CHAPTER XX. 
Nelson. 
Character of the surface of the province. — The Western mountain ranges. — The 
Eastern ranges. — The hills on Blind Bay. — Excellent climate on the shores of Blind Bay. 
— The town of Nelson, situation, foundation and development. — The Harbour. — The 
Boulder Bank. — The agricultural districts. — Ranzau and Sarau, German settlements. — 
Wood-cutters and shepherds the farthest out-posts of civilization. — The Mineral wealth of 
Nelson. — The copper and chrome-ore of the Wooded Peak and Dun Mountain. 
The character of the surface is always more or less indicative 
of the geological structure of a country. Even to those who have 
not deeply studied the science the different forms, which mountain- 
ranges show, will indicate the difference of their geological structure. 
T1 ns difference in the external appearance of the country is most 
striking and surprising to the traveller on coming from the Province 
of Auckland on the North Island to the Province of Nelson on the 
South Island. In contrast with the comparatively low ranges of 
hills and table-lands, extending over the greater part of the northern 
Island, and broken only by high volcanic peaks, we find in Nelson 
high and steep mountain ranges with serrated peaks , striking in 
long parallel chains, separated by deep, longitudinal valleys, and 
broken at right angles by rocky gorges. The geological field pre- 
sented here is consequently an entirely new one in comparison with 
that of the North Island. 
From a central point forming the water-shed between the East 
and West coasts, and containing the sources of the boundary-rivers 
of the two provinces, Nelson and Canterbury, — the Ilurunui 
