Canterbury and Westland. 409 



ferns belonging to the genera Asplenium, Polypodium, Lomaria, &c. 

 The boundary between the first and second belt is not so distinct as 

 that between the others, especially between the " shrub " and "forest 

 belt," which is generally sharply defined. 



In Bruce Bay, where the ground is rather swampy, the vegetation 

 of this last-mentioned belt consists of the following trees : — Poclocarpus 

 dacrydioides, JPodocarpus Totara, Dacrydium cupressinum, Libocedrus 

 Doniana, Weinmannia racemosa, Meirosideros liccida. Several species 

 of Coprosma, Pittosporum, and fern-trees, as, for instance, Cyatliea 

 Smithii and Dicksonia squarrosa, grow between and below them, while 

 the Uliipogonum scandens, the " supple-jack " of the colonists, inter- 

 laces the whole with its numerous flexible stems. "Where the Kiekie 

 or JPreycinetia Banlcsii occurs, which is not unfrequent, this forest zone 

 is almost impenetrable. 



When I arrived in 1868 in Bruce Bay the two auriferous leads situ- 

 ated in the beginning of the second and third belts had already been 

 worked out, and the miners were exclusively at work ont he third lead, . 

 situated in the forest-belt, where they had to sink 13 — 15 feet before 

 the auriferous beds were reached. After having . removed the large 

 trees growing here, sometimes 4 feet in diameter, and standing closely 

 together upon 8 — 12 inches of vegetable soil, in which the roots 

 run horizontally, the miners passed through the following strata before 

 the auriferous sands were reached : — 



ft. in. 



Flattened beach-shingle mixed with black sand 4 



Black sand containing a little gold 2 



Quartzose and black sands alternating repeatedly with each other 1 1 

 Large flattened shingle with some black iron, and quartzose sands, 



but not auriferous enough to pay for the extraction of the gold 6 5 



Fine black sand, a little auriferous 1 



Very coarse gravel 1 7 



Auriferous black iron-sand, which is the layer of wash-dirt 



excavated for sluicing 6 



14 9 

 This last layer reposes upon a bed of coarse gravel, which, being 

 cemented by an argillaceous matrix, has materially assisted to retain 

 the fine gold in the black sand above it. 



From an examination of the section it will be seen that a long period 



of time must have elapsed before such a succession of beds could be 



ormed, because it is evident that the beaches have not been always 



receiving new additions, but deposits have been thrown up and again 



