Mount Egmont forms a regular cone of surpassing beauty, and may be 
regarded as the Vesuvius of New Zealand. Although hardly possessing the 
grand features of the great volcanic group of the centre of the island, 
Ruapehu and Tongariro, it has nevertheless a more graceful outline, and 
its beauty may perhaps be described as of a softer character, the more so 
when we consider that the great central chain rises from a plateau of some 
2,000 feet above the sea, which is swept by cold blasts and covered by the 
snows of winter, while the cone of Mount Egmont sweeps gracefully down 
to the sea level, into fertile plains and low plateaux, which enjoy a genial 
elimate and are clad in luxuriant vegetation. 
The cone of Mount Egmont reaches an elevation of 8,270 feet. Its rocks 
are composed of dolerites and trachytes. Its eruptions have probably ceased 
since the early tertiary period; at all events, it does not appear that it has 
shown any activity since New Zealand has been inhabited. 
There is a fanciful tale of the Maoris that Taranaki quarrelled with 
Tongariro, descended the Whanganui River, and established itself in its 
present position, but the most fertile imagination can hardly suppose this 
might refer to the rise of the cone of Mount Egmont during the * recent " 
riod. - 
In the neighbourhood of Taranaki are volcanic tuffs, forming cliffs of 
moderate elevation, and at their base on the sea beach is found the well- 
known ironsand of Taranaki, released by degradation from some of the 
trachytes of the mountain, or its outlying flows, or other volcanic rocks 
along the coast, for the titaniferous ironsand appears to extend, more or 
less, as far north as Kaipara Heads, and as far south as Whanganui. 
Indeed small quantities are found still further south, at the Rangitikei 
and even at the Manawatu Rivers, and there are few parts of the island 
where its presence may not be detected; this, with siliceous sand, forms 
dunes on parts of this coast. The tertiaries in the neighbourhood of 
Taranaki are probably very recent. Coasting along to the northward, the 
Waitara River is passed, and the country becomes higher and of a more 
broken character, the tertiaries being much fractured and worn into 
narrow gullies, with an upper surface sometimes flat and sometimes 
forming sharp ridges. On a clear morning the central volcanic chain 
may be observed at this point from a short distance in the offing. Passing 
onwards towards Mokau, a large area appears to be covered by a tabular 
limestone of a middle tertiary age, composed of fragments of shells, corals, 
