HihTj. —Euajyehu and Ngaurulioc. 617 



portion of the original crater-lip. There the lava-flows are 

 of immense extent, and the south wall of the old crater 

 must be at least 1,000ft. in perpendicular height, appearing 

 in its banded regularity as though the several lava-beds had 

 been deposited by aqueous rather than by igneous agencies. 

 Standing on the top of what once was the neck of a volcanic 

 orifice, now full of black heavy lava, at a height of 7,400ft., 

 in the midst of an amphitheatre of surpassing grandeur, oue 

 sees, as it were, the mighty results of heat and cold by con- 

 trasts. Towards the east there are miles of cinder-, ash-, and 

 scoria-fields, with lava-flows of basalt, ti-achyte, and phono- 

 lite ; whilst to the north and west snowfields of vast extent rise 

 to the summit of the mountain. It is here that the Whangaehu 

 Eiver takes its rise, in two distinct sources — one where the 

 water is clear, but so impregnated with alum as to be un- 

 drinkable ; the other where the water is of a milky-yellow 

 colour, and " so strongly charged with sulphates of iron and 

 alumina as to taint the water from its source to the sea," 

 a distance of more than seventy miles. From what I have 

 seen of this river I am satisfied that it has no connection 

 whatever with the hot lake presently to be described. Like 

 all streams fed by glaciers, the river is subject to sudden 

 changes in both voluiiie and colour ; and its taste might be 

 accounted for by the fact that its waters are forced to pass 

 through rocks which are undergoing rapid decomposition by 

 means of chemical and physical agencies. A long low spur 

 on the left bank of the Whangaehu in its upper reaches sepa- 

 rates the drainage of the Waikato from that of the Whangaehu. 

 The two rivers rise within a few chains of one another ; but 

 the source of the former has already been described by Mr. 

 Kerry Nicholls in his book on the King-country. It is 

 possible to climb the mountain by way of the long low spur 

 just referred to, but a spur running nearly north-east and 

 south-v/est is perhaps the best track to take, as there is really 

 no difficulty up to 6,400ft., where a party consisting of Messrs. 

 Eussell, Caccia, Studholme, Walker, Maunsell, and myself 

 tethered our horses when making the ascent last year. From 

 this height to Te Heuheu Peak the climbing is really hard, 

 owing to the loose character of the material to be traversed. 



By 10.30 a.m. we were on Te Heuheu Peak, in the midst 

 of the snowfields, with a cloudless sky, and with a prospect 

 glorious and inspiring. The whole of the Kaimanawhas, the 

 Kaingaroa Plain, the Tuhua country and Waikato basin, and 

 the whole of the volcanic belt as far as the Bay of Plenty, and 

 even the ocean near Kidnappers and Te Mahia, could be dis- 

 tinguished in our panoramic view. Eunning from Te Heuheu 

 Peak still to the south-west is a sharp line of rocks broken 

 here and there, which forms the ridge of the mountain and 



