162
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 13th July, 1859.

HIS Excellency the Governor, directs the
publication of the following communi-
cation with its enclosure on the Geology of the
Province of Auckland, by Dr. F. Hochstetter,
for general information.

HENRY JOHN TANCRED,
(For the Colonial Secretary).

Auckland, June 30, 1859.

SIR,-In accordance with the tenor of my
former letter, I now have the pleasure of for-
warding to you my Report on the Geology of
the Province of Auckland, in the form of the
Lecture which I delivered the other evening to
the Members of the Auckland Mechanics'
Institute. In this Lecture, enlarged by some
additions and notes, I have embodied all the
information I at present have time to com-
municate.

I have also the pleasure to inform you that I
have arranged a duplicate collection of geologi-
cal specimens and fossils which I have obtained
during my exploration of the Province of
Auckland, and which I shall hand over to His
Honor the Superintendent for the Auckland
Museum. Allow me further to state that it
will give me great pleasure to forward for the
acceptance of the Government of New Zealand
copies of the publications respecting this Co-
lony, as they will appear from time to time
prior to the completion of the volumes and
atlases, embodying the whole results of the
F. Austrian Novara Expedition.

As my further stay in Auckland draws
rapidly to a close, and as my stay in Nelson
before my departure for Europe will be very
short-so leaving me no time for further cor-
respondence, I now beg to return through you
my sincere thanks to His Excellency the Go-
vernor, Colonel Gore Browne and the General
Government, for the kind co-operation I have
experienced from them in the prosecution of my
geological researches during my stay here.

I am sure that Commodore Bernhard v.
Wüllerstorf Urbair, the Commander of the
Austrian Scientific Novara Expedition, and the
Austrian Government will have great pleasure
in learning that one of the members of that
Expedition has received so much kindness and
assistance on English soil in the antipodes.

I have, &c., &c.,

FERDINAND HOCHSTETTER,
Geologist on board the Austrian frigate
"Novara."

To the Honorable
The Colonial Secretary,
Auckland.

LECTURE ON THE GEOLOGY OF
THE PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND,
NEW ZEALAND.

[Delivered to the Members of the Auckland
Mechanics' Institute, June 24, 1859.]

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,-
The members of the Auckland Mechanics' In-
stitute having done me the honour to elect me
as honorary member of their institution, and
the Committee having invited me to give a
Lecture upon the Geology of this Province,
I have much pleasure in complying with their
request. It is, however, with some hesitation
that I undertake this task, fearing that my im-
perfect knowledge of the English language will
prevent my making the short sketch I wish to
lay before you as interesting as it might other-
wise have been. Notwithstanding this draw-
back, I am glad to have this opportunity of
giving the inhabitants of this Province, through
the members of this Institute, such a résumé as
I can of the chief results of the Geological
Survey I have made of those parts of the
country I have visited.

I feel this, indeed, to be a duty I owe to the
community at large, in return for the very kind
reception that has everywhere been given me
-for the ready help that has always been af-
forded by all whom I have met with-and for
the interest that has been shown by all in the
proceedings of the Imperial Austrian "Novara"
Expedition.

Having, in the months of January and
February, completed my Survey, and finished
a Geological Map, of the Auckland District,-
which I now have the pleasure of showing you,
-the necessity arose for my choosing either
the Northern or the Southern portion of the
Province for my farther researches, my limited
stay in New Zealand rendering it impossible
for me to make a sufficient examination in both
directions.

I did not hesitate to choose the Southern
districts-for these reasons: that the country
over which I should there proceed, is inhabited
almost exclusively by Maories, and has hitherto
been almost unknown and totally unsurveyed,
both topographically and geologically. The
Northern districts, on the contrary, are for the
most part better known, and from the number
of European settlers in them, I was led to
hope I should be enabled to collect some infor-
mation through specimens forwarded to me for
examination, and from the verbal descriptions
of those who are well acquainted with the vari-
ous localities.

My hope was not unfounded in either respect.
I have received many specimens of interest
from various localities; also some valuable in-
formation from different settlers, and especially
from my friends, the Rev. A. G. Purchas and
Mr. C. Heaphy, who in the last few months have
had opportunities of visiting several parts of the
Northern portion of this Province, and of col-
lecting very valuable specimens. In addition
to this must be remembered the fact, that
other scientific men, especially MM. Dief-
fenbach and Dana, had already visited and de-
scribed at length some parts of the Northern
country.

Through the liberality and excellent arrange-
ments of the General and Provincial Go-
vernments I have been enabled in a compara-
tively short time to travel over and to examine
the larger portion of the Province South of
Auckland, extending as far as Lake Taupo and
Tongariro Volcano, the boundaries between.
this Province and those of Wellington and