85 
It is to be ascribed chiefly to the inconsiderable thickness of 
the coal seams, — the principal seams being only four feet thick, — - 
and to their being contaminated by the frequent intermixture of 
bituminous shale, that the mines opened on the bank of the creek, 
at a distance of one mile from the sea shore, met with little or 
no success; for the coal itself surpasses in quality all the other 
New Zealand coals hitherto described. Its color is black, powder 
and streak black brown. It has a resinous lustre , a slaty fracture 
along its cleavage, but across it conchoidal. It is moreover cha- 
racterized by its extraordinary consistency. Large pieces, which 
for years had been exposed to rain and sunshine, continued to 
present the same consistency as newly broken pieces. It burns 
freely with a bright, long flame; it cakes to a very coherent mass 
and would certainly prove an excellent gas coal. The fossil plants 
imbedded in a micaceous sandstone flanking the coal seams are 
wholly different from those near Drury and Nelson; but the 
pieces I found were too indistinct for a specific determination. 1 
On the other hand, the character of the strata leads me to suppose, 
that to the Pakawau coal a secondary age is to be ascribed. How 
far the Pakawau coal field extends, and especially how far South 
it extends, is not as yet known, and I am inclined to be- 
lieve that future examinations will establish the existence of beds 
well worth working, which will realize all the hopes that have 
been attached to the Pakawau coal on account of its superior 
Thus I have briefly described the various traces of coal which 
I had an opportunity to examine in person. But since my return 
to Europe, my friend Dr. J. JJaast in 1860 and 1861 has carried 
through highly important researches in the western portions of the 
Province of Nelson and in the Province of Canterbury, the main 
results of which I cannot refrain from communicating such as I have 
gathered them from his reports and letters. 
On an expedition through the inhospitable regions of the New 
1 It is only with difficulty, says Professor Unger, that in the coarse-grained 
sandstone Neuropier is , Equisetiles and a palm (Phoenicia's?) are to be recognised. 
