337 
though its surface appears very much cut up and broken , neverthe- 
less presents a very simple geological structure. The lower beds, 
appearing in the valleys, consist of stratified limestones of the 
same description as those, with which we became acquainted on 
the West coast ( Wliaingaroa , Aotea, Kawliia), and above them lie 
thick beds of trachytic tuff. The limestone abounds in caves; the 
volcanic tuff* on the other hand forms compact banks resembling 
sandstone, with the white fragments of pumice-stone looking from 
afar like fossil shells. 
At Ilangatiki I heard of three caves in that vicinity. Te ana 
o te moa (moa-cave), Te ana o te atua (ghost-cave), and Te ana 
uriuri (dark cave). The moa-cave is about one and a half miles 
Southwest of the kainga Parianiwaniwa , which is about five miles 
from Ilangatiki in the direction of W. 24° S. The ghost-cave lies 
at the road to Raraoraro , a distance of one mile from the Maori 
settlement Rotomarama. Both caves abound in stalactite formations. 
They had been repeatedly visited by English officers: the last time, 
in October 1852, by Dr. A. Thomson, Major Hume, and Captain 
Cooper , who went there in search of moa-bones. Those researches 
have according to Dr. Thomson’s account 1 led to very satisfactory 
results. Numerous bones were dug out. The natives assuring 
me, that there was nothing more to be found, I resolved to visit 
only the third cave, Te ana uriuri, it being less out of my way. 
This cave lies four miles from Hangatiki on the road to Puke- 
mapau and Paripari. Its entrance is 24 feet wide and 20 feet 
high. It is situated at the northern foot of a hill composed of 
tabular limestone , the slope of which was overgrown with bushes of 
the New Zealand coffee-shrub, — Karamu of the natives ( Coprosma 
lucida Forst.), — full of red berries. The limestone formation at- 
tains here a thickness of at least 200 feet. Just at the entrance 
beautiful stalactite formations are to be seen, grown over most pic- 
turesquely with ferns as far as daylight peers into the cave, present- 
ing thus the appearance of an artificial decoration. To the right a 
stalagmite-pillar, 7 feet high, spreading its top like a table, and 
1 Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal Yol. LVI. p. 268 — 295. 
Hochstetter, New Zealand. 22 
