456 trd/ntactions. — Geot 



some distauce back into the ranges, I explored this to its upper end con- 

 siderably cast of the entrance to Milford Sound. Its length may be esti- 

 mated at six miles, its width as two. The valley and the ranges to the 

 north and south are covered with heavy bush. 



" For a distance of four miles back from the beach the valley is but little 

 above sea-level, and the stream flowing through it, though of no great 

 volume, is sluggish and navigable for boats for the four miles mentioned. 

 Towards its upper part this valley narrows, and unlike that on the south 

 side of Mitre Peak, does not open out to form a semi-circular basin sur- 

 rounded by precipices. The mountains are nevertheless very abrupt, and 

 many large slips choke the upper part of this valley, making travelling 

 difficult. 



" There is here a greater variety of rocks than in Milford Sound. The 

 principal rock is schist, similar to that met with at Fox Point. Quartz is 

 abundant, although no reefs of this were noticed. Marble and asbestos also 

 occur, but there is an absence of the hornblende rock found in the valley 

 south of Mitre Peak. 



" Continuing to the southward I next landed at Poison Bay, and ex- 

 plored the valley of the river which enters the sea at that place. This stream 

 has a volume little less than the Cleddau Eiver at the head of Milford 

 Sound. It drains the south and south-west slopes of the Llawrenny Peaks. 

 Six miles from the coast the river issues from a deep narrow gorge, beyond 

 which it divides into two branches, the largest of which has a direction at 

 first to the south-east, but towards its source turns more to the eastward. 

 The smaller branch rises to the north-east among the Llawrenny Peaks. 

 Below the gorge the course of the river is between west and north-west to 

 the sea. Its valley in this part has a breadth of a mile and a half of flat 

 alluvial land. The hills bounding it slope to the valley at moderate angles, 

 though here and there they are broken by deep gulches and ravines. The 

 country in this part is heavily covered with bush. 



" Blue clay-slate is the most abundant rock. This is not a mica schist, 

 but more of a roofing slate, splitting freely into thin flagging. Marble and 

 greenstone occur in the bed of the stream, and in the slaty beds several 

 quartz reefs were noted. 



" The valley varies but little in breadth, being as wide at its upper end 

 as near the coast. The river enters the sea on the south side of the bay. 



" Leaving Poison Bay I went five miles to the southward, and landed at 

 Little Bay, where entering a tidal river I determined to follow this as far as I 

 could with the boat. This river (pi. xlii.), which is about two chains in width, 

 has on its bar a depth of three fathoms at low water, inside of which there is 

 a greater depth. Followed inland the average width of this tidal river is 

 maintained for a distance of one and a half miles, beyond which it expands 



