75

they can be cut with a knife. High up the gorge, granite is found in situ. The boulders or angular masses consist of grit, conglomerate, sandstone, coal, shale, granite, and granatic-brachia, consisting of angular masses of granite in a granite matrix (similar to the detached rocks near Ngakuwaho, which I pointed out to your Honor on our visit to that river.) I also found one piece of mica slate, but how it came there I do not pretend to know.

The ridge to the south of Mount Rochfort slopes down towards the west gradually, but is broken off suddenly to the east by an almost perpendicular precipice, into a very rugged valley, the strata thus exposed shows the following section at E.

Various beds of grit ... 200 feet
Sandstones and shales ... 50 feet
Coal, very much covered with
loose soil and dense vegetation { 0 6 inches

The dip of the strata immediately above the coal is to the S. W. 25°. So it would appear that coal will be found at a much lower level on the western slopes of the mountain, and on searching on the spurs and in the gullies, I found a seam from six inches to a foot thick about half way down; but here the whole strata is very much changed and though the dip is still towards the S. W., the angle is increased to 65°, with every indication of violent convulsion. No. 5, Cross Section, will give an idea of the position of the Coal-field here, though it is very probable, both here and at No. 4, that the granite may crop out on the western slopes, as shown in Nos. 1 and 2, Cross Section. Diagram No. 5 is intended to illustrate the way in which both coal and granite may crop out on the mountain side and not be found, being covered up by debris; and also to show what really is the case, that the strata on the western slopes, north of the Orawiti, generally dips into the mountain.

With regard to the part south of the Orawiti, there is no reason to doubt that coal exists in large quantities; but owing to the heavy dip, from 20° to 65°, it would be inconvenient to work, and at present can be dealt with more easily elsewhere.

From the Orawiti to the Wariaten, the character of the mountain side is much the same, except that it is more rugged and broken. The boulders in the streams are grits, conglomerates, sandstones and shales in enormous quantities, and generally a little coal in small pieces. The general dip is to the S.E. and S.S.E., at from 17° to 30°. The direction of the dip here would lead me to suppose that granite cropped out on the western slopes, and thus bent up the ends of the different beds above it, as shown on Diagram No. 5; but as I have not seen it I cannot say that it is so.

Perhaps I cannot better describe the difficulties of exploring this mountain side than by copying part of my note-book referring to one of the small streams. It runs as follows:—"May 14th, 1862.—Went up a small stream, crossing traverse line No. 6. About a mile up, found a small bed of shale to one of the left bank, dipping S.S.E., 17°. Half a mile further, the stream becomes very precipitous, and though many rocks show themselves they are so much broken that it is difficult to ascertain their true position; but the prevailing dip is S.S.E., and the angle varying and uncertain.

Though there is an enormous quantity of grit, conglomerate, sandstone, and shale, I have not found a single particle of coal, except in small threads mixed with shale. A hundred yards further up, found six inches of coal on a landslip about 200 feet above the stream; it is lying pretty regular, with a dip of 25° to N.N.W., but it is loose in loose ground, more like a layer of small coal than a true seam; particularly as the solid rock in the stream immediately below is dipping to the S.S.E. But I was

glad to get away from it, as the whole mass on the move, and I seen some tons of it on my scramble up and down.

"I returned to camp very much disgusted as usual with the result of my day's work on this most provoking mountain side, where there is every indication of coal, but none to be found in the solid."

On ascending to station 18 on the plateau, the whole scene is changed, and instead of the rugged mountain side covered with thick scrub, the country is spread out before you, bare, and barren, a desolate wilderness of flat rocks.

This plateau, as will be seen from No. 1 Plan, extends from Mount Rochfort in a north-east direction, between the two chains of Mount William and Mount Frederic, to the sources of the Waimangaroha, Ngakuwaho, and Orikaka. It is moderately level, rising gradually on each side to the mountains; and perhaps would be more accurately described as an elevated valley, than a plateau or table land. (See sections on the margin of No. 1 Plan.)

The surface is composed of grit, sandstone, shale, and other rocks of the coal formation; it is almost destitute of vegetation, except in the gullies which are full of dense scrub. And here and there are patches of stunted bush. It is very much intersected with gullies running in all directions, so that the surface is a good deal broken.

There is no doubt that the whole of it (15 or 20 square miles) is available Coal-field.

The Diagrams, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are intended to illustrate the general features of this part of the Coal-field, and it must be clearly understood that they do not profess to be plans or sections, but mere sketches of what I think may be, reasoning from what I know. For instance in No. 1, the top of Mount Rochfort from a to b, is drawn to scale (roughly of course), and No. 2 is a section of the strata that of part taken by Mr. Haast and myself, partly in the deep gulley on the east side and partly on the face of the mountain, the north and west side. (See Mr. Haast's Report, pages 55 and 113.) The sudden breaking off of the thick beds of grit and conglomerate, in perpendicular precipices giving to the top of the mountain the appearance of an enormous artificial mound or the ruins of some old fortress—

"Piled by the hands of giants
For god-like kings of old."

Station 17 is correct as to position and elevation, and the surface gives a pretty fair idea of the side of the mountain. I know that granite exists in the gorge of Orawiti immediately under the mountain, but I dont know at what elevation; I know from provoking experience that debris is largely deposited on the western slopes of the mountain. Therefore having drawn the top of the mountain from a to b, from my own measurements and the dip of the strata, and knowing that to 17 this dip continues pretty much the same, I have a right to presume that what is below is similar. But as I have never found seams of coal in the next few hundred feet, or say within 1,000 feet of the top, I have not drawn any, though it is probably there. This brings us down to the level of the plateau where I knew that coal exists in large quantities. Several black lines are therefore drawn to represent seams, and here the whole series must exist, lying regularly through the mountain with an average dip of 5° or 6° to the N.N.W., the whole mountain is an available Coal-field, and great part of it capable of being worked by free level. Of course I do not expect the strata to be so regular as I have represented it, for it is certain to be more or less disturbed. I have not shown coal in the lower part of the field though there is no reason to doubt that it is there; but I am anxious to show as little as possible that I cannot prove. And I may