364 



The sub-divisions of the oldest stratified rocks have not been determined, 

 but the fossils already obtained show that they represent groups from the 

 Upper Silurian to the Triassic periods. 



The chief mountain range, consisting of these formations, extends from 

 the east coast in the northern part of the Otago province, in a curved line 

 defining the western limit of the Canterbury plains, to Cook's Straits, from 

 where it extends through to the North Island, as a series of intermittent 

 ranges, each ti'ending N.N.E., but as a whole having a direction to the west of 

 north. A second range of the same formation extends from the S.E. of the 

 Otago province, and crosses the island to Jackson's Bay, but is not continued 

 northwards, although outliers are found at some points as far north as Cape 

 Farewell, resting on and altered by the older rocks. 



In the central portion of the Province of Otago, included between the 

 two lines as above described, foliated schists are exposed at the sui'face over an 

 area of 10,000 square miles, comprising micaceous, chlorite, and quartzose 

 schists. This is the district of New Zealand in which the largest quantity of 

 gold has been obtained. On the steep western slope of that portion of the 

 Southern Alps, culminating in Mount Cook, the same schistose rocks are 

 continued as a narrow irregular band for half the length of the island, and 

 then again appear at intervals as far as Cape Farewell. These schistose rocks 

 are only known on the east side of the main line of the New Zealand Alps, in 

 two places, one in the south of the Province of Canterbury, on the Waitaki 

 river, and the other close to Cook's Straits, between the Waiau and Waka- 

 marina rivers. In the North Island this formation has not been detected. 



The remaining division of the older rocks is best developed in the S.W. 

 corner of Otago where massive mountains of granite, gneiss, and other crystalline 

 rocks occupy a very extensive area. 



The chief characteristic of these mountains is their cubical form, due to 

 their being intersected in all directions by profound but narrow valleys, with 

 abrupt precipitous sides to three-fourths of the extreme height of the adjacent 

 mountains. The valleys are partly occupied by arms of the sea, and inland 

 lakes that resemble the Norwegian Fiords, and present most wonderful 

 mountain scenery, that is easily accessible, and yet almost unvisited. 



The same granite formation extends to Stewart's Island, and others of the 

 outlying islands of the New Zealand group in a southerly direction. It also 

 occurs at intervals along the west coast northwards to Cape Farewell, but it is 

 frequently difficult to distinguish it from the granite porphyries which will be 

 mentioned in connection with the rocks of the Igneous class. In the 

 North Island no granite has been found corresponding to the old gneiss- 

 granite above described, but dykes of granite-porphyry occur on the Barrier 

 Island. 



Let us now turn to the formations that belong Lo the periods after the 

 break which has been described as occuiTing in the Mesozoic jieriod, and we find 

 a successive repetition of terrestrial beds with seams of coal and plant remains, 

 with clays, marls, limestone and sandstone, in the manner usual in Secondary and 

 Tertiary formations. The earliest plant remains show many forms that are 

 now extinct, but associated with them are a few that cannot be distinguished 

 from those of the existing Flora. In the newer carbonaceous strata, the 

 resemblance to the existing forms is still greater, some of the peculiar and 

 characteristic trees of the New Zealand forests, such as the Kauri, being well 

 preserved. There is, therefore, very little doubt that since the upper Mesozoic 

 period, dry land has existed continuously, and that some part or other of the 

 New Zealand ridge has always been above water. The succession of marine 

 fossils divides these formations into well marked groups characterised by 

 changes in the species of marine animals on the coast, and showing a gradual 



