THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 271-

different forms which mountain ranges show,
will indicate a different geological formation.
The difference in these external appearances
of the country is very striking, if you come
from the Northern to the Southern Island.

In contrast with the comparatively low
plateaus extending over the largest part of
the Northern Island, and broken only by
high volcanic peaks, you find on the Middle
Island lofty and abrupt mountain ranges,
striking in long parallel chains, divided by
deep longtitudinal valleys, and broken at
right angles by rocky gorges. This com-
plication of rock and gorge runs as the great
backbone of the island from north-north-east
to south-south-west, and from strait to strait.
Well do you name it your "Southern Alps."

Amongst them rises in grandeur a mountain
named after the great discoverer of the
South Sea, Mount Cook, of a height equal
to Mont Blanc. It towers above the rest,
crowned with perpetual snow, with ravines
glistening with glacier ice. To the steep
perpendicular cliffs with which the Southern
Alps breast the stormy sea on the west coast,
are opposed fertile plains extending along
the eastern shore.

From a central point, which (near the
boundary line of the two Provinces of
Canterbury and Nelson,) gives rise to the
Hurunui and Waiau-ua rivers, flowing to
the eastward, and to the Grey and Enunga-
hua flowing to the westward, the Southern
Alps send forth two arms through the
Province of Nelson, the extremities of which
are washed by the waters of Cook Strait.
These arms are again subdivided by longi-
tudinal valleys into numerous ranges, with
peaks from five to six thousand feet high.

I will distinguish between the two arms by
giving the name of the "Western Ranges"
to those which, with a northerly strike,
terminate in Massacre Bay, between
Separation Point and Cape Farewell; and
the name of the "Eastern Ranges" to those
which, running in a north-easterly direction,
terminate in the Pelorus and Queen Charlotte
Sound.

In the acute angle between the two
ranges are situated the Lakes Rotoiti and
Rotorua, from which, undulating hills,
intersected by numerous streams, gradually
slope from an altitude of two thousand feet
to the plains of the Waimea, and the shores
of Blind Bay.

I can hardly remember a more beautiful
and more striking scene than when I first
looked, on a clear winter day, from a high
point on the Richmond hills over the fertile
Waimea plains, lying like a map beneath
my feet, studded with homesteads and
covered with cultivations, towards that
triangle of snow-capped ranges.

It is, without doubt, in consequence of
the peculiar configuration of the mountain
ranges, that Blind Bay is favoured with an
extraordinarily temperate climate. The
western and the eastern ranges of Nelson,
converging towards the south, form a
regular wedge which diverts on the one side
the force of the south-westerly winds, and
on the other side the force of the south-
easterly winds. Those parts of the Province
of Nelson which are not enclosed between
the legs of the triangle, do not enjoy the
same serenity of climate. In Golden Bay
and in the Wairau country, which lie
respectively to the west and to the east in
the line of the bounding ranges, gales of
wind and bad weather generally are much
more frequent than in Blind Bay.

The "spout wind," blowing with consi-
derable violence during the summer from
the south, is a local wind of Blind Bay, due
to the same physical configuration of the
country. The calm heated air of the
Waimea plains and of the low hills rising
in obedience to physical laws into the
higher levels of the atmosphere, is suddenly
replaced by volumes of colder and denser
air, which rush down towards the plains
from the mountain ranges behind.

I have made these remarks in order to
offer an explanation of some of the most
striking peculiarities of the Nelson climate,
the Montpellier of New Zealand.

II. GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.

The western and the eastern ranges of
Nelson are totally different in their geological
character. The western ranges consist of
primitive formation, being built up of old
crystalline schists, or metamorphic rocks.
The eastern ranges are the oldest sedimentary
strata, primary formation, broken through
in places by masses of plutonic rocks. The
lower undulating hills lying in the angle
between the two ranges are nothing but an
immense accumulation of debris from the
mountain ranges on either side, rolled
together by the action of the sea, which, in
former ages, washed the bases of the moun-
tains.

When I say, Gold in the western ranges,
Copper in the eastern ranges, Coal in the
basins between them, I have indicated the
chief mineral characteristics of the region
referred to. I will now speak more in detail
of the

1.-PRIMITIVE FORMATION OF THE WEST-
ERN RANGES.

Taking a cross section from east to west,
through the western ranges, we find the
subdivisions of the primitive formation suc-
ceeding to one another in their normal
geological order.