50

46 EXPLANATON OF THE MAPS.

stretches along the East Coast, from Cape Pallisser to the
East Cape. Different peaks, which have names, such as
Tararua, Ruahine, Kaimanawa, Te Waiti, are of pretty nearly
equal height. The highest summits reach only from 5,000
to 6,000 feet, and are therefore much less than the
height of the Southern Alps. These mountains are an almost
terra incognita, and doubtless contain treasures of many kinds.
The Northern Island is also rich in Volcanic phenomona.
The high plateau of the Western side of this mountain chain,
sloping off towards the North and South, forms the remaining
part of the Island, and is pierced to a great depth in more
than a hundred places by Volcanic agencies.

High trachytic Volcanoes, and a great number of small
Basaltic eruption-cones, of quite a recent age, and a long
chain of hot springs which, like the Geysers of Iceland,
at intermittent periods, throw up masses of boiling water in
steaming fountains, Fumaroles and Solfataras in a multitude
of forms of the utmost conceivable grandeur, offer to the
geologist a rich field for research, and to the traveller some
of the most remarkable scenes of nature.

The extraordinarily diversified surface formation of New
Zealand leads to the inference of a most varied geological
conformation. The commencement of a geological examina-
tion of the North and South Islands has proved this
to the fullest extent, during the last few years. The geologic
detail maps of my own observations, and partly those of my
friend Haast's, show manifold changes in strata and in
minerals. They show that, throughout the whole chain, from
the oldest metamorphic formation to the latest sediment
layers, and also from the earliest plutonic rocks, up to the
latest volcanic formation, all the principal genera are
represented.

New Zealand is rich in minerals of all kinds, and all those
which are now found - as gold, copper, iron, chrome, graphite
and coal - can only be regarded as the first-fruits of future
treasures to be brought to light in years to come.

The fossil fauna and flora of New Zealand, as far as at
present known, differs entirely from that of Australia, and
many geological facts prove that New Zealand, surrounded
by the ocean, has been an island - though not in its present