290 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



volcanic cone?, Ruapahu shining with the brilliancy of perpetual snow; 

 Tongariro with its black cinder cone capped with a cloud of white vapor; 

 the two majestic mountains standing side by side upon a barren desert of 

 pumice, and reflected in the waters of Lake Taupo. 



In immediate connection with the volcanoes are the hot-springs, solfataras, 

 and fumaroles. In Iceland only are such a number of hot-springs found as 

 exist in New Zealand. Although there may be no single intermittent spring 

 in New Zealand of equal magnitude with the great Geyser in Iceland, yet in 

 the extent of country in which such springs occur, in their great number, 

 and in the beauty and variety of the siliceous incrustations and deposits, 

 New Zealand far exceeds Iceland. All the New Zealand hot-springs, like 

 those of Iceland, abound in silica, and may be divided into two distinct 

 classes alkaline and acid. To the latter belong the solfataras, character- 

 ized by deposits of sulphur, and never forming intermittent fountains. All 

 the intermittent springs belong to the alkaline class, in which are also in- 

 cluded most of the ordinary boiling-springs. Sulphurets of sodium and 

 potassium, and carbonates of potash and soda are the solvents of the silica, 

 which, on the cooling and evaporation of the water, is deposited in such 

 quantities as to form a striking characteristic in the appearance of these 

 springs. 



Dr. Hochstetter's geological map of the Auckland district contains no less 

 than sixty points of volcanic eruption within a radius of ten miles. The 

 isthmus of Auckland is, in fact, completely perforated by volcanic action, 

 and presents a large number of true volcanic hills, which, although extinct, 

 and of small size, are perfect models of volcanic mountains. These hills 

 once the funnels out of which torrents of burning lava were vomitted forth, 

 and afterwards the strongholds of savage cannibals are now picturesque 

 and pleasing features, being the homes of peaceful and prosperous settlers, 

 whose fruitful gardens and smiling fields derive their fertility from the sub- 

 stances long ago thrown up from the fiery bowels of the earth. Volcanic 

 action in New Zealand, according to Dr. Hochstetter, is dying out; and 

 numerous facts prove that the action of the hot-springs is diminishing. 



NOTES ON SPITZBERGEN. 



The following is an abstract of a paper on the geological and physical 

 features of Spitzbergen, communicated to the London Geological Society, 

 by I. Lamont, Esq. 



Mr. L. cruised about Spitzbergen, in his yacht, in the summer of 1858, and 

 went up the Stour Fiord, which, he remarks, is a sound, dividing the island, 

 not a gulf. The first thirty miles of coast along which he sailed on this 

 Fiord, consisted almost entirely of the faces of two or three enormous gla- 

 ciers; the water is shallow, seldom as much as sixteen fathoms, and such 

 appears to be the case all around Spitzbergen ; and hence icebergs of very 

 large size are not formed. The shores are mostly formed of a muddy flat, 

 from half a mile to three miles broad, with ice or hard ground, at from 

 twelve to eighteen inches under the surface; this is intersected with muddy 

 rivulets, and bears saxifrages, mosses, and lichens, on which the reindeer 

 fattens. Protruding trap-rocks appear at many spots on these flats. A steep 

 slope of mud, snow, and debris succeeds the flats, and reaches up to perpen- 

 dicular crags of schistose rock, above which extend the great glaciers. 

 Above these, peaks, probably of granite, appear, when free of mist. The 



