190 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



with a ricli harvest of Moa skeletons, but I was sadly disappointed. Those 

 who had been before me in the days of Moa enthusiasm having carried off every 

 vestige of a bone. Great, however, was my labour, and not little my satisfac- 

 tion, in dragging out the headless and legless skeleton of a Moa from beneath 

 the dust and filth of an old raupo hut. The Maories, seeing the greediness 

 with which the 'pakelias' hunted after old Moa bones, have long since care- 

 fully collected all they could find, and deposited them in some safe hiding-place, 

 waiting for the opportunity of exchanging them for pieces of gold and silver, 

 sliowing thus how well they have learnt the lesson taught them by the exam- 

 ple of the 'pakeha.' 



The subterranean passages of the rivers in the Pehiope and Mairoa district 

 are highly characteristic of the Kmestone-formation. The limestone-rocks, fis- 

 sured and channelled, are penetrated by the water, and the streams run below 

 the limestone upon the surface of the argillaceous strata, underlying the lime- 

 stone. This explains the scarcity of water on the limestone plateau which 

 divides the sources of the "Waipa and Mokau rivers. The plateau is covered 

 with a splendid growth of grass, and would form an excellent cattle run but for 

 the deep funnel-shaped holes which everywhere abound. They are similar to 

 the holes which occur in the limestone-downs in England, and on the Karst 

 mountains on the shore of the Adriatic Gulf, where they are called •'' doliues." 



The third and uppermost stratum of the older tertiary formation consists of 

 beds of fine fossiliferous sandstone, in which quarries of good builcling-stoue 

 may be found. There are M^hole ranges parallel to the primary mountains 

 which seem to consist of this sandstone, as, for example, the Tapua-wahine 

 range, about two thousand feet above the level of the sea. 



Without a map on a large scale, it would be useless to enter more minutely 

 into a description of the various localities in which the different formations 

 occur. It may, however, be mentioned that limestone and brown-coal have 

 been found in places to the north of Auckland, in the districts from Cape Rod- 

 ney to North Cape. 



The horizontal beds of sandstone and marls which form the cliffs of the 

 Waitemata, and extend in a northerly direction towards Kawau, belong to a 

 newer tertiary formation, and, instead of coal, have only thin layers of lignite. 

 A characteristic feature of the Auckland tertiary formation is the existence of 

 beds of volcanic ashes, which are here and there iuterstratified with the ordi- 

 nary tertiary layers. 



The volcanic formations, from their great extent and the remarkable and 

 beautiful phenomena connected with them, render the Northern Island of 

 New Zealand, and especially the province of Auckland, one of the most inte- 

 resting parts of the world. 



Lofty trachytic peaks covered with perpetual snow, a vast number of 

 smaller volcanic cones presentmg all the varied characteristics of volcanic 

 systems, and a long line of boiling springs, fumaroles, and solfataras, present 

 an almost unbounded field of interest, and, at the same time, a succession of 

 magnificent scenery. 



It is only through a long series of volcanic eruptions, extending over the 

 Tori iary and Post-Tertiary periods, that the Northern Island has attained its 

 in-(\s(nit form. It would he a difficult task to point out the ancient form of 

 t he antipodean Archipelago, the site of which is now occupied by the Islands 

 of New Zealand. It is necessary, therefore, to restrict these remarks to a 

 simpl(> indication of the events which have given that country the form it was 

 fouud io have by the Soutli-Sca Islanders on their arrival, many centuries ago, 

 from the Samoan group — a form in till main respects the same as is now before 

 our eyes. 



The first volcanic eruptions were submarine, consisting of vast quantities of 



