134 Lecture on the Geology of [No. 9, new series. 



grains, which give these clay marls a similarity to the Gault and 

 Green sands of the Cretaceous formation in Europe. They are 

 found on the Eastern branches of Whaingaro, Aotea, and Kawhia 

 harbours. 



Of greater interest and importance are the calcareous strata, con- 

 sisting of tabular limestone, sometimes of a conglomerate nature, 

 sometimes more crystalline, the whole mass of which is formed of 

 fragments of shells, corals, and foramini-ferce, interspersed with 

 perfect specimens of terebratulse, oysters and pectens, and other 

 shells. This limestone, when burnt, makes excellent lime, and 

 may be wrought and polished for architectural purposes. 



The Beds of Limestone worked by Messrs. Smith and Cooper, 

 in the Wairoa district, belong to this formation, as do also the rich 

 fossiliferous strata from the Waikato Heads towards Kawhia Har- 

 bour. 



Picturesque columnar rocks of the same nature, looking almost 

 as if they were artificially built of tabular blocks, adorn the en- 

 trance to Whaingaroa Harbour ; and the romantic limestone scenery, 

 and the fine Caves of the Rakaunui river — a branch of Kawhia 

 Harbour — are deservedly prized by the settlers of Kawhia Harbour. 



The Limestone Formation attains its greatest thickness (from 

 400 to 500 feet) in the Upper Waipa and Mokau district, between 

 the Hangitoto range and the West Coast. It has in this country 

 many remarkable features. 



No one can enter without admiration the Stalactite Caves of 

 Tana-uri-uri at Hangatiki and of Parianewanewa near the sources 

 of the Waipa — the former haunts of the gigantic Moa. 



I went into those caves in the hope of meeting with a rich har- 

 vest 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 to my satisfaction, in dragging out the head-less and 

 leg-less skeleton of a Moa from beneath the dust and filth of an 

 old raupo hut ! — The Maories, seeing the greediness with which 

 the " pakehas" 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 



