South of the isthmus aforesaid, North Island rapidly broadens out.
The Southern Alps, the backbone of the South Island, rest on a foundation of coarse gneisses and schists, that are quite unrepresented in the North Island.
It has been suggested that the, jasperoids and diabases of the Tarawera Mountains on the North Island may be of Upper Archean age, from their resemblance to the Heathcotian rocks of Australia.
The number of sheep has increased from 56,564,000 in 1886 to 22,000,000 in 5908, though the increase has been almost all in North Island.
The native tribes, brave, intelligent and fairly well armed, tried, by means of a league against land-selling and the election of a king, to retain their hold over at least the central North Island.
