190 
THE OEOLOGIST. 
with a licli harvest of Moa skeletons, but I was sadly disappointed. Those 
vho had been before me in the days of Moaeiitlnisiasm having carried off every 
vestige of a bone. Great, however, was my laliour, and not little niy satisfac- 
tion, in dragging out the headless and legless skeleton of a Moa from beneath 
tlie dust ancl 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 coidd find, and deposited them in some safe hiding-place, 
waiting for the opportunity of exchanging them for pieces of gold and silver, 
showing thus how well they have learut 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 limestone-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 argiUaeeous strata, underlying the Lime- 
stone. Tins 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 " dolines." 
The third and uppermost stratum of the older tertiary formation consists of 
beds of fine fossiliferous sandstone, iai which quarries of good building-stone 
may be found. There are whole 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 tiie 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 difl'erent formations 
occur. It may, however, be mentioned that limestone and brown-coal have 
been found in places to the nortii of Auckland, in the districts from Cape Rod- 
ney to North Cape. 
The horizontal beds of sandstone and marls •o'hich 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 Uguite. 
A characteristic feature of the Auckland tertiary formation is the existence of 
beds of volcanic ashes, which are here and there interstratified with the ordi- 
nary tertiary layers. 
The volcanic formations, from their great extent and the remarkable aud 
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 traehytic peaks covered •with perpetual snow, a vast number of 
smaller volcanic cones presenting all the varied characteristics of volcanic 
systems, and a long line of boiling sprmgs, 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 
Tertiary and Post-Tertiary periods, that the Northern Island has attained its 
present form. It would be a difficult task to point out the ancient form of 
the 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 
simple indication of the events which have given that country the form it was 
found to have by the South-Sea Islanders on their arrival, many centuries ago, 
from the Samoan group — a form in aU main respects the same as is now before 
our eyes. 
The first volcanic eruptions were submarine, consisting of vast quantities of 
