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served to be washed by the action of the sea—out of the adjacent beds of soft, amorphous, blue clay of which the over-hanging cliffs are composed. The balls, on being examined internally, were found to be composed of the same material as the clay beds out of which they had fallen, but with this difference that they were much intersected by veins of carbonate of lime, radiating from the centre or nucleus, to all parts of the exterior. Under a natural process, induced by chemical affinity, the formation and augmentation of these veins of carbonate of lime appear to have been the medium of constructing the balls out of the clay; for, as the nuclei increased, they would press outwards on the surrounding plastic material, hardening it and altering its formless substance into layers parallel to the centre of action, and this with less and less energy and effect as the distance from the centres increased; consequently we see where little carbonate of lime has accumulated in the manner above described, the balls are small, and where much has accumulated, they are large. The disposal of clay in layers parallel to pressure, may readily be observed in broken bricks or common pottery, which may be taken as a familiar illustration of the process.

PASTURAGE.

In attempting a description of the pasturage, it will be most convenient to adhere to the natural divisions of the country.

Waikouaiti Downs—stretching from the Silver Peak Hills to the Horse Range, and from the sea backwards to the Upper Taieri—possess great diversity of descriptions of pasture. In the southern quarter the grasses produced on this very broken country are poor, coarse, and much overrun with fern; on the northern limits, the grasses produced on this gently undulating country are generally good, and in parts superior; on the interior limits the grasses are inferior, the country being generally at a high elevation.

Moeraki Downs—stretching from the Horse Range to Kakanui River, and from the sea to the Kakanui mountains—bear generally inferior pasturage on their southern quarter, the ridges being densely overrun with fern; while on the north the country improves so much as to bear the finest pasture in the province; when the eastern slopes of the Kakanui mountains are reached, the pasturage rapidly deteriorates in quality, being here composed of coarse tussocks or snow grasses.

Waitaki Downs—stretching from the Kakanui River to the Waitaki, and from the sea to the Kurow mountains—include the largest and generally the finest pastoral country in the province; the grasses being good and so equal in quality, no particular detail need be entered into.

Upper Taieri Plains—may be described as colder than the country on the sea board, yet they are extensive, and eminently adapted for pastoral purposes, and bear good grasses on their surface till the bordering high lands are reached.

Ida Burn Valley—more circumscribed and higher, and somewhat colder than the Upper Taieri plains, yet bears generally good grasses on its surface.

Manuherikia Valley—extensive and lower than the Ida Burn—possesses at its lower end much fine pasture; this character gradually deteriorates to the head of the valley, as the high regions of the Dunstan mountains are entered into.

Upper Clutha Valley—more extensive and somewhat higher than the Manuherikia valley, possesses a large extent of good pasture, stretching from the Kawarau River up to the Wanaka and Hawea Lakes—north and west of these lakes the country becomes very mountainous and barren, unfit for the depasturing of stock.

Upper Waitaki Plains—lie on a higher elevation than the other districts described, and the grasses are generally scanty; yet, owing to the dry, light, nature of the soils, these plains are well fitted for rearing stock. In the north and west of the Upper Waitaki plains, the very rugged and mountainous regions of the Southern Alps are entered upon, where the surface becomes utterly sterile at an elevation of 6000 feet above the sea.*

AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES.

The Northern and Interior Districts of the Province of Otago, in regard to their soil and climate, are eminently adapted both for pastoral as well as agricultural settlement; but the great paucity of forest, while it does not materially militate against the former interests, acts as an effectual obstacle to the

• Since this was written the whole country has been applied for or taken up for Sheep Runs.