38 Transactions. 



between 10 to 11 a.m. These waves were in eaeli case followed by smaller 

 waves, and the irregailarities did not altogether cease for forty-eight hours after 

 their first appearance. The exact time at which the three great waves were 

 observed, and also their distinguishing features, were modified at different 

 points of observation by local peculiarities due to the outline of the land, 

 the depth of the water, the exposure of the coast line to the direction in 

 which the wave reached the shore, and lastly to the local time of tide. 



The intervals between the smaller oscillations appear to have been 

 generally remarked at from fifteen to thirty minutes, and to have gradually 

 declined in extent and frequency until the next* great wave supervened. 



The earliest notice of the wave which we have recorded — beyond 

 allusions to an extremely high tide the previous evening— was at Kaiapoi, 

 where it Avas reported that at 3 a.m., the tide having ebbed for two hours, a 

 wave four feet in height rushed up the Waimatariri Eiver, and swept the 

 vessels which were lying at the wharf from their moorings. This was at a 

 distance of four miles from the mouth of the river. 



At Lyttelton and Pigeon Bay the time reported was at least half an 

 hour later, and for the other places no exact time is rejDorted for the 

 occurrence of the first wave, while at several localities it appears to have 

 escaped observation. 



Erom this time until 7.30 o'clock only lesser waves were remarked, but 

 about that hour a great disturbance seems to have been observed at all the 

 stations, being described at the Bluff as a terrific rush of water; at 

 Kaiapoi, sweeping up a line of breakers which would have been disastrous 

 to the town had it not passed up the south branch ; and almost simultaneously 

 at Nelson as having caused a reflux of the tide, at that time half-ebbed, so 

 that it rose beyond the limits of high watermark, and flowed into the 

 harbour over the Boulder Bank. 



A third great rush of water appears to have been everywhere dis- 

 tinguished from the smaller oscillations, which went on continuously, the 

 time being variously stated from 10 to 12 o'clock, there being great 

 irregularity in the hour reported. 



In this harbour (Wellington), where I caused exact observations to be 

 taken at frequent intervals — as might be expected from the wide expanse of 

 water, and the narrow entrance — these waves could not be so clearly distin- 

 guished as on more exposed parts of the coast, but there is a general agree- 

 ment among all the observations taken at the different stations which leads 

 to the above conclusions. 



In the diagram (Plate I.) it has been endeavoured to reduce to an 

 intelligible form the observations which were made at different parts of 

 the coast ; but from the manner in which the observations were recorded, it 



