326 ^ssa^s, 



did not refer to tlie numerous earthquakes by whieli this group of islands 

 has been visited. 



It may be decidedly assumed that there are certain long lines, or seg- 

 ments of circles, along which, either from the weakness of the earth's crust 

 or from other causes, volcanic eruptions are most prevalent, and the action 

 of subterranean forces is prominently shown by earthquake shocks. 



The New Zealand group is situated on one of these lines, the southern 

 known limit of which is the land where Mounts Erebus and Terror raise 

 their lofty volcanic peaks amidst Antarctic snow and ice. !Prom these 

 mountains the trend of the curve may be said to pass through New Zealand 

 and other oceanic isles to New Gruinea (appearing to conform to the shajDe 

 of the eastern coast of Australia), and thence through a long chain of eastern 

 islands to the Straits of Sumatra. The experience of twenty-four years is 

 insufficient to form very decided opinions on the character or locality of the 

 earthquakes of New Zealand. Nor indeed is there sufficient knowledge of 

 the causes at work to be able to predict where or when an earthquake may 

 break out. Reasoning on the subject is useless, from want of sufficient data. 

 Along the analogous volcanic line of South America earthquakes are of 

 constant occurrence. One day they will break out at Concepcion, the next 

 shock will be felt at Lima, then at Valparaiso, at Islay, at Gruayaquil ; and 

 two years ago the action appears to have shifted to the city of Mendoza, on 

 the eastern side of the Andes, where eai-thquakes had been hitherto unknown. 

 The changes going on from time to time in the great area of depression of 

 the Pacific may be reasonably supposed to act with notable force on the 

 eastern and western edges of the basin, whether in America or in New 

 Zealand and its continuing curves. 



The severest shocks of earthquakes that have been felt in New Zealand 

 since the arrival of the settlers took place in 1843, in October 1848, in 

 January 1855, and in jFebruary 1863. These three latter shocks appear to 

 have been felt more or less over at all events a large part, if not the whole, 

 of the islands ; but no systematic attempts have hitherto been made to record 

 earthquake shocks throughout the colony. The three former ones were 

 most severe in Cook Strait, the last at Napier. The greatest force of the 

 earthquakes of 1848 and 1855 appears to have been exerted near the 

 Kaikoura mountains, in the South Island. Wellington suffered severely 

 from the earthquake of 1848, and that of 1855 raised the land in its vicinity 

 to a height of from nine to four feet above its former level. Nelson felt 

 both shocks perhaps less severely than Wellington. The impression is that 

 during the earthquake of 1855, while the land at Wellington rose, that on 

 the south side of the Strait was depressed, and of this there appears to be 

 good evidence. The earthquake of 1863 was felt severely in some parts of 



