876 Trmisactions. — Geology. 



down the mountain side in a separate mass, or boulder, 

 from 70 to 100 feet in height ; the outside of it presents a 

 slaggy scoria-Hke appearance, becoming gradually closer and 

 more compressed towards the centre. One side of this boulder 

 has been broken away, probably from the masses of rock moving 

 down the mountain side coming in contact with it, and thus the 

 construction of the interior is exposed. It presents a most 

 remarkable appearance, a number of long prismatic columns, 

 about 9 inches in diameter, extend outward, radiating from a 

 central point at the bottom to the top and sides in a fan-like 

 fashion, somewhat in the form of a peacock's tail, fitting closely 

 together at the centre, the space between them widening towards 

 the outside ; they are intersected by transverse cracks, which 

 divide them into various lengths ; some of them can be moved 

 and replaced ; though being of various lengths the regularity 

 and symmetry of the portion exposed is very strildng and won- 

 derful. About half a mile to the northward of the ridge we 

 were ascenduig, another lava stream appeared to have cooled 

 running down over the ridge, and to dip down on the lower side 

 of it in the same direction as the slope of the underlying rock, 

 giving to the lava-flow the appearance of a waterfall in the dis- 

 tance, at the foot of which great masses of scoria were piled on 

 top of one another in a confused irregular fashion. The effect 

 of frost upon the rocks became more apparent as we went higher 

 up the mountain; masses of trachytic lava lay in heaps and 

 ridges, broken up into fragments as if struck by sledge-hammers ; 

 the travelling was difficult, and sometimes accompanied by 

 danger, over these masses, which would give way beneath the 

 bands and feet, and roll down in large quantities. 



We reached the perpetual snow-line in about three hours 

 from our camping ground. There was yet about 2,500 feet to 

 ascend, but the remainder of the ascent was all over the frozen 

 snow, and not very difficult. The ridge was rather narrow in 

 places, whilst on both sides of it steep snow-fields sloped away 

 many hundreds of feet, terminating over the rocky precipices 

 which girt the base of the mountain. Our party were five in 

 number, and we travelled over the snow in " smgle file," a long 

 rope fast from one to the other to guard against accident, lest 

 either through a caving-in of the snow or by a false step any of 

 us should slide down over the steep snow-fields. It took five 

 hours from our camping-ground to reach the summit. 



The weather was still beautifully clear when we got on 

 top, and the view in all directions around us was truly magnifi- 

 cent. To the westward, the snowy cone of Mount Egmont was 

 very conspicuously prominent, its distance from us being 73 

 miles. We thought we could distinguish the houses at Waitara 

 with our telescopes ; and some of our party suggested that a 

 column of smoke wliich we saw rising up there came from the 



