Cbawpord. — Geology of tlie North Island of New Zealand. 317 



eye o£ the traveller will first light upon the magnificent cone of Mount 

 Egmont, forming, with its bold outlying spur, the grand buttress of igneous 

 rocks which protects the great tertiary basin of the North Island from the 

 encroachments of the waves driven upon the shore by the westerly gales. 

 Mount Egmont forms a regular cone of surpassing beauty, and may be 

 regarded as the Vesuvius of Ncav Zealand. Although hardly possessing the 

 grand features of the great volcanic group of the centre of the island, 

 E-uapehu and Tongariro, it has nevertheless a more graceful outline, and 

 its beauty may perhaps be described as of a softer character, the more so 

 when we consider that the great central chain rises from a plateau of some 

 2,000 feet above the sea, which is swept by cold blasts and covered by the 

 snows of winter, while the cone of Mount Egmont sweeps gracefully down 

 to the sea level, into fertile plains and low plateaux, which enjoy a genial 

 climate and are clad in luxuriant vegetation. 



The cone of Mount Egmont reaches an elevation of 8,270 feet. Its rocks 

 are composed of dolerites and trachytes. Its eruptions have probably ceased 

 since the early tertiary period ; at all events, it does not appear that it has 

 shown any activity since New Zealand has been inhabited. 



There is a fanciful tale of the Maoris that Taranaki quarrelled with 

 Tongariro, descended the "Whanganui Eiver, and established itself in its 

 present position, but the most fertile imagination can hardly suppose this 

 might refer to the rise of the cone of Mount Egmont during the " recent " 

 period. 



In the neighbourhood of Taranaki are volcanic tuffs, forming cliffs of 

 moderate elevation, and at their base on the sea beach is found the well- 

 known ironsand of Taranaki, released by degradation from some of the 

 trachytes of the mountain, or its outlying flows, or other volcanic rocks 

 along the coast, for the titaniferous ironsand appears to extend, more or 

 less, as far north as Kaipara Heads, and as far south as "Whanganui. 

 Indeed small quantities are found still further south, at the Eangitikei 

 and even at the Manawatu Elvers, and there are few parts of the island 

 where its presence may not be detected ; this, with siliceous sand, forms 

 dunes on parts of this coast. The tertiaries in the neighbourhood of 

 Taranaki are probably very recent. Coasting along to the northward, the 

 "Waitara Eiver is passed, and the country becomes higher and of a more 

 broken character, the tertiaries being much fractured and worn into 

 narrow gullies, with an upper surface sometimes flat and sometimes 

 forming sharp ridges. On a clear morning the central volcanic chain 

 may be observed at this point from a short distance in the offing. Passing 

 onwards towards Mokau, a large area appears to be covered by a tabular 

 limestone of a middle tertiary age, composed of fragments of shells, corals, 



