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S4 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
water apparatus, have enabled me to give, in the accompanying 
table, the altitudes of many of the principal points over which I 
passed. I am indebted to Captain Kough and Mr. Christopher 
Mating for making, during my absence from Nelson, careful 
meteorological observations, which have assisted me in calculating 
with accuracy the tables in question. 
Between the mouth of the Grey and the Waimatuku stream, 
the country is more level, and we found near the sea, between it 
and the foot of the Paparoha chain, a low limestone range of 100 
to 150 feet high, forming a bold headland in the Komatiki-tawao 
cliffs, against which the waves break with great fury. A mile 
north of the Waimatuku, the spurs of the carboniferous range, 
which I have called the Davy mountains, reach the sea, and leave 
very little space between low water mark and their rocky walls. 
At Maukurinui point we meet the central part of that range, 
which here slopes down, presenting in its rugged outlines a 
picture of wild grandeur very difficult to describe. North of the 
many promontories jutting from this range lies a sandy beach, 
nine miles long, and intersected by many streams. The central 
range which rises at the head of the Okiwi and stretches 
thence in a straight course from north-north-east to south-south¬ 
west, is visible over some rugged limestone hills, which run about 
a mile inland towards the Pororari and reach the sea at the 
Punakaiki cliffs, known to the explorer for their dangerous 
ascent and for the caves on their northern side. Thence to the 
ascent of the Tuhinu, a distance of eleven miles, the coast is a 
continuous line of hills from'400 to 600 feet high, lying close to 
the shore and rising to the height of 1,000 feet further inland. 
Amongst these the Miko cliffs, where the traveller from the south 
has to descend perpendicular limestone walls for about sixty feet 
on ladders, are the best known. Here and there granitic hills 
reach the coast, and the rock, presenting occasionally a cuboidal 
structure, gives a new character to the scenery. The limestone 
and green sand cliffs, which principally constitute this part of the 
coast, are distinguished by the regularity of their stratification, 
which, from a distance, gives to their bold escarpments a ribbon¬ 
like appearance. _ At the foot of the Tuhinu, a continuation of 
these hills, which in many places are swampy, and covered with 
grass and rushes, with here and there a belt of forest, the coast 
becomes so rough, and the cliffs so steep, that the native track 
follows the ridge. The character of the country remains still the 
same, hills from 600 to 1,000 feet high, lie inland, running parallel 
with the high central chain, one range succeeding another,'and each 
sloping abruptly towards the west. The numerous streams and 
rivulets which pass through them on their course from the rocky 
mountains have worked deep beds through the more westerly 
ranges, which at the Potikohua retire from the coast, and run 
parallel with the Buckland peaks. 
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