THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
165

the fruitless search for gold where gold | left to the labour and enterprise of future
does not exist. All the gold-bearing | years to discover and develope the mineral
gravel in the creeks is derived, as I have | riches, the existence of which appears to be
already said, not from the veins in the | probable, not only from the geological charac-
trachytic breccia, but from the much thicker | teristics of the country, but also from some few
and crystalline veins in the primary rocks. | specimens of Lead and Copper ore that have
The surface-deposit in those creeks is very | from time to time been picked up by the
rich, but, as compared with Australian and | Natives.
Californian gold-fields, of limited extent and
depth. (I washed a few bucketsful of sur- | It is remarkable that, while one of the
face earth, and gravel, at a creek pointed out | oldest members of the Primary formation is
to me by Mr. Charles Heaphy, near Ring's | found so extensively in New Zealand, the
Mill, at the Kapanga. Every panful showed | later strata, as the Devonian, Carboniferous,
scales of thin gold, with small fragments of | and Permian system, appear to be alto-
quartz streaked and studded with veins and | gether wanting; while, on the other hand,
spangles of gold. These "specimens," as | in the neighbouring Continent of Australia
they are called by diggers, show no—or very | these members of the Primary period, to-
little—sign of being water-worn, but are | gether with plutonic and metamorphic rocks,
sharp and crisp fragments, as if they had | constitute, so far as we know, almost the prin-
been broken up on the spot, or in the imme- | cipal part of the continent.
diate vicinity. I think the quartz veins in the |
mountains should be thoroughly examined, and | II.—SECONDARY FORMATION.
that, when once the day has come that the |
Coromandel gold-fields are worked, the atten- | A very wide interval occurs between the
tion of the "digger" should be directed as well | primary rocks of the Northern Island and the
to the hills immediately above any rich deposits | next sedimentary strata that I met with. Not
as to the alluvial workings below.) | only the upper members of the primary series
| are absent, but also nearly the whole of the
The Coal Beds at Coromandel occurring | Secondary formations. The only instance of
between strata of trachytic breccia are | secondary strata that I have met with, consists
too thin to be of any value, and as the coal | of very regular and highly-inclined beds of
formation is absent, there is no ground for | marl alternating with micaceous sandstone,
hoping that a workable seam may be found. | extending to a thickness of more than 1000
| feet—which I first saw on the South head of
The primary formation occurs, to a more | the Waikato, and afterwards met with on the
considerable extent, to the Eastward of Auck- | Western shore of Kawhia harbour.
land, in ranges on both sides of the Wairoa river | These rocks possess great interest from the
attaining an altitude of 1500 feet above the | fact that they contain remarkable specimens of
sea,—and striking from thence Northwards, | marine fossils, which belong exclusively to the
over Waiheki and Kawau, to the Bay of | secondary period, especially Cephalopods of
Islands. In a Southerly direction, they ex- | the genera Ammonite and Belemnite, several
tend, through the Hangawera and Taupiri | species of Belemnite, all belonging to the family
ranges, across the Waikato, through the Ha- | of the Canaticulati. These are the
kari-mata and Hauturu range—parallel with | first specimens of those genera which
the West Coast to the Mokau district, where, | have been discovered in the regions of Austral-
at Wairere, the Mokau river falls in a mag- | asia. Both fossils have been known for cen-
nificent cascade over a lofty precipice of that | turies by our ancestors in the Old World—the
rock. | Ammonite as the horn of Jupiter Ammon,
| and the Belemnite as the bolts of the God
The same formation occurs again in the | of Thunder. The latter, though now first
Rangitoto mountain on the Upper Waipa, and | in the Antipodes by Europeans,
West of Taupo lake in the Tuhua mountains. | have long been known to the Natives of
But the most extensive range of primary rocks | Kawhia by a much less dignified name,—
is that which commences near Wellington | the old warrior-chief, Nuitone te Pakaru, having
under the name of Tararua and Ruawahine, | told me that the stones I prized so much and
and runs in a North-easterly direction to the | collected so greedily, are nothing more than
East shore of Taupo lake, under the name of | 'roke-kanae,' which means the excrement of the
Kaimanawa, in which rises the principal source | fish commonly known amongst the settlers by
of the Waikato—there called Tongariro river. | the name of 'mullot.' In reality, the Belemnite
The range continues from the shores of Taupo | belongs to a creature, long since extinct, which
ake, in a North-easterly direction, to the East | was allied to the now living cuttle-fish.
Cape, under the principal name of Tewhaiti. | Secondary rocks may probably be found in
This lofty and extensive mountain range—the | some other parts of the West Coast, and occur,
true backbone of the Northern Island—with | as I have been kindly informed by the Rev. A.
peaks from 6000 to 7000 feet, is entirely | G. Purchas, in the Harbour of Hokianga—but
unknown. (In this range the Plutonic and | everywhere of limited superficial extent.
Metamorphic rocks, yet unknown in the |
Northern Island, may perhaps be found.) | III.—TERTIARY FORMATIONS.
Nearly all the primary ranges are covered | I proceed now to speak of the Tertiary
with dense virgin forests, which render them
extremely difficult of access. It must be