242 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Nov. 30. 



The country was covered with a dense forest of cedars, pines, 

 poplars, and birches, extending for several hundred miles, but few 

 parts of which have yet been penetrated. Near the edge of the 

 excavations, cedars 4 feet in diameter were growing; and vast 

 numbers, of still larger dimensions, had been cut down on the site. 

 I have seen cedars in these forests 7 feet in diameter at 4 feet above 

 the ground. 



The above are extracts from my journal, — mere facts. As I have 

 no theory to establish, I give them without any speculations as to 

 the period when these relics were deposited in the sandy gold- 

 bearing bed. I may, however, add, that the Director of the mines 

 supposed these pieces had formed a part of some horse-trappings ; 

 but my own impression is that they had belonged to a bracelet. 

 By examining the larger fragment, it will be seen that it is decorated 

 with foliage. The metal is bronze*. 



I possessed several other pieces, one of which was a wedge-like 

 part which fitted into the unbroken ring. But unfortunately all 

 were lost on my journey, excepting those which I have enclosed for 

 inspection. Some other parts were shattered by the pick-axe, taken 

 to the gold- washing machine, and lost. 



These fragments were found on the 26th of August, 1851, during 

 my stay at the gold-mine. I saw the place whence they were taken, 

 and the Director most kindly presented them to me. 



2. On the Volcanic Country of Auckland, New Zealand. 

 By Charles Heaphy, Esq., Provincial Surveyor, &c. 



(Communicated by the President.) 



[Plates XII., XIII.] 



By the map of New Zealand it will be seen that in the 36th degree 

 of south latitude the Northern Island of New Zealand is so much nar- 

 rowed as to form an isthmus of about six miles in width from east 

 to west, connecting the broader and higher land on either side. 



This isthmus, like the land immediately to the north and south of 

 it, has an undulating surface, rising in some places to hills of about 

 600 or 700 feet above the sea. The cliffs which bound its eastern 

 side show beds of soft sandstone, indurated clay, and mud-rock, with 

 layers of volcanic ashes, and, occasionally, seams of lignite and coal. 

 The whole seems to belong to the Tertiary formation, and probably 

 to the Eocene period. Organic remains are rarely met with. But at 

 one locality, between Kohuroa and Omaha, Terebratulce (of which 

 specimens are forwarded to the Society) occur at the junction of the 

 volcanic ashes and clay-beds above-mentioned. 



The higher land to the south of the isthmus — beginning on the 

 eastern coast — consists of, first, clay-slate, then rocks of the Creta- 



* As determined by Dr. Percy, F.G.S., Nov. 30, 1859. 



