374 transactions. — Geology. 



numbers of koura, and myriads of the small fish found in 

 these lakes, were washed on shore dead or dying ; many of the 

 fish, though not dead, presented a bruised and discoloured 

 appearance. All the small birds had disappeared ; pheasants 

 and Australian quail came almost to the doors of the houses 

 seeking food, and numbers of rats were wandering about the 

 hills and valleys. 



There is no tradition of any activity in Tarawera Moun- 

 tain, nor of any alteration in Kotomalaana. The mountain 

 was in past ages the chief burial place of the Ngatirangitihi 

 tribe, the section of the Arawa to whom the country about the 

 east end of Tarawera Lake belongs. Apumoana, the eldest son 

 of Eangitihi, the great ancestor of all the Arawa tribes, who 

 lived about fifteen generations ago, was buried in a cave on the 

 rim of a crater there. It has been said, I believe, that the 

 names of the different peaks of the mountain suggested some 

 volcanic activity during the period of Maori history. I cannot 

 see the connection myself ; but, in any case, Maori names of 

 places do not necessarily point to the literal meaning of the 

 name. For instance, the name Eangitoto — literally, sky of 

 blood — is thought by some people to denote that the Island of 

 that name near Auckland was in a state of volcanic activity 

 when the ancestors of the Maori came from Hawaiiki. But the 

 word " rangitoto " also means " scoria " or " cinder," and there 

 are several places in the North Island so called where there is 

 no scoria or cinders. Where the meaning is not palpable, great 

 caution and research should be exercised in tracing the reasons 

 for the names of places and things, or one may commit a great 

 blunder. For instance, the author of the " Aryan Maori '" con- 

 siders that the moa [Dinomis) was so named from nioana (the 

 ocean), on account of its vast size ; but he would hardly have 

 ventured that opinion if he had known that in the Samoan 

 Group " moa " is the name of the domestic hen. 



Art. XLVI. — Thermal Activity in the Ruapehu Crater. 



By L. CussEN. 

 [Read before the Auckland Institute, 2ljtli July, 1886.] 



DuETNG my last season's work in tlic triangulation of the King 

 Country I had occasion to ascend Buapehu, to include a trig.- 

 station on Paretetaitonga, one of its southern peaks, with our 

 system of triangles. It was not my intention to attempt a 

 geological examination of the mountain ; but the few notes 

 which I was able to make in the short time I could devote to the 



