Crawford. — Notes on Miramar Peninsula. 397 



The appearance of the gravel-bars shows that the sea ran in iipon a shallow 

 surface at high tide, as at Napier, and after filling the interior area ran out 

 again at low tide, probably then leaving the bar dry. Three gravel-bars are 

 very distinct ; the chief one faces Lyall Bay, another lies towards the northern 

 end of the old bed of Burnham Water, and the most northern is found at the 

 narrow neck of the upper valley. 



The stratification of the flat, as far as can be observed, is a basis of gravel ; 

 next a stratum of sand and gravel, containing marine shells of the following 

 species, the names of which have been determined for me by Capt. Hutton : — 



Fusus zealandicus, F, linea, Bucchium raaculatwm, B. testudineum, 

 Purpura scobina, Ancillaria australis, Natica zealandica, Struthiolaria nodidosa^ 

 Turritella rosea, Cladopoda, zealandica, CalyptrcBa maculata, Rotella zealandica, 

 Polydonta tiarata, Labia zealandicus, Diloma nigerrima, Gantliarides elegans, 

 Nacella vadAa/ns, Siphonaria denticula.ta, Myodora striata, Mactra discors, 

 Mesodesma cwneat-a, Chione yatei, C. costata, G. stutcliburyi, C. dieffenbacJiii, 

 (7. mesodesma, G. gibbosa, sp. no v. Ms., Dosinia subrosea. Tapes intermedia, 

 Mytilus s'maraxidinus, M. dunheri, Ostrea purpurea. 



On or within this stratum pumice-stone is found in considerable quantity, 

 and also remains of the moa. 



The shells and pumice may be said to lie at the height of five or six feet 

 above high water-mark. Above this, over several hundred acres, are con- 

 siderable accumulations of vegetable remains, consisting of peat several feet in 

 thickness, containing roots, stems, and branches of trees. 



In Ludlam gully, on the eastern side of the flat, a formation of an 

 apparently older date is found inclined at a high angle, containing a stratum 

 of old soil or semi-lignite. 



Several travelled boulders of granite and of schist, w^hose nearest locality 

 in situ must be the mountains of Tasman Gulf, have been found on the bed 

 of Burnham Water, and in other localities where they are unlikely to have 

 been brought by canoes. Excluding the action of floating ice we must suppose 

 that they were carried either by sea-weed or imbedded in the roots of trees. 



Pumice, which is deposited in considerable quantity, was no doubt floated 

 down from the Wanganui river, and carried inside the bars when the land 

 was at a lower level. 



The remains of old habitation on the Miramar Peninsula are numerous, 

 and of considerable interest. Many of the kitchen-middens appear to be of 

 ancient date, as they have been covered by drift sand and afterwards by 

 vegetation, and have now again been uncovered. Their localities, with those 

 on the isthmus, can be seen by a reference to PI. XXI. 



In the year 1840, when the first European settlers landed on the shores 

 of Port Nicholson, the hills of the peninsula were chiefly clothed with the 



