418 Transactions.— Geology. 
earthquake-action to account for the elevations and depressions, but I do 
not see any evidence to warrant it. 
The amount of work which has been done by the Wairarapa rivers 
seems utterly out of proportion to their present strength, and either an 
enormous period of time must be allowed, or the amount of water must 
have formerly been vastly greater. The old deposits are precisely similar 
in character to those which are brought down at the present day. The 
Ruamahunga and its tributaries of the right bank, or from the Rimutaka, 
run clear and chiefly bring down gravel. The Taueru, coming from tertiary 
rocks, brings down softer materials, viz.,—sand, clay, and mud; and, after 
its junction with the Ruamahunga, a difference in the deposits from those 
in the upper valley may be observed, both in old and new deposits. We 
may, therefore, conclude that the same rivers which are at work now, have 
done the work formerly. Possibly by shutting up the Manawatu Gorge, 
that river might find its way, by some low saddle, into the basin of the 
Ruamahunga; or some change of level near the sources may have induced 
it to cut à channel to the West Coast. 
Even supposing we bring the Manawatu into the Wairarapa Valley, we 
have apparently a small supply of force for the quantity of work done. 
To cover a valley, say sixty miles long and ten broad, with gravels and 
clays several hundred feet thick is an immense operation, which has been 
perhaps only exceeded in recent times in New Zealand by the rivers of the 
Canterbury Plain ; but these rivers are much larger, and run from much 
higher mountains. There are other parts of the Wairarapa which may 
probably answer as texts as well as Bidwill's front hills, but I have neither 
time nor opportunity to take the levels, make the necessary observations, 
and draw the conclusions, and must therefore leave it to others to work up 
this interesting subject. 
Art. LXIX.— Remarks on Volcanoes and Geysers of New Zealand. 
By W. Corre. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 14th June, 187 9.1 
In the pleasant, if sometimes arduous, pursuit of art-photography, the 
writer camped for weeks close to the main volcanoes and geysers of the 
colony, enjoying excellent opportunities for search into the origin and 
working of these marvellous and attractive exhibitions of nature’s powers. 
And viewing the existence, or it might be termed life, of the earth in its 
present state for at least thousands of years, the question naturally arose 
