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IV. — G E L O G Y. 



Art. XXXV. — Remarks on the Coast Line between Kai Iwi and Waitotara, 

 on the West Coast of the Province of Wellington. By R. Pharazyn, 

 F.R.G.S. 



(With Illustrations.) 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, June 19, 1869.] 



Any one accustomed to the scenery of the East Coast, must be at once 

 struck with the contrast presented to it by that of the West. The former 

 is rugged in the extreme, and, except in a few places, the flats, adjoining 

 the sea beach, appear to have been formed from the slips which take place 

 so frequently from the neighbouring hills, having, as it were, reclaimed 

 the land faster than the waves could wash it away. The scenery on 

 the West Coast is comparatively soft and undulating, this latter character 

 being more marked as we approach Mount Egmont, whose volcanic rocks give 

 a new feature to the landscape. The general impression produced, is, that 

 this country has been formed by the gradual and quiet upheaval of a vast 

 mass of marine deposits, and that there is no such incessant struggle between 

 land and sea going on, on the West Coast, as there is on the East. But such 

 considerations, though sufficient for the purposes of art, either pictorial or 

 descriptive, which deal rather with effects than causes, require to be 

 supplemented by more exact observation to meet the requirements of science. 

 In nature, the forces which are quietest in their operation, are often the most 

 powerful, and in geology, the question is not so much how great is the force, 

 as how long has it operated. 



I think I shall be able to adduce some facts, which go to prove that the 

 northern portion of the West Coast has been encroached upon by the ocean, 

 to a very considerable extent, and at a rate which is remarkably rapid, 

 geologically speaking. 



Immediately to the north of Wanganui, the margin of the coast consists 

 of ranges of sand-hills, which are remarkable from the fact, that instead of 

 falling away gradually to the sea beach, they terminate in cliffs which present a 

 bold face to the sea. Between the sand-hills and the tertiaiy rocks, of which 

 these cliffs consist, are the well-defined remains of an ancient forest. These 

 remains are particularly conspicuoiis along the line of cliffs between the Kai 

 Iwi and Waitotara rivers. In places they appear on the exact line of junction 

 between the sand and the older rocks, but in general they seem to be about 

 four feet, below this level. Probably a careful investigation would show that 

 more than one forest has grown upon the same spot, and that each has been buried 

 at a different epoch, apjaarently owing to changes of level in the land, as, in 

 places, there appear to be beds of marine shells above the lignite, into which 

 much of the wood has been converted. In addition to this is the curious fact, 

 that the bed of the Waitotara river itself is thickly studded with the stumps 

 of trees, at a level of about 150 feet lower than those above mentioned. We 

 have then the following facts before us. 



1. Drift sand extending inland, to a distance of from one to four miles 

 from the edge of the cliffs, and thus lying at an elevation of from 120 to 200 

 feet above the present sea beach. 



2. The remains of one or more forests buried beneath the sand-hills, and 



