Crawrorp.— Geology of the North Island of New Zealand. 319 
Certainly the approach to the Waitemata Harbour is very beautiful. 
The Hauraki Gulf is dotted over with islands of all sizes; and being of 
various geological formations, they are, in consequence, of varied and 
picturesque outline. Those of tertiary formation, or of older rocks capped 
by tertiaries, are of a low, horizontal character. Those composed of 
paleozoie rocks are bold and angular in-outline, while the regular cone of 
Rangitoto guards with its hard volcanic rocks the entrance to the Auckland 
port. 
There we find a great extent of the later tertiaries forming low cliffs 
along the coast, while the Isthmus of Auckland is found to be a crowded 
group of small volcanic cones. The decomposing rocks of this volcanic 
series form the richest soils of the north, and the slopes of these volcanoes 
are covered by fertile fields. 
Passing round the Frith of the Thames we find paleozoie rocks on both 
sides, with low lands of alluvium and swamp in the interval. Thence 
passing between the mountainous country at Cape Colville and the Great 
Barrier Island, is found a tract of country of paleozoic, flanked by basaltic 
rocks ; and turning to the southward we pass along by the high Coromandel 
ranges, which attain a maximum elevation of 2,700 feet, until we find our- 
selves trending to the eastward along the low shores of the Bay of Plenty, a 
large part of which presents to the sea a low swampy shore,* with basaltic 
or trachytie rocks at various points, as at Okura and Matata. Approaching 
Whakatane, the long and lofty ridges of the palmozoie rocks of the main 
ranges may be perceived coming up from the S.S.W., possibly invaded by 
some eruptive rocks, and amongst them, as Hicks Bay is approached, the 
high peaks of Mount Hikurangi, 5,533 feet above the sea, show well out in. 
the interior, and indicate an apparent voleanie or, to say the least, a trappean 
appearance for that mountain. About eight miles from the East Cape, at à 
place called Kawakawa, rocks, evidently of tertiary age and with cliffs much 
resembling those of the Whanganui River, appear abutting on the paleozoic 
rocks. Their highest elevation is about 400 feet. Passing the East Cape, 
we find apparently the same tertiaries, with possible secondaries, all the way 
to Table Cape and Portland Island; but this country has never been 
geologically examined. The interior, as seen from the sea, is much broken, 
and the long ridges of the paleozoic ranges may generally be seen some 
twenty or thirty miles inland. Between the Terakaka Peninsula and 
Napier, besides the marine tertiaries, there is also said to be a good deal of 
drift pumice in places. Arriving at Napier, we find a peninsula of new 
tertiary limestone rising to a height of several hundred feet, and forming a 
* Hochstetter’s Map, 
