236 Geology of 



PART III. 



GEOLOGY, 



CHAPTER L 



I^TEODUCTION. 



The first mention of geological research in Canterbury, of which I 

 can find any record, is in Dr. Gr. A. Mantell's paper on the remains of 

 Dinomis, &c, collected by Mr. W. Mantell in the Middle Island of 

 Kew Zealand — Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London,. 

 Vol. VI. (1850). Dr. Mantell there prints the notes taken by Mr. 

 Walter Mantell during a jourDey from Mount Grrey to the "Waitaki. 

 They consist, first of some observations on the character of Banks' 

 Peninsula, the volcanic origin of which is correctly described, although 

 the beds on the crest of the range were mistaken for metamorphic rocks. 

 It is also mentioned that the Canterbury plains, consisting of slightly 

 coherent gravel, are fringed by a series of newly formed hills of drift- 

 sand, by which Banks' Peninsula, formerly an island has recently been 

 joined to the plains. Mr. Mantell estimates however, that the elevation 

 of the plains near the foot of the mountains is not less than 350 or 

 400 feet, consequently about a thousand feet below their actual altitude, 

 and he distinguishes also between the older tableland and the deltas of 

 more recent origin, which have been and are still being formed near the 

 mouths of the rivers. Kext, the character of the vesicular volcanic 

 rock (at Timaru), is pointed out and mention made of lignite existiDg 

 inland of Timaru, which is however described as being of a more- 

 bituminous nature than that occurring near Mount Grrey. 



