94 Historical Notes on the 



great deal of these bluffs is well exhibited by the enormous blocks 

 which were lying in the surf, often far from the shore ; whilst others 

 are ready to tumble from the loose matrix in ^hich they lie imbedded, 

 and of which these cliffs are mostly composed. One of these erratic 

 blocks, consistincr of folded clay slates, with innumerable quartz layers 

 between the folds, is about thirty to forty feet in diameter, covered on 

 its summit with a rich vegetation, and may justly be compared to the 

 celebrated Pierre a bot, iu the Jura. 



When starting from Hokitika I was not able to ascertain exactly if 

 it were possible to take horses down the coast with me, as the bluffs 

 were described as being impassable for them ; but during the first days 

 of my journey, I heard from some returning diggers, that, at 

 least, as far as the Wanganui river, horses had been taken. 



It was with wonder and delight that I passed along this bluff, about 

 three miles long, where the structure of morainic accumulation could 

 he so easily studied, and we arrived, the evening of the 5th of June, 

 near the banks of the Waitaha, which, like the other rivers more 

 towards south, has excavated its bed in these ancient moraines. Here 

 a store had been already established, and a ferryman had built a punt, 

 waiting for a rush towards the south, which was confidently expected 

 by him to set in soon. Erom the storekeeper I heard that he had 

 only just returned from Lake Okarita, 32 miles south of the Waitaha, 

 where, on the banks of that lagoon, fine pasture is to be obtained, and 

 he added that there was good travelling ground, with the exception of 

 some of the headlands, exceedingly dangerous to cross with 

 horses ; so I made arrangements at once with him to accompany 

 me with two pack-horses, thus being enabled to accomplish in far shorter 

 time the journey I had in view, than I had anticipated. But it was 

 the 8th of June before I could start again, having been detained, first, 

 by continuous rain, and afterwards by a heavy freshet in the river, 

 which prevented the storekeeper from getting the horses from the 

 banks of the river a mile above his store, where good grass land, 

 generallv so very scarce at the "West Coast, was to be found. Crossing 

 the Waitaha, our road lay for about five miles along a sandy beach, 

 after which we arrived at another low headland, consisting of lateral 

 moraines on both sides, with alluvial beds in the centre. This shingle 

 wall, about 50 feet high and nearly perpendicular, was mostly covered 

 with a luxuriant growth of pendulous ferns of different genera and 

 some marine everlastings, still in flower, giving it a most pleasing 

 aspect, whilst on its summit appeared a fine forest growth, consisting 



