KERIKERI, BAY OF ISLANDS. 
CHAPTER XXV. 
THE AGE OF NEW ZEALAND. 
It is an interesting subject of enquiry bow far those grand 
convulsions, which have left such indelible marks on the 
earth's surface of the northern hemisphere,, may be traced in 
the southern, and whether any of them have been universal 
in their range. 
When the first crust was formed over an incandescent orb, 
the crystaline or unstratified rocks may be supposed to have 
been homogenous, and one simultaneous process to have 
been carried on throughout the world ; but that granitic 
pavement being laid, every subsequent change to have been 
more or less local ; many grand convulsions have since 
occurred ; alterations in the polarity of the earth, arising 
from foreign causes, may have taken place, and changed the 
relative position of sea and land in different parts, and vast 
internal powers may likewise have been displayed, upheaving 
