452 Transactions. — Geology. 



proofs in the way of fresh-water shells, or other evidence, to show the presence 

 of fresh water. Now, if the movement of the land had been upwards instead 

 of downwards, had the harbour or the strait been laid dry instead of being 

 covered with the waters of the sea, no doubt, supposing tlie theory to be 

 correct, plenty of evidence would have been forthcoming. But, as the move- 

 ment has been in a downward direction, it is sufficiently obvious that the 

 evidence requii'ed is difficult, perhaps impossible, to be found, and that although 

 we have such evidence as the remains of terrestrial plants far below the 

 present surface, yet, to prove the point satisfactorily, we must apply circum- 

 stantial evidence and other processes of reasoning. 



I think it must be admitted by any one who gives the subject a very small 

 consideration that the two chief islands of New Zealand were at one time 

 united. The flora of both islands is almost identical, the differences mainly 

 consisting in what might reasonably be expected from difference of latitude, 

 and consequently of temperature — absence of frost in the north, and its 

 presence in the south. Thus the magnificent kauri tree and the valuable 

 puriri are not found to the southward of Taranaki, but the tree-ferns and the 

 nikau palm thrive from one end of the islands to the other, along with the 

 mass of forest trees and plants common to both islands. From the evidence of 

 the flora of the islands we may make sure that they were at one time con- 

 nected. 



But the evidence is far stronger when we consider the fauna of New 

 Zealand. From north to south we have the wingless or non-flying birds, the 

 kiwi and the weka. We have the remains of the moa, and other birds wanting 

 in flight, in great quantities in both islands. It is simply out of the question to 

 suppose that these birds spread from the North Cape to Foveaux Strait in any 

 other manner than by land, and for this purpose it will be necessary that we 

 admit the islands to have been joined. 



Now, the only way in which the islands could have been united must have 

 been by a former higher level of the land in Cook Strait. This being granted 

 the rest of the argument is incontrovertible. Suppose the bottom of Cook 

 Strait to rise so as to unite the islands, then a river is at once required for the 

 drainage of the reclaimed land, and the required rise would convert Welling- 

 ton harbour into a lake. There is no alternative. 



That the supposed river ran from the westward to the eastward there is 

 every reason to suppose, because the slope of the bottom of the strait is in that 

 direction, and because the ranges between Terawiti and Queen Charlotte 

 Sound have been breached and a wide channel formed. 



The argument now leads furtlier, and points to the time at which the 

 islands were joined. This must have been during the period of the existence 

 of the moa and other nou-flying biids, and therefore, geologically speaking, at 



