Geological Survey of Canteroury. 151 



number of ice-worn hills rise above the younger deposits, amongst 

 which the small but very pretty Lake Letitia is situated. Several 

 days were devoted to examining the interesting structure of the 

 newer beds and the effects of the enormous glaciation of the country, 

 and of which I shall give some more details in the geological part 

 of this Eeport. During this stay I followed the Esk — another branch 

 of the Waiinakariri — for some distance, where, besides the older palaeo- 

 zoic rocks, several younger outliers of greensand and calcareous sand- 

 stones occur, which have been broken through and covered by dolerites, 

 to the hard nature of which they doubtless owe their preservation 

 during the great ice age. Another excursion brought me to Lochnavar ; 

 which is reached by following the Valley of the Esk for some ten miles, 

 to a number of roches moutonnees, with a flat-bottomed valley between 

 them, which brings the traveller into the broad valley of the Lochnavar. 

 This remarkable valley, to which the small rill of water flowing in it 

 does not stand in the least proportion, has numerous terraces on both 

 sides. Above it ice-worn hills rise conspicuously — the whole having a 

 most glacialised appearance. 



Leaving Lochnavar station, and following its continuation towards 

 the northern Poulter, we soon arrived at enormous morainic deposits, 

 about two miles broad and reaching from one side of the mountains to 

 the other, across the whole valley — the apex of the curves, formed by 

 morainic accumulations, being directed towards the centre of the 

 broad Lochnavar valley. Arrived on the banks of the northern 

 Poulter, we looked down about 700 feet into the river-bed, deep below 

 us, into which we had to lead the horses along a very steep slope, 

 having all along a splendid view, in both directions, of the valley and 

 the fine ranges bounding it. Whilst the valley of the river above the 

 moraine was rather broad and well excavated, between the mountains, 

 below it, it assumed the character of a deep rocky gorge, through which 

 we had some difficulty in taking our horses to the junction of the 

 Northern with the main branch of the Poulter. All tended to show 

 that the channel below the moraine did not exist in the Great Grlacier 

 period, but that the Northern Poulter glacier, as shown by the size 

 of the moraine, even after the glacier had already considerably 

 retreated, still was nearly two miles broad, its outlet running in the 

 broad valley of the Lochnavar as a large torrent, and joining the Esk 

 in its middle coarse. This newly-formed gorge of the Northern 

 Poulter is very wild and romantic, fine beech forest growing in every 

 suitable spot ; and a luxurious vegetation has sprung up amongst the 



