622 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



friends, who are ardent botanists, can be well imagined on 

 finding that they were nothing more than a dull-brown heavy 

 pumice — a trachyte pumice — partly rounded and partly 

 angular, and varying in size from an apple to a cocoanut. 

 This pebbly pumice covers certain of the slopes below the 

 snow-line to the north-east and south-east of the crater, 

 and it has the appearance of having been ejected at a very 

 recent date. It is certainly distinct from the other varieties 

 of rock on Euapehu, and either it must be the frothy remnant 

 of very recent lava-flows, or it must have been deposited by 

 explosions from Ngauruhoe, Nga-puna-a-Tama, or the crater on 

 Euapehu itself. My own opinion is that activity on Euapehu 

 has been continuous, similar to that on Ngauruhoe and 

 Tongariro, and that each mountain is in the condition of a 

 solfatara. 



We have seen that Ngauruhoe, fifty years ago, according 

 to Mr. Bidwill, was in a geyser, oy imia, condition, and ejected 

 mud and hot water at intervals ; whilst in 1869-70 the same 

 mountain, and also Te Mari, threw out vast quantities of fine 

 dust, pumice, and ashes. Less is known of the hoary Eua- 

 pehu. It is a spot dreaded by the Maoris, and its history dates 

 back scarcely a dozen years ; but during this brief acquaint- 

 ance with the mountain there has been suflicient evidence 

 to show that the crater is by no means dormant. The deposit 

 of pumice on its eastern slopes, the present heated state of 

 the crater-walls, and the cone-like slope of the crater towards 

 the east and north, all go to support the view that the activity 

 of the present crater is of long duration. Indeed, had it been 

 otherwise the ash- and cinder-bands and the crater itself must 

 have broken away long since by reason of the rapidity with 

 which the work of rock-disintegration proceeds in the upper 

 regions of the atmosphere, more especially within the limits of 

 the zone of perpetual snow. 



Geology. 



The rocks composing Euapehu are principally made up of 

 basic and what Judd terms "intermediate" lavas, the only 

 trace of truly acidic rocks on the mountains being the pumice 

 trachyte, which is found on certain slopes in the vicinity of 

 the crater. By way of the Whangaehu Eiver heavy black 

 lavas predominate ; but there is a range made up principally 

 of phonolite, or clinkstone, which Mr. Park also describes as 

 being found on the south side of the mountain. Slabs of this 

 rock were seen more than 10ft. across, very smooth and thin, 

 almost like slate, but with a metallic or bell-like ring when 

 struck. At the junction of the two head-streams of the river 

 there is a large waterfall, and here the principal rock is a 

 pitchstone. Along the north-east slopes there are heavy 



