408 Geology of 



In the last chapter I have already pointed out, that the different 

 morainic accumulations, now forming for several hundred miles a suc- 

 cession of cliffs along the west coast, have become united by a sand 

 or shingle bar, thrown across the small bays between them, and that 

 judging from the breadth of these deposits, a considerable space of 

 time has been necessary for their formation. In the Historical Kotes 

 on page 160, 1 have already alluded to the fact, that polished stone im- 

 plements have been found iu auriferous deposits in Bruce Bay, and I 

 may now add, that these beds, are a portion of the bar between two 

 extensive morainic accumulations, Heretanewha Point to the south and 

 Makowiho Point to the north. In Volume II of the Journal of the 

 Ethnological Society of London, an account of this remarkable find 

 has been published by me, from which, the fact in question being 

 of considerable importance for the elucidation of the age and mode 

 of formation of these beds, I shall here offer the following extracts. 



Where at the west coast ancient level strips of land exist close to 

 the sea, we find that the usual forest vegetation grows to the water's 

 edge; but generally the level ground is of quite recent origin, as the 

 land is gaining upon the sea, and new ground is continually formed. 

 In localities of this nature we observe that the more we advance from 

 high-water mark inland, the more luxuriant becomes the vegetation, 

 exhibiting three distinct belts of peculiar growth. This is well shown 

 in Bruce Bay (section -A, plate Xo 8). There is generally above high- 

 water mark a zone 50 — 100 feet broad, consisting of fine drift-sand, 

 usually forming small hillocks, amongst which a great mass of drift- 

 wood is decaying, but in which no other vegetation, except a few fungi 

 on the rotten wood, makes its appearance. Then follows a second belt, 

 also of sand, SO — 150 feet broad, in which the drift-wood has already 

 entirely disappeared. It is covered by vegetation, peculiar to such 

 localities, consisting of sedges, rushes, and a few plants of higher 

 organization. The following plants grow principally in this second or 

 " Coprosma-acerosa belt," as I propose to call it; namely, Coprosma 

 acerosa, Juncus maritimus, Desmosclianas spiralis, Scirpus onaritimus, 

 Leptospermum scopiarum, Euplwrhia glauca, Convolvulus sold anella, and 

 Discaria toumatou. 



A third distinct zone follows, from 300 — 500 feet broad, commonly 

 called the " scrub-belt." The main mass of its vegetation consists of 

 Coriaria ruscifolia, Coprosma petiolata, Coprosma Baaeriana, Veronica 

 salicifolia, Fuchsia excorticata, Griselinia littoralis, PJiorinium tenax, 

 and some other shrubby plants, generally with a dense undergrowth of 



