16 
THE GEOLOGY OF AUCKLAND. 
The Coal Beds at Coromandel occurring between strata of 
tracliytic breccia are too thin to be of any value, and as the coal 
formation is absent, there is no ground for hoping that a workable 
seam may be found. 
The primary formation occurs, to a more considerable extent, 
to the eastward of Auckland, in ranges on both sides of the 
Wairoa river attaining an altitude of 1,500 feet above the sea— 
and striking from thence northwards, over Waiheki andKawau, 
to the Bay of Islands. In a Southerly direction, they extend, 
through the Hangawera and Taupiri ranges, across the Waikato, 
through the Hakarimata and Hauturw range—parallel with 
the West Coast—to the Mokau district, where, at Wairere, 
the Mokau river falls in a magnificent cascade over a lofty pre¬ 
cipice of that rock. 
The same formation occurs again in the JRangitoto mountain 
on the Upper Waipa, and West of Taupo lake in the Tuhua 
mountains. But the most extensive range of primary rocks is 
that which commences near Wellington under the name of 
Tararua and Buawahme , and runs in a north-easterly direction 
to the east shore of Taupo lake, under the name of Kairnanawa , 
in which rises the principal source of the Waikato—there called 
Tongariro river. The range continues from the shores of Taupo 
lake, in a north-easterly direction, to the East Cape, under the 
principal name of Tewhaiti. This lofty and extensive mountain 
range—the true backbone of the Northern Island—with peaks 
from 6000 to 7000 feet, is entirely unknown. In this range 
the Plutonic and Metamorphic rocks, yet unknown in the Nor¬ 
thern Island, may perhaps be found. 
Nearly all* the primary ranges are covered with dense virgin 
forests, which render them extremely difficult of access. It must 
be left to the labour and enterprise of future years to dis¬ 
cover and develop the mineral riches, the existence of which 
appears to be probable, not only from the geological characteris¬ 
tics of the country, but also from some few specimens of Lead 
and Copper ore that have from time to time been picked up by 
the Natives. 
It is remarkable that, while one of the oldest members of the 
primary formation is found so extensively in New Zealand, the 
later strata, as the Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian sys- 
