DoBSON. — On the Bate of the Glacial Period. 445 



This is not unreasonable, for without proof I see no reason why we should 

 imagine elevation or subsidence to occur horizontally over any large areaj 

 movement confined chiefly to the west side of the island would account for 

 several apparently irreconcilable difficulties. It must be understood that 

 I mean movement greatest near the west coast, and lessening eastward, 

 becoming nothing at the east coast; it would fully account for raised beaches 

 on the west coast, and none on the east. As there is some doubt as to 

 whether the auriferous leads on the coast are raised beaches, a short description 

 will not be out of place here. From Hokitika on the south to Karamea on 

 the north, drift deposits occur, which are all more or less auriferous. These 

 deposits are composed of gravel and sand; the gravel being granite, indurated 

 sandstone, quartz, and hard schistose rocks, all well water-worn, and having 

 the circular disk-like form always met with in beach shingle. 



Confining description to the Nelson Province, a lead of this description 

 occurs at Point Elizabeth, four miles north of the river Grey; it is about fifty 

 feet above the present sea level, and was most probably deposited by the 

 combined action of the sea and river on what was then a beach at the mouth 

 of the Grey, the river Grey having once had its outlet to the northward of 

 Point Elizabeth, before it broke through the limestone range and formed its 

 present channel. The drift either lodged only in this spot, or, if there was a 

 greater extension, all trace has been washed away, for the deposit which 

 proved so very rich in the early days of the Grey diggings extended for a 

 distance not exceeding thirty chains in length, nearly parallel to the existing 

 beach, and not more than one or two chains in width. 



Proceeding northwards, patches of gravel occur at a height of about sixty 

 feet above sea level at various places along the hill sides, but none have 

 yielded much gold, until we arrive at Brighton, where the drift extends over 

 a considerable area of country. The gold leads in this district exactly 

 resemble beaches, and are parallel to the present water line. 



From Brighton northward to the Waimangaroa the drift extends, bearing 

 numerous gold leads, the highest being at Dawson's Terrace, about 400 feet 

 above the present sea level. Near Charleston leads were worked on six 

 different levels, all of which bore the same littoral character. North of 

 the Buller the leads rest on a bottom of fine sandstone, are overlaid by a drift 

 of heavy granite boulders, which is in its turn capped by a mass of large 

 sandstone blocks, which I believe have been brought down from Mount 

 E-ochfort by glacial action. 



It is impossible to give an adequate description of these gold leads in a few 

 words, or to convey any useful information unless accompanied by plan and 

 section, but I hope at some future time to be able to write a description 

 accompanied by such plans and sections that will have some value apart from 

 any hypothesis as to their date and origin. 



