TRANSACTIONS 



OF 



THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE, 



1868. 



Aet. I. — On Boidders and T7'avelled Blochs in the Wellington Province. 



By J. C. Ceawford, P.G-.S. 



\_Read before the Wellington FhilosojpJdcal Society, 1th April, 1868.] 



It is proposed to confine tlie remarks in this paper, firstly, to those boulders 

 wliicli are o£ considerable size ; or secondly, those wMcb appear to belong to 

 rocks not found in situ in tbis part of tbe country. 



Under tbe former bead we find in numerous localities — as, for instance, 

 on Belmont Hill, on tbe Porirua Eoad between tbe Tutaemanu Peninsula 

 and Duck Creek, at Makara, &c. — large blocks of dioritic sandstone appa- 

 rently deposited in lines, and generally resting upon decomposing sandstones. 



Several theories may be propounded as to tbe mode of deposition of tbe 

 blocks. 



Pirstly, tbey may be tbe bard nuclei of strata tbe softer parts of wbicb 

 bave decomposed. 



Secondly, tbey may sbow tbe lines of old watercourses before denudation 

 bad worn down tbe valleys to tbeir present deptb. 



Thirdly, they may be ice-carried. Although the dioritic blocks are of 

 the nature and character of rocks in sitto in the neighbourhood, yet rocks of 

 the same character abound on tbe opposite side of the Strait, as also 

 generally throughout the Tararua range ; so that there is no prima facie 

 reason why these boulders may not have travelled from a distance, as well 

 as those of tbe second class, which we propose afterwards to consider. 



The second class of boulders consists of rocks not found in this vicinity 

 and wbicb must have been brought from a distance. Of these not many 

 bave yet been 'discovered. I have myself found the following : — 



1. A block of granite about a foot long, found betAveen Evans and 

 Lyall Bays, several hundred feet from and about twelve feet above high 



