Canterbury and Westland. 253 



The whole series stands at a very high, angle, and almost invariably 

 dips to the east. The thickness of these beds is enormous ; in some 

 sections they are at least six miles broad. However — as for instance in 

 the fine sections observed along the banks of the Haast river — the dip to 

 the east is not constant, western dips also occurring, which mio-ht 

 either be caused by faults or reduplication made by folding of the strata. 

 Another point to consider is, if the foliation of the beds coincides 

 with the original stratification. Though at present we do not possess 

 the necessary data to settle this question definitely, there is great 

 probability that this is the case, as the dip of the strata is generally 

 towards the east, and at the same angle as the overlying formation 

 which has not undergone so much metamorphic action. The boundary 

 between this zone and the next is only, as far as my observations go 

 a conventional one, the strike and dip of both being generally the 

 same, the division having only been suggested by the lithological 

 character of the next series, which is less metamorphic. However I 

 have no doubt that breaks and unconformities between them exist in 

 many localities; these, however, in the short time at my disposal 

 when crossing the Central Eange, I was unable to trace. 



Igneous Eruptive Eocks. 

 In the lower portion of this zone, on the western declivities of the 

 Central Eange, we first find a series of granite veins and dykes of 

 which the oldest were doubtless formed when the crystalline meta- 

 morphic formation was uplifted and brought into its present position 

 the granitic axis to the west being doubtless the main nucleus from 

 which these veins were ejected. The granites are of a great diversity 

 of texture and variety of composition, younger dykes consisting of 

 granites of a different texture, sometimes passing through older ones 

 "both being in some instances crossed by still younger greenstone 

 dykes. However, in the upper portion of this extensive formation, I 

 have not met with any eruptive rocks, either on the western slopes of 

 the Southern Alps, or in the district around Lake "Wanaka, of which I 

 shall speak next. 



Crystalline Metamorphic Formation East of the 

 Central Chain. 



Although in this zone the gneiss-granites and true gneiss schists 



the lowest rocks visible on the West Coast — do not occur, the whole of 



