450 
Miscellanea . 
coast round Cape Palliser, 50 or 60 feet above the sea. Anthracite 
coal crops out in the small harbour of Wangarrie, on the west 
coast of Middle Island, and there is a thin seam of anthracite in 
the hard grey sandstone on the east coast of the Northern 
Island. Limestone is described as occurring in the harbours of 
Kauria and Waingaroa on the west coast of the Northern Island ; 
it is crystalline, and contains fossils of the genera Pecten, Ostrea, 
Terebratula, and Spatangus. Limestone is also found on the 
river Kaipara in the Bay of Islands, and Copper pyrites has been 
obtained from the Great Barrier Island, where it forms veins in 
the clay slate. The coasts are in many places fringed with 
recent horizontal sedimentary deposits, consisting of loam, with 
fragments of wood and tree ferns, blades of the typha, &c. ; and 
on the Northern Island the coast is often formed of volcanic 
conglomerate, containing magnetic iron sand near Cape Egmont, 
and turritellee and oyster shells at the harbour of Parenga; near 
Tauranga, it is composed of decomposing tufa, containing lignite 
and shells of Pectunculus, Natica, Pyrula and Ancillaria. The 
small rocky islands of trachyte, lying off the coast of the Northern 
Island, also bear marks of wave-action to the height of 100 feet 
above the present sea level. On the western coast of this island 
formations of sand are now accumulating, driven over the forests 
by the prevalent westerly gales. The interior of the Northern 
Island affords but a scanty vegetation, and the surface is every¬ 
where covered with ordinary volcanic productions, derived from 
the lofty central group of mountains, some of which are extinct, 
others still active volcanoes : the lava appears to have been prin¬ 
cipally erupted from the base of the craters. The highest of these 
craters are Tongariro, 6,000 feet in elevation, according to Mr. 
Bidwell, and Mount Egmont about 9,000 feet, by Dr. Dieffen- 
bach’s thermometrical observations. There are also many lakes 
which appear to occupy ancient craters. The mountain chains 
of the Middle Island are supposed to consist of primary rocks ; 
quartzose sandstone and greywacke are met with at the height of 
3,000 feet; the lofty pyramidal summits are covered with snow, 
and deep narrow valleys separate the various ridges, and radiate 
from the central cones. Dr. Dieffenbach enumerates many 
