THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 277

Shale. 0 ft. 5 in.)
Coal 0 3
Shale 0 4
Coal 0 2
Sandstone 1 2
Shale. Coal, in all,
2 feet.

Thus, the natural sections and the old
workings show various seams, but none of
them of great thickness, and in all of them
more or less bands of shale.

The dip of the seam is toward south-west,
that is, towards the West Wanganui har-
bour, at an angle of twenty degrees, and the
coal-field reaches, undoubtedly, from Paka-
wau to West Wanganui. In a coal-field of
such extent, it may be with confidence
affirmed, that seams of much greater thick-
ness exist, and the way to ascertain their
existence, is to make borings. That is the
first thing for the company to do, which
undertakes to work this very valuable coal-
field. My reason for assigning to this
coal-field a secondary age, is the existence
of impressions of fossil plants, referable to
calamites, ferns, and dicotyledones. Al-
though the Pakawau coal-field does not
belong to the carboniferous period, experience
will show that the coal will rank in quality
with the black coals of older date.

I proceed from these older coals to the
tertiary period and the brown coal formation.

4.—TERTIARY FORMATIONS.

The tertiary formations which I observed
in the districts of Golden and Blind Bays,
belong to that group which I mentioned in
my Auckland lecture as the older one. All
the wide valleys and basins, which from the
shores of Cook Strait run inland between
the high primitive and primary ranges, are
filled with tertiary strata, which at some
places attain an altitude of 2,000 feet.

This formation is divided into two parts:
the lower, or a brown coal formation, the
upper, fossiliferous marl, sandstone, and
limestone.

I will give a short description of these
strata, from Cape Farewell to Awatere.

It is a remarkable fact, that at Cape Fare-
well, the north-westernmost point of the
Middle Island, where the sea swarms with
echinides, commonly called sea-eggs, the
tertiary sandstone cliffs are also found full
of fossil remains of the same family, but
differing in species.

In the Aorere valley the original tertiary
strata are by later action for the most part
destroyed. On the western side of the
valley indications of brown coal have been
found. On the cliffs of Collingwood, mails
containing few fossils, are the representatives
of the formation.

Higher up the valley large isolated masses
of a fossiliferous calcareous sandstone, or, if
you will, of a sandy limestone, penetrated
by numerous caves, are the remains of a
once continuous tertiary stratum.

The caves above Washbourn's flat, in
these isolated limestone blocks, have lately
become famed as bone caves, the cemeteries
of gigantic birds, which, in the traditions of
the Maories, are remembered as the frightful
Moas, and which to science are known as
the Genera of Dinornis, Notormis, and
Palapterix.

When in, 1857, I saw in the British
Museum, the skeletons of Dinornis elephan-
topus, and Dinornis robustus, I little thought
that I should so soon be in possession of
the same treasures.

Before my arrival at Collingwood I had
heard of the late discovery of Moa bones in
those caves, and I was anxious to procure
those specimens which I had had so little
success in obtaining in the Northern Is-
land.

In the first cave which I entered—my
friend Haast has since given it my name—
after a short search, I dug out fragments of
bones from the loam on the bottom of the
cave. I was convinced that the treasures
had not all been carried away, as from the
caves in the Northern Island; and on the
same day the finding of a Moa skull—so
far as I know the most perfect yet found in
New Zealand—was the reward of further
researches.

Being obliged myself to leave for the
Pakawau coal-field, my friend Haast re-
mained behind in company with the young
surveyor, Mr. Maling, to make more
extensive researches. The bottom of a
second cave, the Stafford's cave, was turned
up, and the bottom of a third one, the Moa
Cave. The excitement of the moa-diggers
was great, and increased; for the deeper
they went below the stalagmite crusts
covering the floor, the larger were the bones
they found, and whole legs, from the hip-
bone to the claws of the toes, were exposed.
They dug and washed three days and three
nights, and on the fourth day they returned
in triumph to Collingwood, followed by two
pack-bullocks loaded with moa bones.

I must confess that not only was it a
cause of great excitement to the people of
Collingwood, but also to myself, as the
gigantic bones were laid before our view.
A Maori bringing me two living kiwis from
Rocky river, gave us an opportunity to
compare the remains of the extinct species
of the family with the living Apteryx.

It gives me much pleasure to acknowledge
the zeal and exertions of my countryman
and friend, Haast, in adding such valuable
specimens to the collections of the Novara
expedition. The observations of M. Haast,
made during this search, throw a new light
upon this great family of extinct birds. He