EXPLANATION OE THE MA P . 
109 
the renown of being the principal mineral country of New 
Zealand. The fine and temperate climate of Nelson enabled 
me, even in the middle of winter, to pass and to explore the 
mountain chain which terminates near Code’s Straits. Into 
the higher and more distant regions of the Southern Alps, 
however, it was not possible to penetrate. Prom the liotoiti 
Lake (Lake Arthur), the most southern part of which I visited, 
I saw the mighty summits of the southern mountain chains, 
covered with snow and ice, and which my friend and fellow- 
traveller Dr. Haast has since so successfully explored, Avith 
a most courageous perseverance, and under a great many 
difficulties and privations.* In the annexed map the results 
of his and my own observations are combined in a comprehen¬ 
sive delineation which explains the character of the geological 
structure of the northern part of the South Island. 
Prom a centre which forms the division of the water-courses 
betAveen the east and west coast, and Avhich is the source of 
the tAVO frontier rivers of the Provinces of Nelson and Canter¬ 
bury, the Hurunni flowing east, and the Taramakau Avhich 
runs to the Avest, there extend the two great mountain chains 
of the Southern Alps in a northerly direction through the 
Province of Nelson, terminating at Cook’s Straits, where they 
give rise to the complicated coast-line which is so characteristic 
of the north extremity of the Middle Island. 
Both of these mountain ranges differ in character. The 
Avestern mountains, which end in Separation Point and Cape 
PareAvell, have a direction from north to south. To them 
belong the Brunner chain, Lyell chain, Marine chain, Mount ' 
Owen, the Tasman mountains, and Mount Arthur chains ; 
Avhile to the north and fronting Gulden Bay are the Whaka- 
marama chain, Haupiri and the Anatoki chains. All these 
mountains and chains consist of crystalline and metamorphic 
rocks, of granite, gneiss, mica-schist, hornblende-schist, 
cpiarzite, and clay slate. It is to these rocks, which are 
auriferous, that Nelson is indebted for her gold-fields, Avhich 
Avere the first gold-fields of NeAV Zealand that Avere Avorked, 
and Avhich even in 1859 yielded gold to the amount of £150,000 
* J. Haast’s Report of a Topographical and Geological Exploration of 
the Western Districts of the Province of Nelson. Nelson, 1861. 
