152 Historical Notes on the 



"bold rocky walls, wherever tlie roots can find a hold in the fissures, 

 and through which the effect of the grand scenery is still heightened. 

 As a sign that this gorge is very inaccessible and seldom trodden by 

 the foot of man, I may mention that in two localities we met with a 

 small flock of sheep, covered with long wool, and which evidently had 

 never been handled by man. After f onr miles travelling, during which 

 we had "been obliged to cross the river at least forty times, the valley 

 opened and the junction with the broad valley of the Poulter was 

 reached, in which travelling became comparatively easy. In this 

 valley, the formation of terraces 500 feet above the river, is well 

 exhibited ; whilst still 1500 feet higher, or about 2000 feet above the 

 river-bed, glacier shelves, with regular, slight slopes, are very con- 

 spicuous. On April 1st I left this interesting district, and, returning 

 by the road to the right bank of the "Waimakariri, I examined for 

 several days the corresponding area, which stretches to the western 

 base of ATount Torlesse, and where also a number of ice-worn hills 

 rise above the nioramic, lacustrine, and fluviatile beds. Here, also, 

 several small lakes and tarns have been preserved, amongst which 

 Blackwater is the most westerly. They are mostly surrounded by 

 remains of ancient moraines. 



On my return journey I devoted a day to an examination of the 

 coal-bearing beds near Lake Pearson, and several days to an investi- 

 gation of the very interesting series of tertiary beds of different ages, 

 forming the Castlehill series, and where a rich harvest of fossils was 

 made. On April the 6th, I returned to Christchurch having made, with 

 the assistance of my two companions, large geological, zoological, and 

 botanical collections, which were deposited in the Canterbury Museum. 



JorE>~EY TO THE SOEECES OE THE "WAlPAEA, 1867. 



Towards the middle of April, I again left Christchurch, this time to 

 continue the examination of the northern portion of the Province, 

 with which I was not yet acquainted. First, I visited all the principal 

 sources of the "Waipara, ascending the dividing range, between this 

 river and the Okuku, and where the scenery, although not so grand as 

 in the more central portion of the Province, is still very attractive, 

 ownis: to the occurrence of fine beech forests, wild precipices often 

 bounding the valleys on both sides, with clear limpid streams running 

 in them. To the middle portion of the Waipara, where, in a number 

 of very beautiful and instructive sections, the nature of our middle and 



