618 Transactions. — MiscManeous. 



was the old margin of the crater-hp in its earher history. 

 From Te Heuheu there can also be traced, running to the 

 south-east, another ridge, one portion of which I have named 

 the Pinnacles, from its turret-like appearance. This ridge 

 runs in the direction of that portion of the mountain already- 

 described as forming the sources of the Whangaehu and Wai- 

 kato Elvers. About a quarter of a mile beyond Te Heuheu 

 Peak the south-west ridge of black-lava rock suddenly dis- 

 appears, and the snowfield, which has been separated up to 

 this point, becomes one single field of great extent, traversed 

 by hundreds of long crevasses of unknown depth. Curiously, 

 all these crevasses appeared to have a general parallelism — that 

 is, their general direction was south-by-west and north-by-east, 

 showing that the slope or direction of movement in the ice 

 was nearly east-and-west. It was interesting to observe how 

 soon our party became accustomed to the crevasses, and actually 

 in one place passed across several where a kind of ledge of 

 broken ice had been left half-way across the gaping chasms. 



Almost midway between the last ridge of rocks and the south 

 peak of the mountain known as Paraetetaitonga, the crater-lake 

 is situated. The icefield from the latter peak and Euapehu 

 slopes at a high angle towards the lake, and here the crevasses 

 are very large, and the travelling is beset with some danger. 

 Before reaching the lake our party was reminded of being in 

 the vicinity of something different from ice by the unpleasant 

 smells that came from the direction in which we were going. 

 Presently the lake appeared in full view, and this within gun- 

 shot of the spot where I had stood two years before, at the 

 head- waters of the Whangaehu. A little careful travelling 

 over steep sloping ice, traversed by crevasses, brought us — the 

 first party that had ever been there — to the lip of the crater, 

 and at once it became apparent that the lake was in a state of 

 intense activity, exactly similar to what one sees at Wairakei 

 in some of the mud-craters and geyser- springs there. Having 

 learnt from Mr. Birch, of Erehwon, that it would not be 

 possible to reach the lake, but that it might be possible to get 

 to the lip of the crater, I took with me about 150 yards of 

 thick twine and a tin bottle, with the intention of obtaining a 

 specimen of the water, or mud, or whatever the lake should 

 contain, for testing purposes; but all my efforts were unavailing, 

 as the bottle got entangled by the jagged edges of the crater- 

 wall, and eventually the string parted, much to my own dis- 

 appointment. The length of the crater from east to west I 

 estimate at about 450 yards, and its breadth from north to 

 south about 375 yards ; but, as the context will show, its size 

 must vary at different periods of the year. On the south and 

 west the crater- wall is composed of a solid mass of ice 250fb. 

 or more in perpendicular height, and this wall forms the 



