height, and have abrupt and rugged summits, sprinkled with snow, the forest appears to extend to a slightly greater altitude as viewed from the east side of the inlet. The large islands which lie to the east side of the opposite shore, namely Chalky, Passage, and Great Islands, between the latter of which and the main land lies Northport, appear to have gently undulating surfaces elevated from 300 to 600 feet, and of such character that they may ultimately become available for settlement. At three o’clock the sun had set behind the mountains just as we reached the headlands between Cunaris and Edwardson’s Sound, and from the precipitous look of both shores, I was beginning to fear that we should require to push on to the head of the Inlet to camp, when I espied a small patch of shingle beach. It was only about twenty yards long, and contained in a nook in the rocks where a stream leaps down from the mountains and deposits of rock torn off in its course. The beach thus formed is very steep, owing no doubt to the tremendous surf which at times breaks on this headland, as it is exposed to the swell which rolls up the Sound from the S.W., so that it was only with great exertion that we managed to haul the boat above tide-mark. The depth of the Sound, close to the shore, is 100 fathoms, and the fact that this heap of shingle, which rises to a vertical height of 30 feet, with a slope of 12 deg., can continue to rest on the brink of such a submarine precipice, shows how feeble is the drawback of the surf to carry and disperse it. Were the land here to be elevated so as to expose the floor of the great valley now occupied by the sea, in order to account for the little terraced heaps of shingle which would then appear to rest on ledges elevated 600 feet, we might be led to suppose that they were the remnants of a deposit which at one time filled the valley from side to side. The true nature, however, of many deposits in the valleys of the interior, resting in similar anomalous positions, was at once made evident to me by this instance. We found an excellent camping place here under an overhanging precipice shrouded with tangled evergreens, that produced a fine effect when lighted up by the glare of our fire. Next morning was clear, sharp, and frosty. As the tide was unusually low, I took the opportunity of searching for the few marine animals that can live on this surf beaten point of rock. Unlike a coast line which is truly exposed to the Ocean, the rocks are rarely encrusted by barnacles, until about half tide-mark, owing (as I afterwards found) to the quantity of fresh water which floats on the surface of the salt water of these Sounds, especially after wet weather. A few of the crisped leaved sea-weeds and pink mallipores encrust the pools between tide-marks. But the true kelp is hardly laid bare at all even at lowest tide. An immense limpet, two inches across, a few whelks, chitons, and very minute mussels were all the mollusca that I obtained, and two species of actinia or sea anemone, two species of star fish and a sea urchin, completed the list of marine life. I was particular in observing, because most of the tertiary deposits of the East Coast of the Province must have been formed in rock-bound basins like these Sounds, and I was curious to learn what class of fossils might be expected to occur under such conditions. Coasting along the east side of the sound, the mountains again become lower as we approached its head, and we passed several narrow benches of flat land with shingle beaches, one of which was nearly half a mile long. The lower part of the Sound is from one and a-half to two miles in width, but it narrows to three-quarters of a mile in the upper part, with the shores sloping to the depth of 60 to 80 fathoms, even where they are not at all high or precipitous above the water line, excepting in a few sheltered bays, where eight or ten fathoms soundings were got. The sea is beautifully clear, and covered by a film of fresh water that gives the surface an oily appearance when mixed with the underlying salt water by the dipping of the oars. At six and even ten fathoms small objects could be seen distinctly, and when fishing at that depth the sport was greater than the mere bobbing of a baited line, as the manoeuvring nibbles of the finny dupes could be distinctly seen and taken advantage of. We could also watch an occasional shark, five to six feet in length, swimming about quite unheeded by the more agile fishes, but only waiting till one of them got into trouble, to pounce and secure it for his own special benefit, and at the expense of our hooks in several instances. Fish of fine quality are very abundant everywhere near the shores of these Sounds, most of them taking the bait readily. They are nearly all of the family of spiny fishes, the sea perch (the cod fish of Dunedin market), the sea bream or snapper, and the trumpeter or kowihowi of the Natives, being the most plentiful. The Sound penetrates quite into the recesses of the mountains, and it is curious that the vegetation assumes a more alpine character, although of course the sea level is preserved. Many of the shrubs that are plentiful lower down the Sound disappear, and the remu is rarely seen on the mountain slopes, which are covered only by sombre birch; however, at the extreme head of the Sound, two rivers enter through a secluded lake, or fresh water basin, and on the banks of these rivers many of the lost shrubs reappear; and strangely enough, some of them, especially the veronicas, were even at this season in flower. Moreover, the red pines along the banks of these rivers excel in healthiness of growth, straightness and length of trunk available for timber, than any of those seen lower down the Sound. Full-grown