185 



tons being built, every rib of which was formed out of the natural curve of the 

 rata tree, the strongest and toughest wood for the purpose. I was also given 

 to understand that there were one or two natural dry docks. 



" The scenery is magnificent. At the south and west coasts of the Island, 

 the weird appearance of the jagged mountains — the fantastic fissures in the 

 bare rocky islands and coast, worn by the turbulent seas to which they are 

 exposed — the lofty cones of bare granite — the singular colour of the rocks 

 abutting on the ocean, unite in conferring a degree of grandeur to the tableau, 

 such as I have not seen equalled in any part of New Zealand, — while the 

 natural beauty of the landscape in-Paterson Inlet and Port Pegasus is equal to 

 that of the Sydney Harbour, setting on one side, of course, the artificial adjuncts 

 of cultivated shores and ornamental villas. 



" From all I could gather, and from my own observation, I would imagine 

 that all along the east coast of the island, from Port Pegasus northward, the 

 climate is fully equal, if not superior, to that of Invercargill. I had a good 

 opportunity of testing it in every part of the coast during the five weeks I 

 spent in exploring the island. Judging from the accounts I heard on my 

 return to Invercargill, the weather on the main land must have been less fine 

 than that I had experienced ; nor do I imagine that a larger quantity of rain 

 falls there than on the main. That drizzling rain is frequent is not surprising, 

 seeing that the high range of hills running down the centre of the island 

 naturally attracts and holds the cloudy vapours floating about, which are in 

 some measure again discharged before being dissipated on the rising of the 

 sun ; but it is generally only an early shower, light and not lasting, which 

 more assists than retards vegetation. I have no doubt that as the forests get 

 cleared away in the progress of settlement, the climate will improve in this 

 particular. From my experience, I would imagine the thermometer rises 

 higher in the bays and bights on this island, than it does at Invercargill. 



" The bays on the east coast are sheltered from the westerly gales by the 

 high ranges already alluded to. The slopes of the hills have, as a rule, a 

 north-easterly aspect, and the rays of the sun being concentrated by the 

 contracted space into which they are poured, the heat obtained is greater. On 

 more than one occasion I noticed how well sheltered the land in these bays 

 is, when it was blowing half a gale outside. 



" The distances of the various ports from each other, I have taken from 

 the 'New Zealand Pilot.' I found the Admiralty survey wonderfully correct, 

 so much so that the enlarged charts of the various bays would answer as 

 selection maps under the present system of free selection, pending the ordinary 

 survey of the island. " 



The rock specimens, sixty-three in number, are carefully distinguished as 

 from the different localities, visited by Mr. Pearson, round the coast ; but they 

 only prove that there is a remarkable similarity in the geological formation 

 throughout the whole of the island, consisting of granite, gneiss, mica-slate, 

 felstone-slate, and other crystalline metamorphic rocks, associaced with granite- 

 porphyry, cliorite, and syenite. ~No metallic ores are represented in the 

 collection, but traces of copper and silver have been obtained from specimens 

 sent from the western side of the island by prospecting parties. 



Gold is obtained also in that quarter, as fine alluvial gold, on the surface 

 of elevated terraces excavated in the decomposed granite. The gold is 

 associated with large garnets, oxide of titanium, iron sand, and, occasionally, 

 scales of platina, but this valuable metal is not so common, I am informed, 

 along with the Stewart Island gold, as with that obtained on the opposite shore 

 of Foveaux Straits, and in the Waiau river. 



In 1863 I visited Port William and Preservation Inlet, which are both 

 situated on the north-east side of Stewart Island. At the former I found the 



