THomson.—Glacial Action in Otago. 319: 
Bv ELLIPSE. By Survey. DIFFERENCES. 
At source... e 0000 00 000 
5295 ns 6034 139 
At intermediate points 5494 s 6079 ^ 585* 
6209 jd. 6315 Pn 106 
At exit to sea 7 6530 6530 ПАА 000 
It may be remarked here that the points marked with an asterisk being 
common to both branches, viz, 557 and 585, the near agreement from such 
widely diverging data seems to tend to prove a common principle, such as it 
has been my object to illustrate. ' 
Having thus endeavoured to follow out the indications of a law that nature 
pursues, in scooping out the beds of the valleys on the face of the earth, I will 
now point out one or two examples of extensive abrasions as collateral or 
eonfirmatory evidence of some great eroding power acting, which does not 
exist in this latitude at the present day. Taking a position near to Dunedin, 
we have the Kaikorai stream, a small mill power issuing from the south end of 
Flagstaff Hill. This streamlet pursues its course till it falls into the lagoons 
near Green Island. On examination it will be found to run in a well-defined and 
permanent bed, within which it would appear contented to remain to eternity—, 
if its once pellucid waters had not been sacriligiously interfered with by wool- 
Scourers, tanners, and railway contractors—yet do we see that it bas had, 
prepared for its tiny little self а capacious valley of 600 to 6,000 feet in 
breadth, and 150 to 200 feet in depth. "That this valley has been scooped out 
for the dignity of the little stream is amply proved by the Caversham fossil- 
bearing limestone of the tertiary period, bounding it almost continuously to 
the eastward, and underlying it, also showing itself frequently on the western 
side. The strata of this limestone further give evidence, by its deposition and 
strike, that it once filled up as level land what is now a spacious valley. If 
the scooping out of this valley be sought to be accounted for by the petty 
Stream now running through it, we would indeed have a monstrous effect from 
the most puny of causes. The causes must certainly be sought for elsewhere. 
Again, on the northern seaboard, we have the immense formations of Oamaru 
limestones stretching along the coast and up to the mountains. These, again, 
have been eroded and carried away by forces issuing from the valleys and 
gorges of the interior, and acting on them in a manner that adheres toa 
principle, viz, the erosions widen with the distances from the gorges, and: 
creating along the limits of their influence steep and straight lines of escarpment 
which, at this day, display the interesting cliffs of fossiliferous. strata of that. 
district. 
The erosions of the Waitaki 300 to 500 feet in depth, extend 40 miles into 
the interior, of 1 mile in width at the gorge, and 10 miles in width at the sea 
shore ; of the Kakanui, 20 miles, with a varying width of 4 of a mile to 1 
