only a narrow slip of fertile land between its base and the sea, or for- 
ming vertical precipices, in some places from 3000 to 4000 feet high. 
Only where the outlines of the coast cease to run parallel with the 
mountains , taking a course across the axis of the range , the coast- 
line is indented with deep inlets and sounds, which extend far 
into the land between the high mountain ridges. Such is the case 
in the South from Milford Haven as far as Foveaux Strait , and 
in the North on Cook Strait from Cape Farewell to Cape Camp- 
bell. At these two extremities of South Island are those capital 
harbours situated, such as Dusky Hay in the South, and Queen 
Charlotte Sound in the North, which have been the safe places of 
shelter for the bold seafarers, who first ventured out to these distant 
shores. 
Very different are the features on the East coast. The atten- 
tion of the scientific observer has been quite correctly drawn to 
the close resemblance between the formation of the coasts of New 
Zealand and of South America (Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego); 
as also to the general fact , so very obvious in New Zealand , that 
the destructive tendency of the sea displays itself principally on 
the West and South-West-coasts of islands and continents, continuing 
to wear away the land until it reaches a powerful mountain-range, 
which then serves as a bulwark for the low lands and plains at 
its eastern foot. 
At the foot of the range on the East-side runs a long row of 
trachvtic cones varying in height from 3000 to 6000 feet above the 
level of the sea (Alt. Sommers 5240 feet; Mt. Hutt 6800 feet; Mt. 
Grey 3000 feet etc.); the inland Kaikoras on the North East-side 
of the island reaching the considerable height of 8000 to 9000 feet. 
These caps and cones consisting of trachyte, andesite and phonolite, 
surrounded with extensive deposits of tuff and amygdaloid, 1 and with- 
out the least trace of crater formation or of lava streams, present a 
remarkable line, — parallel with the axis of the mountain, — of 
eruptions belonging probably to the tertiary era. 
1 These amygdaloidal rocks and tuff abound in amethysts, chalcedony, agate, 
opal, and similar secretions of silica. 
