Canterbury and Westland. 263 



■synclinal has been formed, the easterly dip is again restored on the 

 western slopes of the central chain, where we find them underlaid by 

 the gneiss granite formation. I have spoken of the relation of the 

 rocks in Jackson's Bay, coloured in my map as belonging to this 

 division, when treating of the Westland formation. The rocks in the 

 eastern zone, belonging to the Waihao formation, exhibit a somewhat 

 different facies. There are some micaceous phyllites amongst them, 

 but the principal portion consists of peculiarly altered brecciated 

 arenaceous or micaceous schists, alternating with chertose beds, felstones, 

 and greenish schists. Interlaminations of quartz are seldom met 

 with, but very often, parallel to the bedding of the rocks, a congrega- 

 tion of small veins of quartz, somewhat chalcedonic in its nature 

 occurs at intervals, generally anastomosing and continuing its course 

 over a long distance. In the upper course of the Waihao, there is a 

 well defined anticlinal, the rocks dipping on the eastern side, 45 to 55 

 degrees to the east, and on the western side, 70 to 78 degrees to the 

 west. On the eastern banks of the Hakataramea river, all the rocks 

 forming low ranges there, belong to this series. They are sometimes 

 very micaceous, and dip about 60 degrees to the south-west. The out- 

 lier on both banks of the Pareora, above Mr. E. Elworthy's station 

 consists of greyish felstones and dark phyllites, dipping 81 degrees to 

 the east-north-east ; above them, beds of brecciated micaceous schists 

 are largely developed. The most instructive outlier is the one in the 

 Kakahu river, where some of the schists are so full of interlaminations 

 of quartz, from six lines to three inches in thickness, that the whole 

 appears as one mass of quartz. Other strata contain a close network 

 of small quartz veins. They repose upon beds of highly altered 

 limestone, interstratified with greenish and brownish diabasic ashes, 

 and of beds of a quartzoze or chertose character. In some parts of 

 the district, micaceous schists and felstones, intersected by a few well 

 defined quartz reefs, in others, semicrystalline limestones, interbedded 

 with micaceous phyllites, are predominant, apparently forming a 

 number of small synclinals and anticlinals — a south-east and north- 

 west dip, at angles often as high as 85 degrees, being the most frequent. 

 Finally, the small zone in Banks' Peninsula, situated at the head of 

 Lyttelton Harbour, and leading by Gebbie's Pass to Lake Ellesmere, 

 and at the southern base of Castle hill, contains some of the same 

 brecciated micaceous schists, alternating with chertose beds. The 

 strata strike here generally from the north-west to the south-east 

 wit\i a dip according to the localities, to south-west or north-east 

 and at a low angle. 



