1867 - von Hochstetter, Ferdinand. New Zealand - CHAPTER III: Geology and Palaeontology.

       
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  1867 - von Hochstetter, Ferdinand. New Zealand - CHAPTER III: Geology and Palaeontology.
 
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CHAPTER III: Geology and Palaeontology.

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CHAPTER III.

Geology and Palaeontology.

History of geological and palaeontological explorations. -- Present state of knowledge. -- Synoptical view of the formations and strata at present known. -- Secular elevations and depressions. -- Former connection with other bodies of land, -- Earthquakes.

The discovery and first exploration of New Zealand by Captain Cook and his companions towards the close of the last century took place at a time when geology as a science had scarcely taken its first start. Rich in results as these earliest voyages were for zoology and botany, they yielded scarcely any thing noteworthy with regard to the geology and palaeontology. The scientific expeditions of the. French, English and North Americans, that touched New Zealand after Cook, also found but little of geological interest on the coasts and the much frequented harbours North and South.

White Island, Whakari of the natives, on the East coast of North Island was the first volcano noticed upon New Zealand; and in 1839 Mr. Rule brought the first fragment of a fossil bone found upon the North Island to London, from the structure of which Prof. Richard Owen was able to prove, that it had once formed part of a huge bird.

These are the first facts, that have become known with regard to the Geology and Palaeontology of New Zealand, and till within the last years, the communications from missionaries, colonists and

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tourists have treated almost exclusively of the volcanoes and volcanic phenomena of North Island or of new specimens of "Moa-bones", the remains of the extinct gigantic birds of New Zealand.

In the first instance we are indebted for valuable informations to the enterprising German traveller, Dr. Ernst Dieffenbach, who as naturalist accompanied in 1839 the expedition sent out by the New Zealand Company for the purpose of establishing a colony on Cook Strait. Dieffenbach examined the shores of Cook Strait, he was the first to ascend in December 1839 Mount Egmont or Taranaki (8000 feet high), and traversed in 1840 North Island from Cape Reinga to the volcanic regions of Lake Taupo. In his instructive and interesting work correct views were given of two of the volcanic zones extending through North Island. Dieffenbach moreover mentions in various passages the tertiary strata, so extensive upon North Island, with their numerous fossils.

Prof. Owen's discovery confirmed the, at first discredited, accounts of the natives about the giant birds "Moa", which were said to have populated those islands in times long past, and gave an impulse for new investigations. By the zeal and energy of missionaries, colonists and natives on both North and South Islands thousands of individual bones, and also whole skeletons in a, more or less perfect state of preservation were soon collected, furnishing Prof. R. Owen with abundant material for his celebrated treatises on the Genera Dinornis and Palapteryx, which have become extinct within the very latest period of the earth (see transactions of the Zoological Society, London 1843--1856).

In the person of Mr. Walter Mantell, eldest son of the celebrated author of the "Coins of Creation", a settler came to New Zealand, who besides an untiring industry for making collections was moreover possessed of valuable geological acquirements, and contributed, in his communications to his father Dr. Q. A. Mantell very interesting items to the Geology and Palaeontology of New Zealand. In 1848 Dr. Mantell (in the Quarterly Journal of the Geolog. Soc. in London), gives an account of the extensive collection of Moa bones, which his son had made up, and of the probably very

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late, if not quite recent strata, in which those remains were found. He took occasion to add some general remarks on the natural character of New Zealand, comparing this remarkable insular province, on account of the prevalence of fernweeds, lycopodiaceae and other cryptogamians, on account of its gigantic birds and the absence of every kind of mammalia, with the state of European countries during the coal and trias-period; in a similar manner as Australia with its Cykadeae, Araukariae and marsupial mammalia reminds us of the oolite-period; the Galapagos Islands with their graminivorous land and sea-saurians, with their reptiles and tortoises, of the age of the Iguanodon or the wealden-period.

James Dana (in 1849), in the admirable volume comprising the Geology of the United States Exploring Expedition under Ch. Wilkes 1839--1842, gave a brief sketch of the geological features of the country adjacent to the Bay of Islands, thus acquainting us with the third volcanic zone of New Zealand, the Bay-of-Islands zone.

Dr. G.A. Mantell (in 1850) published in the Quarterly Journal a geological sketch of the East coast of South Island from the volcanic Bank's Peninsula to the Molyneux River, in which he distinguishes volcanic formations, clay-slate, quartz-conglomerates and various other fossiliferous sedimentary formations. It is in this treatise also, that for the first time fossils were described and represented, and different groups of strata were distinguished according to the different fossils found in them. The "Otatara limestone", resembling the cretaceous rocks of Faxoe and Mastricht, with Terebratula Gualteri Mant., with a body resembling a belemnite (without however being a belemnite), and a series of foraminifera, which by Mr. R. Jones were partly identified with species of the chalk formation, corresponds, according to Mr. Mantell's views, to the upper cretaceous or to the eocene formation. The clayey strata of Onekakara and Wanganui (North Island), on the other hand, containing chiefly living species, such as Turitella rosea, Quoy, Struthiolaria straminea Low., Fusus australis Quoy, Murex Zealandicus Quoy, Venus mesodesma Gray, Pecten asperrimus Lam, etc.,

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were numbered with the pleistocene period. As deposits of the most recent age, Mantell describes alluvial sediments and magnetic iron-sands of the coast with remains of Dinornis, Palapteryx Notornis etc. occurring here and there. Mention is made also of the infusorial earths from Taranaki and from Lake Waihora near Bank's Peninsula, entirely composed of diatomaceae and polycistines.

To Dr. Mantell's treatise a short note is added, in which Prof. E. Forbes mentions two localities of South Island, Banks River and the cliffs about Nelson, remarking on the fossil specimens from the localities named, which were presented by Mr. Cumming to the Museum for Practical Geology, that they cannot be identified with living species, but that their general habitus reminds the observer very much of eocene fossils from the Bognor beds.

In 1854 and 1855, Mr. Heaphy of Auckland published geological notes on the Coromandel District near Auckland and on the gold-diggings on Coromandel Harbour. The trachytic rocks found there were, however, mistaken for granite.

In the XII. Vol. of the Quarterly Journal, 1855, C. Forbes, Surgeon on board H.M. Ship "Acheron", gives an interesting description of the geological features along the coast of North and South Islands, attaching thereto remarks on the coal seams upon Preservation Island, at Motupipi, on the West coast of North Island not far from the mouth of the Waikato, and on Saddle Hill near Dunedin.

In addition to this we find in the same volume a short note by Mr. J. Crawford on the geological structure of the vicinity of Port Nicholson, where more or less vertical strata of clayslate constitute the mountain ranges, and the plains consist of tertiary strata and alluvial deposits. Mr. Crawford remarks also, that about Port Nicholson and likewise near Whakapuaka there are indications of the coast having been raised within a very recent period.

In 1859, Prof. T. H. Huxley gave an account concerning fossil bones of Paleudyptes antarcticus, a species belonging to the family of Pinguins, and cetaceous remains of Phocaenopsis Mantelli from apparently tertiary strata.

In 1861, Prof. Owen surprised the geological section of the British

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Association in Manchester with the news, that Mr. Hood in Sydney had forwarded to him fossil bones from the Waipara River in the Province Canterbury, South Island, which belong to a plesiosauric reptile, Plesiosaurus australis, and seem to indicate the existence of Jurassic strata.

It was accident rather than design or scientific researches, that led to the discovery of the mineral treasures, which have continued to be developed during- the last years: of coal, gold, copper, iron, chrome-ore and graphite. Where such a variety of useful minerals was presented to the view almost without any intentional effort on the part of the discoverers, what remunerative harvests could be expected from a systematical exploration! The well-educated class of colonists, for which New Zealand is noted, were fully aware of the importance of explorations to be made by scientific men in behalf of physical geography and geology, and that scientific knowledge aids in the extension and improvement of the industrial arts. The provincial Governments shunned no expenses to obtain the services of men, by whose aid the geological and mineralogical exploration of the country could be carried through.

Thus by a lucky juncture of circumstances, I had, in 1859, the pleasure of beginning the explorations in the Provinces of Auckland and Nelson, and of sketching the first geological maps of parts of New Zealand; and my friend and fellow-traveller, Dr. Julius Haast, had the honour of being the first Government Geologist in New Zealand. After having finished, in 1860, some geographical and geological explorations in the western Districts of the Province Nelson with the best success, he was appointed Geologist by the Provincial Government of Canterbury. This laudable example was soon followed by other provinces. Towards the close of 1861, Dr. James Hector, the travelling companion of Captain Palliser during his expedition through the Rocky Mountains (1857--1859), was called as Geologist to Otago, and in 1862 Mr. J.C. Crawford was appointed Provincial Geologist of Wellington. This was the beginning of a new era, in which the geological survey of New Zealand is progressing rapidly and systematically.

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Concerning the history and development of the geography and chartography of New Zealand, I may well be allowed to direct the attention of the reader to the remarks, which Dr. A. Peter-mann has attached to the "Geological and Topographical Atlas of New Zealand." 1

The extraordinary variety of the surface, -- as displayed, in a vertical direction, in the long and rugged mountain chains, in isolated mountain groups or in extensive plateaus and broad flats, and, in a horizontal direction, in the numerous indentations of the coast-line, -- leads one to infer a very manifold geological composition of the soil. The first geological explorations of North and South Islands proved this very satisfactorily.

The geological maps of districts of the Provinces of Auckland and Nelson, as published according to my own and my friend Dr. Haast's observations, -- although these maps in comparison to the geological surveys of West European countries may be designated as only the first outlines of the geological constitution of those districts, -- nevertheless indicate an extremely manifold series of formations and rocks. And although it has been impossible hitherto, to parallelize the New Zealand strata according to their palaeontological character with the European series of strata; yet this much appears from the facts gathered from observations hitherto made, that the stratified rocks from the oldest metamorphic to the newest sedimentary formations, and the eruptive formations from the oldest plutonic rocks to the youngest volcanic lavas are all represented in this country.

In the tabular view of the formations and strata occurring upon New Zealand, which I shall present in this chapter, I have first laid down the results of my own observations upon North and South Islands, without omitting, however, to add to them the most important facts ascertained up to the conclusion of this work by the investigations of Dr. Haast in the Provinces of Nelson and Canterbury, and by the researches of Dr. Hector in the Province of Otago

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and in other parts of New Zealand. In the chronological arrangement of the strata and formations it was chiefly observations of the stratigraphical order of the different beds that directed my judgement. Palaeontology, which in Europe, in the case of districts laying close together and thoroughly explored, is the surest guide for determining the relative age of the strata, affords upon New Zealand but few aids to judgment. The fossils found in favourable localities upon the extensive area, -- where geological explorations have but commenced, and where the soil is laid bare merely by natural openings, such as we find them on sea-coasts, river banks, mountain slips etc. -- admit, according to the present standard of science, of no other conclusions than such as have reference to the grand epochs in the history of the earths development. The researches upon New Zealand and upon the Australian and South American Continents have not as yet progressed so far, that according to palaeontological criteria a more detailed comparison might be drawn between the range of the various formations of the extensive districts upon the Southern Hemisphere; nor does palaeontology, as yet, afford a method, according to which for two continents so far apart as Australia and Europe, the synchronism of two strata might be proven. The first requisite is the establishment of at least the main features of a geography of plants and animals for the older geological periods also; we must first become acquainted with the palaeozoic provinces in the same measure as we have gradually become acquainted with the neozoic districts of their distribution; -- then, and not till then, will it be possible to decide, how far a comparison according to mere palaeontological principles is at all feasible. Prof. Agassiz 2 is of opinion, that the mere comparison of the fossils of America with those of Europe justifies him in inferring, that between animals which lived at a great distance from each other, no specific identity can be traced, even though they be coeval; that, on the contrary, species of the same family, belonging to different geological epochs, are more closely related to

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each other, -- if they only originate from the same degree of latitude, -- than species of the same geological age from different geographical zones. If such be the case, we may well assert, that the identity or close relationship of the fossil remains of one or the same geological period, such as they are laid down in the geology of to-day, is principally to be ascribed to the fact, that these remains were collected in the same geographical zones. But as the faunas of the present period, in continents at great distance from each other, are essentially different, so Prof. Agassiz believes himself justified in supposing that the same was the case also with the faunas of the older periods. The geology and palaeontology of the countries in the Southern Hemisphere are, no doubt, the chief means to prove or disprove this view of the celebrated zoologist and palaeontologist, and to reduce it to its proper standard. And New Zealand with its very peculiar flora and fauna of the present day, which show so very little analogy to the countries nearest to it, to Australia, the South Sea Islands and South America, -- New Zealand, I say, is the very country, that might afford the necessary favourable or adverse proofs by means of its fossil plants and animal remains.

Although without the intention of drawing general conclusions from the little that is now known, I cannot refrain from simply enumerating the facts.

Most striking to the observer, on comparing the living land fauna of New Zealand with those of the countries nearest to it, is the nearly total absence of quadrupeds. New Zealand with its two, perhaps three, endemial species 3 is far surpassed in the number of mammalia by many much smaller islands of the South Sea. As substitutes for mammalia we have there most marvellous forms of wingless birds, the Apteryx species, - which have been found to exist nowhere else. We might suppose, that perhaps the defunct land fauna of older periods displays more relationship with the faunas of the neighbouring continents of Australia and South

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America. But, what is as yet known of the remains of extinct animals, is by no means in favour of such a supposition.

It is true, we have hitherto become acquainted with nothing but the remains of giant forms of wingless birds: Dinornis and Palapteryx. With these the present small representatives, the Apteryx species, are connected in the same manner as the now living Kangaroos of Australia with the gigantic forms of the extinct Marsupialia Nothotherium (Zygomaturus Macleay) and Diprotodon, which were found in the bone-caves and post-tertiary freshwater beds of Australia; or as the present Edentata of South America with the extinct giant-sloths Megatherium and Mylodon, the remains of which are dug from the diluvial deposits of the Pampas. From older than post-tertiary formations there are as yet no remains of warm-blooded vertebral animals known upon New Zealand. The fossil land fauna in New Zealand, therefore, as far as known, is as different from the fossil land fauna of the countries nearest to it, vz. of Australia and South America, as the living land fauna.

With regard to the marine fauna, the results which my friend Dr. Zittel has obtained from examining the fossils brought by me, prove that the mollusca of the upper tertiary strata stand in close connection with the living shells, bearing to the latter about the same relation as the fauna of the Sub-Apennine formation in Italy to the fauna of the Mediterranean. The same genera occur both fossil and living; and even the species are not seldom found to be identical. But at the same time there appears a striking resemblance to the tertiary fossils of Chili and Patagonia, as described by Sowerby and d'Orbigny, i.e. to a coeval fossil fauna of the same latitudinal zone.

On examining the fossils belonging to older formations, we observe even in the Ammonites, Belemnites, Inocerami etc. of North Island, which belong to strata of the mesozoic period (Jurassic or Cretaceous strata), such a striking resemblance to European forms of the same period, that we are tempted to place them on a level with European species. It is especially the belemnite of the group of Canaliculati d'Orb., that shows such an analogy to

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the Belemn. canaliculatus Schloth., that it is quite difficult to trace differences sufficient to justify a particular name for it.

The oldest fossiliferous strata, which I found on South Island at Richmond, not far from Nelson, contain species of Monotis and Halobia, which cannot be distinguished from the European forms Monotis salinaria Br. and Halobia Lommeli Wissm. from the Trias of the Alps. 4

If it were allowed to consider these two facts already as sufficient proofs, we might at once infer as a natural consequence, that the faunas of former periods upon the Northern and Southern Hemispheres present an analogy and intimate relation, such as is no longer found in the living fauna; which inference seems by no means adapted to confirm the above opinion pronounced by Prof. Agassiz; but is wholly coinciding with the prevalent opinion, that the older the formations, the more analogy is exhibited in their fossils also in countries at great distance from each other.

Synoptical view of the geological formations and strata, presented upon New Zealand, in chronological succession.

I. Metamorphic Strata, (Foliated schists.)

None as yet proven upon the North Island.
Developed on a grand scale on the South Island:

a) in the Western ranges of the Province of Nelson as Gneiss, Micaslate, Quartzite and Phyllite with more or less vertical, partly fan-shaped stratification (Mt. Olympus); granite and syenite also appears in zones of considerable longitudinal extent. -- These foliated schists are more or less impregnated with quartz and constitute the original beds of gold in the Province of Nelson.

b) On the West coast of the Province of Canterbury as a narrow belt consisting of the most different crystalline schists with more or less vertical stratification, and of granite. The gold-fields of the Province of Canterbury belong to this series. (Dr. Haast.)

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c) In the southernmost part of South Island, in the Province of Otago, Gneiss-, Mica-, Chlorite-, Talc-, Quartz- and Clay-slates compose the larger portion of the province, especially the vast central mountain-ranges of 5000 to 9000 feet height; the Quartz interbedded in or associated with these slates is regarded as the matrix of gold. Dr. Lindsay compares these schists with the metamorphic slates of the Grampian Hills in Scotland. On Preservation Inlet granite is predominant. (Dr. Hector.)

d) Stewart's Island according to Dr. Hector is wholly composed of granite.

II. Palaeozoic (primary) Formations.

Upon North Island dark coloured, quartzy clay-slate, gray sandstone, silicious schist (chert), and jasper with dioritic rocks (aphanite) intervening. Fossils hitherto none found, hence their age not yet determined.

a) On Bay of Islands (Dana).

b) On the Islands of Hauraki Gulf; on Great Barrier and Kawau Island containing copper-ores (copper-pyrites, copper-black and small quantities of red copper-ore), which have been worked for several years past. Upon Whaiheki near Auckland with beds of jasper and with psilomelan (Manganese).

c) On Cape Colville Peninsula (Province Auckland) with gold-bearing "Quartz-reefs," which since 1862 have given rise to considerable mining enterprises. (Coromandel gold-field.)

d) In the mountain-ranges on the West side of the Firth of Thames (Wairoa ranges), and South of them in the Taupiri and Hakarimata ranges.

e) In the mountain-ranges between Port Nicholson and East Cape.

Upon South Island in the Alpine ranges; only a few points admit of an approximative determination of their age.

a) In the Western ranges of the Province Nelson, on Mount Arthur slates with Trilobites, Leptaena, Orthis and corals of probably Silurian age. (Dr. Haast.)

b) In the Eastern ranges of the Province Nelson gray sandstone and clay-slate crossed by quartz-veins, as yet without fossils.

c) In the Southern Alps conglomerate, gray sandstone and clay-slate with more or less vertical stratification, composing the main-body of the mountains and also the highest peaks. In a northern side-valley of the Clyde, on the Upper Rangitata, Dr. Haast has discovered fossils indicating a Devonian age.

d) in the Otago Province according to Dr. Hector:

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Kahiku series: Quartz, clay-shales, sandstone, diorite slate, black cross-cleaved slate, siliceous and true clay-slate.
Anau series: Porphyritic conglomerate, wacke, claystones, glossy slates and diabase, and porcellanite.

Oldest coal-formation in New Zealand in the eastern portions of the Southern Alps at the sources of the river Hinds, on Mount Harper, in the Malvern Hills, on the upper Ashburton River (Province Canterbury); the fossil plants, species of Glossopteris, indicate an age co-equal with the coal-fields of New Castle and Hunter River in New South Wales. (Dr. Haast.) See pag. 77. Eruptive rocks in dykes of long extent: diorite and diabase.

III. Mesozoic (secondary) Formations.

These I have arranged according to their probable age and the various localities as follows:

1 Triassic group. Upon South, Island.

a) Maitai series in the Eastern ranges near Nelson; red and green clay-slates with highly inclined strata, and limestone at the base. (For example, on Wooded Peak, in Croixelles Harbour and Current Basin near Nelson.) As yet no fossils found.

b) Richmond sandstone about Richmond not far from Nelson; a ferruginous sandstone with Monotis salinaria var. Richmondiana Zitt. filling whole banks., Halobia Lommeli Wissm., Mytilus problematicus Zitt., Spirigera Wreyi Suess; Astarte, Turbo etc., fossil woods (Dammara fossilis Ung.)

2. Jurassic group.

Upon South Island:

a) Waipara beds, clay-marl with fossil remains of Plesiosaurus Australis Owen.

b) In the Amuri District (south-eastern portion of the Prov. Nelson) a complex of strata with saurian, fish and numerous shells (Dr. Haast).

c) Shaw's Bay series at the mouth of the Clutha River in the Prov. Otago with Spirifer, Ammonites, shells resembling mytilus etc. (according to Dr. Lindsay).

3. Cretaceous group.

A. Strata containing Ammonites and Belemnites.

Upon North Island:

a) On Waikato Southhead inclined beds of gray marl and sandstone with Belemnites Aucklandicus v. Hauer, Aucella plicata Zitt. etc.

b) On the Kawhia Harbour, similar beds with Belemnites Aucklandicus var. minor, Ammonites Novo-Seelandicus v. Hauer, Inoceramus Haasti Hochst. etc.

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B. Carboniferous Strata.

Upon North Island:

a) On the West-coast of the Prov. Auckland, South of the mouth of the Waikato River, sandstone, marl and shale with small coal-seams and fossil ferns: Polypodium Hochstetteri Ung., Asplenium palaeopteris Ung.

b) On the North side of the Harbour of Parengarenga, in the vicinity of the Harbour of Wangarei and on the Kawa-kawa-River, Bay of Islands. Mines very recently opened (Dr. Hector).

Upon South Island:

c) The Pakawau coal-field on Golden Bay, Prov. Nelson, with workable seams of very bituminous coal and indistinct fossil plants (Neuropteris, Equisetites, Phoenicites) in a coarse-grained sandstone.

Under this head I will also mention the coal-fields on the West coast of the Prov. Nelson, examined by Dr. J. Haast:

d) The Buller coal-field, on the Buller (Kawatiri) River, ten miles above its mouth, with seams 8 feet thick.

e) The Grey coal-field, on the Grey (Mawhera) River, seven miles above its mouth, with beds 12 to 17 feet thick. Among the fossil plants Dr. Haast mentions: Zamites, Pecopteris, Equisetum and dicotyledon leaves.

f) The existence of good bituminous coal in thin beds on Preservation Harbour (Province Otago), upon Chalky Island, is mentioned by Ch. Forbes (Quart. Journ. Vol. XI. p.528). According to Dr. Hector this coal belongs to the same class as those found on Patterson's Point in Australia.

4. Eruptive Formations of the Mesozoic Period.

Upon South Island:

a) The Serpentine dyke of Dun Mountain near Nelson, with lodes of copper-ore and chrome-ore, with Dunite (Olivine rock) and Diallage.

b) The Syenite of Wakapuaka and the Pyroxene porphyry of the Brook-Street Valley near Nelson.

c) Felsite porphyry and Melaphyre of the Southern Alps (Prov. Canterbury). Dr. Haast.

d) The Hyperites of Mt. Torlesse, Prov. Canterbury. Dr. Haast.

IV. Cainozoic (tertiary) Formations.

1. Older tertiary Strata.

A. Brown-coal-bearing, lower series.

Upon North Island:

a) The Hunua coal-field near Drury and Papakura, south of Auckland, discovered in 1858 by the Rev. Mr. Purchas, and worked since

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1859 by the Waihoihoi Company. The coal is brown-coal, and contains a fossil resin, Amorite (Haidinger). which has often been mistaken for Kauri gum. The Price of this brown coal in Auckland is 30 to 32s. per ton. The shales and sandstones accompanying the coal contain bivalves and leaves of dicotyledones: Fagus Ninnisiana Ung., Fagus dubium Ung., Myrtifolium lingua Ung. etc.

b) The coal-fields of the Lower Waikato Basin (Province Auckland). A seam of great thickness has been laid open near Kupakupa on the northern slope of the Hakarimata range.

c) The coal-beds on the western and southern borders of the Middle Waikato Basin, as yet wholly untouched. I also enumerate under this head:

d) Various, hitherto little noticed, localities of brown coal in the North of the Province Auckland, on Manganui Harbour (Doubtless Bay), near Rodney Point, on Cape Colville Peninsula close by Coromandel Harbour etc.; in the South, on the Mokau and Wanganui Rivers.

Upon South Island:

e) Jenkins' coal-mine at Ennerglyn near Nelson. The strata have been greatly disturbed here; the coal-seam is crusted; in a ferruginous sandstone are imbedded leaves of dicotyledon plants: Phyllites Nelsonianus Ung., Phyllites Brosinoides Ung., Phyllites quercioides Ung., Phyllites eucalyptoides Ung., Phyllites leguminosites Ung.

f) Motupipi coal-field on Golden Bay (Prov. Nelson), opened since 1854; and the brown-coal beds on Rangiheta Point West of Motupipi. In the coal Ambrite is contained as at Drury.

g) Throughout the provinces of Canterbury and Otago similar coal-deposits occur, and more especially in the valleys or beds of the Selvyn, Rakaia, Rangitata, Ashburton and other rivers in Canterbury; and near Fairfield, on Saddle Hill, on the Tokomairiro, Clutha river, in the Waitahuna and Wetherstone-flats etc. in Otago. Marketplace of this coal in Dunedin £2 per ton (according to Dr. Lindsay).

B. Marine Strata. Upper series.

At the base frequently foraminiferous clayey strata alternating with sandy banks, -- these strata perhaps coeval with the brown-coal beds -- towards the top tabular limestones and sandstones, abounding in fossils. Echinodermes: Brissus, Schizaster, Hemipatagus, Nucleolites etc. Brachiopodes: Waldheimia, Terebratula, Terebratulina. Conchiferae: Ostrea, Lima, Pecten, Cucullaea. Gastropodes: Neritopsis, Scalaria. Shark's teeths, foraminiferae, and bryozoes.

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a) Waitemata beds: sandstone and shale on the Isthmus of Auckland and on North shore, generally scarce of fossils. -- On the Orakei Bay near Auckland sandy glauconite-bearing strata, abounding in foraminiferae and bryozoes, together with small specimens of pectens (P. Aucklandicus; P. Fisheri Zitt.), bivalves, and forms resembling belemnites (probably Vaginella-shells). On North shore and on St. George's Bay with pieces of drift-wood turned into brown-coal.

b) Limestone near Papakura: marls abounding in foraminiferae and bryozoes, and tabular limestone opened in quarries, with Turbinolia, Schizaster, Waldheimia gravida, Pecten Fisheri, Neritopsis etc.

c) Finely granulated sandstone (resembling the Quader-Sandstein of Saxony): on Waikato Southhead resting unconformable above the belemnite-beds, and on the West coast south of the mouth of the Waikato, containing Cidaris, Nucleolites, Schizaster, Fasciculipora, Retepora, Cellepora, Waldheimia, Pecten etc.

d) The shales and tabular limestones on the West coast of the Prov. Auckland (Whaingaroa, Aotea, and Kawhia Harbours) with numerous foraminiferae and other fossils.

e) The cave-limestone of the Upper Waipa and Mokau Country with caves, funnel-shaped holes in the ground and subterraneous water-courses.

Upon South Island:

f) Motupipi and Rangiheta Limestone on Golden Bay (Prov. Nelson), tabular limestone deposited upon the brown-coal bearing strata, with
Brissus eximius Zitt. Pecten athleta Zitt.
" Burnetti Zitt.
Waldheimia lenticularis Desh.

g) The sandy cave-limestones of the Aorere Valley, and the sandy limestones on Cape Farewell (Prov. Nelson). On Cape Farewell with a great abundance of fossils: Hemipatagus formosus and tuberculatus Zitt., very frequent; Pecten Hochstetteri Zitt.

h) The auriferous conglomerates of the Aorere Valley, developed especially on the "Quartz ranges", (perhaps belonging to the driftformation). Commencement of the gold-digging on the Aorere goldfield in 1857. Here I enumerate also:

i) White and yellow, foraminiferous sandstones and green sands, compared by english geologists with the chalk-tuffs of Mastricht and Faxo: Mataura and Shag Valley Series (according to Dr. Lindsay). Ototora (Oamaru) Series (Prov. Otago) calcareo-arenaceous, greatly

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abounding in foraminiferae and bryozoes; with Cythereis, Terebratula, Cereopora, Textularia, Bairdia, Eschara etc. (according toW. Mantell, Quart. Journ. Vol. VI. p.329).
Woodburn Series (on Saddle Hill near Dunedin) with Ostrea, and echinite quills (according to Dr. Lindsay).
Green Island Series (Dunedin), sandy glauconite-bearing strata full of foraminiferae, together with Terebratula, Echinodermes and Shark's teeths (according to Dr. Lindsay).

2. Younger tertiary Strata.

Conglomerates, sandstones, limestones and clays upon North and South Islands with a fauna, very nearly related to the living Mollusca of New Zealand. The strata raised partly to a height of 2000 feet above the level of the sea and in some places (on the cliffs about Nelson) in an almost vertical position.

Upon North Island:

a) Kohuroa near Rodney Point, North of Auckland; dark clay-slate breccia with living and extinct species: Terebratella dorsata Gmel., Rhynchonella nigricans Sow., Purpura textiliosa Lam., Turitella rosea Quoy., Turbo superbus Zitt., Crasatella ampla Zitt.

b) Hawkes Bay Series; limestones, sandstones, and clay-marls replete with fossils: Pecten Triphooki Zitt., Venus, Mytilus, Pectunculus, Trochita etc.

c) Wanganui River beds; blue clay with sea-shells, covered by a volcanic conglomerate; in the clay are imbedded numerous recent species, -- as in the Awatere Valley, South Island, -- Fusus nodosus Quoy, Murex Zealandicus Quoy, Venus mesodesma Gray, Venericardia Quoyii Lam.; Pecten asperrimus Lam. (W. Mantell, Quart. Journ. Vol. IV. p. 239, and Quart. Journ. Vol. VI. p.332); sands with large oysters: Ostrea ingens Zitt.

Upon South Island:

d) Highly inclined strata on the cliffs about Nelson with Cardium, Pectunculus, Trochosmilia, Bulla, Cerithium, Buccinum etc.

e) Blue clays in the Awatere Valley (Prov. Marlborough), raised to a height of 2000 feet above the sea level, with shells in an admirable state of preservation: Arca (a very large species), Pectunculus, Voluta, Struthiolaria, Trochita etc.

With these I class also:

f) The Waitaki Strata, arenaceous, on the Waitaki River bounding the Provinces Otago and Canterbury, with bones of Cetaccae. (Dr. Haast.)

g) The Moeraki Series (Onekakara), argillaceous, on the East coast of the Province Otago, described by Mr. Mantell as pleistocene (Quart. Journ.

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VI. p. 330), with Pustulopora, Struthiolaria, Ancillaria, Fusus etc. The shells in an admirable state of preservation resemble those of living species that have lost the colour; at Moeraki with Septaria.

V. Post-tertiary and recent Formations.

1. Lignite-bearing Strata.

Plastic clay and sand with lignite, containing the fossil remains of living species of plants. Upon North Island:

a) The lignite beds of the Manukau flats with clays of different colours and extensive deposits of pumice-stone-dust.

b) The lignite beds of the lower Waikato Basin.

Upon South Island:

Lignite-beds of the Provinces Canterbury and Otago in various localities.

2. Glacial-Drift.

Upon South Island: Moraine deposits and loess. The moraines of the glacier period in the Southern Alps, especially on the Alpine lakes Rotoiti, Rotoroa (Prov. Nelson), Tekapo, Pukaki (Prov. Canterbury and Otago) etc. (Dr. J. Haast, Quart. Journ. 1865. p.133.)

3. Marine, lacustrine and fluviatile drift-deposits.

Boulder, gravel, sand, and loam-deposits with very distinctly marked terraces, upon the tablelands, in river valleys, and in coastward deposits. Upon North Island volcanic and tufaceous deposits, to which especially pumice stones have furnished the material.

a) The pumice stone diluvium of the Middle Waikato Basin (Province Auckland).

b) The terraced pumice stone plains of the Upper Waikato Basin or of the Taupo plateau.

c) The terraced pumice stone diluvium of the Wanganui district.

Upon South Island fluviatile deposits of the drift period and terrace period, for which the rocks of the Southern Alps have furnished the material.

ii) The Mutere Hills, Buller, Grey plains etc. in the Province Nelson, partly auriferous (on the Aorere, Wangapeka, Buller).

b) The Canterbury plains and the drift in the Alpine valleys, Prov. Canterbury,

c) The great gold-drift of the Prov. Otago (Otago gold-fields):
a) an upper one consisting of conglomerate clays (boulder clays) and shingle, and
b) a lower one characterized by lignite layers.

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The principal gold district of the Prov. Otago is the country watered by the Lakes Hawea, Wanaka and Wakatip, and the Clutha River with its various branches (Tuapeka and Dunstan gold fields, Lindis and Arrow diggings). Auriferous deposits are found also along the tributaries of the Mataura (Nokomai gold-field), Tokamairiro (Woolshed gold-field), Shag and Taeri (Mount Highlay Diggings), Waikouaiti and on other rivers and creeks in various portions of the province, likewise on the coast (Moeraki Beach), and in and around the Capital Dunedin (Saddle Hill); consequently the larger portion of the Province Otago is auriferous. Together with gold are found Iserine, Cassiterite, Aquamarine (Beryl.), Aventurine, Topaz, Garnets and other minerals. -- According to Dr. W.L. Lindsay.

Commencement of the gold-diggings upon the Tuapeka gold-field in 1861; first escort of gold 12.July 1861; amount of gold obtained up to 31. March 1862: 359,639 oz. or £1,393,600. The Tuapeka gold-field yielded up to Sept. 1864 gold valued at about £6,000,000.

4. Recent coastward Deposits, estuarine or littoral.

Upon North Island:

a) Sand-hills; most extensively developed along the West coast and on the coast of the Bay of Plenty.

b) Deposits of titaniferous iron-sand along the West coast.

c) Estuary mud with brackish shells in the estuaries of the East and West coasts.

d) "Submarine Woods" on the coast of the Prov. Taranaki (Dieffenbach).

Upon South Island:

a) Sand-hills on a very grand scale upon the Cape Farewell Sandspit, 20 miles long (Prov. Nelson).

b) Boulder deposits in the Sounds and Fiords of the N.E. and S.W. coasts. A grand illustration of it, the "Boulder Bank"', forming the Harbour of Nelson.

c) Boulders of the West coast containing Nephrite (Punamu of the natives).

5. Recent inland-formations, lacustrine and alluvial (river-silts, shingles and deltas).

Upon North Island:

a) Extensive swamps and turf-moors along the East coast in the Middle and Lower Waikato Basins and in front of the mouth of the Waikato.

b) Deposits of Kauri gum in the northern portions of the Province Auckland; found everywhere on the surface in places where formerly forests of the Kauri pine (Dammara Australis) had stood.

c) Gold-bearing gravel in some creeks of the Cape Colville Peninsula,

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especially in the environs of Coromandel Harbour. In 1852 first washing experiments; amount of gold obtained scanty; lately a little better.

d) Pumice-stone gravel on Lake Taupo and on the Waikato River.

e) Deposits of silicious earths ("Infusorial earths") on the Bay of Islands, near Auckland in the Cabbage Tree Swamp; near Onehunga; near New Plymouth (W. Mantell, Quart. Journ. Vol. VI. p.332).

Upon South Island:

a) Auriferous gravel of the rivers and creeks of the Nelson and Otago gold-fields.

b) Till deposits (glacier mud) in the Alpine lakes.

c) Silicious earth on Lake Waihora near Banks Peninsula (W. Mantell, Quart. Journ. VI. p.333).

6. Recent (partly perhaps diluvial) deposits with Moa-remains.

The principal known localities of Moa-bones in swamps, river alluvions, in caves and on the sea-beach on both Islands are:

Upon North Island:

a) The limestone caves on the Upper Waipa and Mokau; among them the caves Te ana ote moa and Te ana ote atua, in which Dr. Thomson was collecting in 1852.

b) The Tuhua district West of Lake Taupo, and Mt. Hikurangi in the same district. The Rev. Mr. Taylor has gathered many interesting bones in that neighbourhood.

c) The plateaus of the Taupo country in the centre of North Island.

d) Opito between Mercury Bay and Wangapoua. Mr. Cormack found here, in 1859, Moa-bones around of the cooking places and between the very cooking stones of the Maoris.

e) The eastern coast districts between East Cape and Hawkes Bay, especially in the alluvium of smaller rivers and creeks (Wairoa, Waiapu etc.); Rev. Williams and Collenso collected here.

f) The environs of the Lake Tarawera. Here an extensive area was found literally strewn with Moa-bones, after the trees upon it had been burnt down.

g) The Ngatiruanui District near Rangatapu on Waimate Bay, South East of Cape Egmont, especially on the Waingongoro River, where Mr. W. Mantell made up a large portion of his famous collection, and where he found a mound, in which Moa-bones were interred promiscuously with human remains and dog-bones, the offals of extensive feastings in days gone by.

h) The plains of the Wanganui River.

The Moas, consequently, seem to have been distributed all over the

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southern part of North Island; but are totally wanting upon the narrow northwestern peninsula, North of Auckland, where to my knowledge no trace of Moa-bones has as yet been found. This circumstance would moreover serve to explain, why there is no mention made of Moas in the traditions of the Ngapuhis, who inhabited this northern peninsula.

Upon South Island:

a) The limestone caves of the Aorere Valley in the Province Nelson, especially the Moa Cave and Hochstetter's Cave. Whole skeletons of Din. elephantopus, didiformis and Palapteryx ingens have been discovered in these caves. The lower strata with Din. elephantopus are probably diluvial.

b) The plains of Canterbury; where it scarcely ever happens that a ditch of any length is dug without bones coming to light there which chiefly belong to the species Din. dromioides, struthioides and robustus; and about 35 miles north of Christchurch there is a large swamp near the Glenmark home station which is literally interlarded with Moa-bones; Dr. Haast in 1866 found here no less than twenty-five skeletons of the Din. elephantopus and Din. crassus.

c) The vicinity of Timaru South-west of Banks peninsula; the caves and swamps adjacent to this coast-point are said to be full of Moa-bones.

d) Near Ruamoa, 3 miles South of Oamaru Pt. ("First Rocky Head"), Mr. W. Mantell found a skeleton of Din. elephantopus, buried in the sand near the coast and close the the same spot circular pits with charcoal, half burnt Moa-bones and round stones, such as the natives use in cooking, in fact regular Moa cookingstoves (Hangi Maori); the same gentleman also found some old stone-knives of obsidian.

e) At the outlet of the Waikouaiti, 17 miles North of the Otago Peninsula, there is a swamp, which in time of highwater is flooded by the sea; this is the famous spot from which Mr. Percy Earl, Dr. Mackellar and Mr. W. Mantell have enriched their collections.

f) At the mouth of the Clutha River, South of the Otago Peninsula, and Moa Hill, 15 miles farther in the interior.

7. Accumulations by the hand of Man.

There are found in different parts of the North and South Islands:

a) heaps of muscle-shells, -- Cardium, Ostrea, Mytilus, Patella, Venus, Haliotis, Mesodesma, Turbo, Monodonta etc. -- particularly in places formerly occupied by pahs and villages, analogous to the Kjokkenmoddings of Danemark;

b) cooking stones, char-coal, and wood-ashes in the cooking places of the Maoris;

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c) stone implements of the Maoris; prepared of Aphanite, Nephrite, Chert;

d) human bones; bones of dogs, sea-mammalia, fishes, and various birds close by the cooking places.

Stone-implements of the Maoris.

VI. Volcanic Formations.

1. Older Volcanic Formations

of the tertiary and older quartary period. Compact or fissured mountain cones without distinct craters and lava streams; thick and far extending beds of breccia, conglomerates and tuffs.

Upon North Island:

a) North of Manukau Harbour (Prov. Auckland) along the West coast extensively developed andesitic and doleritic breccias; decomposed farther in the interior into conglomeratic clays, together with dikes of anamesite and basalt.

b) South of Manukau Harbour on both sides of the Waikato and thence as far as Aotea Harbour basaltic conglomerates and basalt; without any distinct cone and crater formation.

c) The volcanic table-land between the Upper and Middle Waikato Basin; deposits of trachytic and purnicestone tuffs, together with extinct volcanic cones, consisting of trachytic, andesitic, and doleritic rocks. Examples: Karioi, Pirongia, Kakepuku, Maunga Tautari, Aroha etc.

Upon South Island:

a) eruptions of Quartz-trachyte at the foot of the Southern Alps (Prov. Canterbury), compact domes and conical mountains such as Mount

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Sommers (5240 feet), Mount Misery, Survey Peaks, Mount Grey and others, together with extensive tuff strata. With these it may perhaps be proper to class also the Inland Kaikoras.

b) The group of the extinct trachyte and andesite volcanoes of the Banks Peninsula.

c) The volcanic "Traps" of Dunedin (Province Otago); according to Dr. Lindsay: basalts with columnar, spheroidal, and tabular segregation on Stoney Hill, Mount Cargill, Saddle Hill, Signal Hill Range, Flagstaff and Kaikorai Hill etc. Trachytes and volcanic tuffs, the latter used in building (quarries on Anderson's Bay).

2. Newer Volcanic Formations

of the recent period with acid (siliciferous) and basic products of eruptions. Cones with opened and unopened tops, partly still active; distinct lava streams. Upon North Island:

a) Taupo Zone. Rhyolitic and trachytic lava formation, obsidian and pumice stone developed on a grand scale. Two active volcanoes, Tongariro, 6500 feet high, and Whakari or White Island (863 feet), in the state of solfataras; numerous extinct volcanoes, among them the highest peak of North-Island, Ruapahu, capped with perpetual snow, about 10,000 feet high.

b) The Taranaki District, with Mount Egmont (8270 feet), an extinct trachyte volcano belonging perhaps to the older volcanic period.

c) Auckland Zone. Basaltic lava formation upon the Isthmus of Auckland. 63 points of eruption. Tuff cones, lava cones, and scorise or cinder cones with distinctly preserved craters and lava streams, all extinct.

d) Bay of Islands Zone between Hokianga Harbour and Bay of Islands; basaltic lava formation as on the Isthmus of Auckland; a number of small extinct cinder-cones from which basaltic lava streams have issued.

Upon South Island:

a) Basaltic and doleritic cones with lava streams at the eastern foot of the Southern Alps, among the Malvern Hills (Prov. Canterbury). Palagonite tuff at the foot of Mount Sommers.

b) Portions of the volcanic system of Bank's Peninsula, for example the basalt eruptions of Quail Island.

3. Hot springs.

Upon North, Island:

a) The hot (intermittent and non-intermittent) springs, boiling mudpools, solfataras and fumaroles of the Taupo Zone, or the Ngawhas and

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Puias of the natives, with deposits of silicious incrustations, alum, gypsum and sulphur. Formation of small mud cones. b) The hot springs of the Bay of Islands Zone.

Upon South Island:

The hot springs of the Inland Kaikoras.

From the preceding synopsis it appears, that the history of the geological development of Now Zealand can be traced to the very remotest periods of the earth's history.

At the time, when the neighbouring Australia, one of the oldest continents of the earth -- at least, as regards the eastern and western portions of it, the latter consisting principally of palaeozoic strata, -- arose from the depths of the ocean, there were also portions of New Zealand already projecting- above the mighty main as rugged, barren masses of land; their shape, of course, was very different from the present appearance of the archipelago; they perhaps stood in connection with larger continental bodies, that long ago have been submerged again in the depths of the watery abyss. But while the eastern and western portions of Australia since the close of the palaeozoic period have been quiet, and the soil rarely disturbed, upon which plants and animals found ample chance to grow and propagate themselves in an uninterrupted succession up to this present time; New Zealand, on the other hand, was till within the latest period a scene of the grandest revolutions and convulsive struggles of the earth which, continually changing the original form of the land, gave it by degrees its present shape.

Numerous observations made on the North and South Islands lead to the conclusion, that not until within the most recent period of the earth, after the tertiary period (probably with the commencement and during the time of the volcanic action on both islands) large portions of the land were raised by quite 2000 feet, some parts even by 5000 feet above the level of the sea; not all at one time, but by slow and gradual secular elevations, perhaps with longer and shorter intervals of perfect stagnation. To this

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height ascend the tertiary strata upon the North and South Islands with numerous imbedded shells; and the same height is reached by the deposits of the drift formation and the peculiar terrace formations in all the larger river valleys of both islands, as well as by the shingle and gravel deposits upon the broad plains on the East side of South Island.

Yet, while the land was greatly enlarged by elevation, by alluvial deposits and by the eruptions of volcanoes; other portions, on the other hand, were simultaneously submerged in the deep. It is to such an event that the formation of Cook and Foveaux Straits probably owes its origin.

A mere glance at the map of New Zealand shows us the very peculiar shape of the northern part of North Island: on the East coast steep promontories, peninsulas, numerous cliffs and islands, inlet upon inlet, bay after bay; and on the West coast, where the predominant West wind piles up long rows of sand-hills, instead of bays or inlets the dammed-up estuaries of the rivers. All this conspires to make the impression of a land once of a far greater extent, of which only the higher parts, the mountain ridges and peaks, are still towering above the sea, while its low lands "bottoms" and valleys are over flowed, coming forth in time of low water in the shape of shallow mud flats. The peculiar features of the northern peninsula of North Island are only to be accounted for by adopting the theory of a gradual sinking of the land. 5 This sinking process, however, seems to have extended more or less over

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the whole western coast of the North and South Islands, whilst the East coast was raised at the same time, so that an imaginary line drawn parallel with the West coast of South Island, -- not at too great a distance from it, prolonged through North Island and terminating on its East coast in Tauranga Harbour, would represent the axis of elevation on one side, and of depression on the other.

Striking proofs of the elevation of the East coast are presented especially in the environs of Bank's Peninsula. This peninsula seems to have been an island till within a very recent age. It is connected with the main land only by a very low neck, the numerous lagoons of which, and especially the great Lake Ellesmere (Waihora) on the S.W. side of the peninsula, may be considered remnants of the former sheet of water covering the intervening tract of land. Two miles inland, within a semicircle extending from the mouth of the Waimakariri to Lake Waihora, lies a chain of old sand hills, that once constituted the coast. 6

Whether New Zealand formed part of other larger bodies of land previous to these late catastrophes, which gave the Archipelago its present form, is a question, that can hardly be answered in the affirmative, interesting as such an answer, if based on geological facts, would be for a full understanding of a great many particularities presented in the flora and fauna of the islands. Supposing such a contiguity to have really existed, say with Australia or America or some continent now buried in the South sea, the separation would have taken place already at a very remote period.

If from the identity of fossil plants found upon Iceland, Madeira, the Azores, the Canaries, and the Cape Verd Islands, the inference was drawn of a former contiguity of all the Atlantic Isles, of one vast continent Atlantis, that once connected Europa, Africa and America; all and every evidence is at yet wanting for a similar inference of a former contiguity between New Zealand and

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the neighbouring continents. Neither the fossil flora and fauna, as far as they are now known, nor the geological structure of New Zealand intimate such a contiguity; on the contrary, various geological facts speak in favour of the opinion that New Zealand, situated in the middle of a vast and very deep sea, has been an island from time immemorial, remote from all larger continents and existing in an isolated position, although perhaps of a form somewhat different from its present one.

Another interesting question is, whether New Zealand, after the many volcanic and neptunic struggles of which the soil bears unmistakable traces, does now rest fully at peace with nature? Most certain it is that since Cook's times the forms of the double island have suffered no material change. But even since the establishment of the first European settlements there, the ever active powers within the bowels of the earth have shocked and knocked and shaken the land so strongly in various corners of the islands, especially on both sides of Cook Strait, on the Wanganui (1843), in the vicinity of Wellington, and right opposite to it in the Wairau plains, and near Cape Campell (1848 and 1855), that the awestruck settlers naturally asked, whether the ground beneath their feet was really safe, and whether they had not ventured by a few centuries too soon to entrust themselves to a new-born baby of our mother earth? 7 With regard to this, the fearful may well feel at ease, bearing in mind the consoling fact that long before the first European set foot on New Zealand's shores, the land was the abode of numerous and populous tribes, that could boast of a long succession of time-honoured ancestry, and that it has been clearly proven by observations and facts that the volcanic forces below, which are now no longer capable of discharging fiery liquid lava, are visibly decreasing and dying out.

By this, however, we do not mean to imply that the ease and quiet of the inhabitants may not be disturbed hereafter by many a violent earth-quake, by many a "subterranean storm", and

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even perhaps by occasional faint volcanic eruptions (Tongariro). There is especially one sore, suspicious spot in Cook Strait. The violence and frequent occurrence of earth-quakes on both sides of this strait is an undeniable fact. From the observations of the last twenty-two years, an earth-quake may be anticipated every sixth or seventh year. The first great earth-quake since the founding of the town of Wellington occurred in 1848, seriously damaging the buildings of the place. Besides various slight shocks, there were three violent shocks felt, the first on the 16. October at 1.40 a.m., the second on the 17. October at 3 p.m., the third on the 19. October at 5 a.m. The second and last earth-quake on the 23. January 1855, attended with the most extraordinary phenomena, was felt throughout New Zealand. A powerful surge rolled from Cook Strait into Wellington Harbour. Manuka Point near Wellington was suddenly raised nine feet, whereas the elevation in the town itself was only two feet, and on the opposite side of Cook Strait, at the mouth of the Wairau River, depressions took place. In the Awatere Valley the soil received large fissures and crevices. One such fissure was traced full forty miles, and as late as 1859 my friend Dr. Haast found some of those fissures three feet wide and several feet deep. Near Cape Campbell parts of the mountains fell exposing white rocks, so that the sailors spread the report of having seen fresh fallen snow, and two days after the earth-quake the surface of the sea was seen covered with dead fishes. All the phenomena hitherto observed point to a central point in Cook Strait, and it is a generally prevailing opinion that a submarine volcano lies there, with the eruptions of which the earth-quakes are intimately connected. And, in fact, it has been proven by soundings made by English Naval Officers, 8 that in front of the entrance to the harbour of Wellington, 41 deg. 25' South lat. and 147 deg. 37' long. East of Greenwich, there is a crater-shaped hole at the bottom of the sea, over which the sea has never been seen quite calm.

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Earth-quakes are very frequent also in other parts of New Zealand, and especially on the volcanic line between Tongariro and White Island, where, -- on Lake Tarawera, -- not a single month passes without at least one slight shock. Upon South Island Dusky Bay, according to older accounts, seems to have been visited by numerous earth-quakes in 1820 and 1827; and 80 miles North of it a little bay named "jail", formerly much frequented by seal-hunters on account of the safe shelter it affords, is said to have been laid perfectly dry by an earth-quake. 9

[Footnote]
I am indebted to Mr. Triphook in Port Napier for the, following list of earthquakes from 1856--1858:

Year.

Date.

Time.

Number
of Shocks

Place.

Remarks.

1856.

Dec. 11.

6 45 b. m.

2

Wellington.

Wind S. W.

" 13.

8 45 p.m.

1

Hutt Valley near Wellington.

1857.

Feb. 21.

3 20 p.m.

1

Wellington.

Undulatory motion.

Mar. 18.

5 15 p.m.

1

Pourua Harbour.

Apr. 9.

10 0 a.m.

2

Wellington.

Undul. motion.

July 30.

12 55 a.m.

2

"

Violent Vertical Shock.

Aug. 23.

9 50 a.m.

1

"

Fine calm day.

Sept. 6.

1 20 a.m.

1

Fine calm day.

" 27.

12 25 a.m.

1

"

Wet day.

Oct. 8.

8 10. a.m.

2

11

Wind S. W. rainy and cold.

Dec. 27.

1 20 a.m.

1

Port Napier.

Changeable weather.

1858.

Jan. 6.

4 15 a.m.

1

" "

Apr. 16.

2 0 a.m.

1

" "

Showers of rain.

" 18.

1 0 a.m.

1

n n

Showers of rain.

July 20.

1 0 a.m.

1

" "

Fine weather.

Aug. 2.

2 0 p.m.

1

" "

Fine weather. Swelling sea.

Oct. 23.

6 10 p.m.

1

" "

Wind S. E. Swelling sea. Vibrative motion.

1859.

July 1.

7 0 a.m.

1

" "

Showers.

1863. Feb. 23. an earth-quake was felt in New Zealand (Hawkes Bay) which destroyed several houses and left various crevices in the soil.

1   See Dr. Fischer, the Geology of New Zealand, Auckland 1864. p.3.
2   Agassiz: Ann. Rep. of the Museum of comparative Zoology, Boston 1862.
3   A bat, a rat, and another animal, not yet described, resembling an otter, and living on the lakes of the South Island, are the only quadrupeds of New Zealand.
4   Recently strata with the same fossils have been found in New Caledonia.
5   Zoological facts speak likewise in favour of this opinion. Little Barrier Island in Hauraki Gulf North of Auckland is the haunt of numerous Kiwis (apteryx). How should these wingless birds have got into this little island, unless it was formerly contiguous to and part of North Island? In the same manner, the former distribution of the now extinct species of Moa (Dinornis and Palapteryx), -- birds, like the Kiwis wholly without any organs of flight, -- over the North and South Islands, is an evident proof of the former contiguity of the two islands. Doubtless, Norfolk Island also in a north-westerly direction was once attached to North Island. According to Capt. King's statements, the bottom is found everywhere between Cape Maria van Diemen and Norfolk Island; and various peculiarities of the flora and fauna of Norfolk Island (for example the occurence of the New Zealand flax plant, the occurrence of the Nestor species etc.) speak in favour of a former cohesion of the parts mentioned.
6   Ch. Forbes, Quart. Journal Vol. XL p.526. Under these sand-hills the remnants of former woods are found (W. Mantell, in Quart. Journal Vol. VI. p.321), an indication of repeated fluctuations.
7   An English Author in the "Rambles at the Antipodes" describes New Zealand as "a geological baby, an infant fire-born, still pulling in his mother's arms."
8   Comp. No. 2054 English Admiralty Maps. A similar deep hole at the bottom of the sea is at the West coast of North Island a little North of Kaipara Harbour in lat. 36 deg. 20' and long. 173 deg. 40'.
9   [See table below]

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