Hill. — Taupo Plateau and Lake. 447 



time we see extending from Ruapehu volcanic cones of accumu- 

 lation with intervening areas of depression, and extending for 

 two hundred miles or more across the Island. Ruapehu, Nga- 

 uruhoe, Tongariro, Pihanga, Motutaiko. Tauhara, Maunga-onga- 

 onga, Kakaramea, Mount Tarawera, and Edgecumbe are the 

 product of the welling-up of lavas, or they are the outcome of 

 explosions bv means of which great quantities of loose material 

 have been thrown ■ out of volcanic orifices. Still, it is of im- 

 portance to notice that, notwithstanding the wide distribution 

 of lavas over the eastern and western parts of the Taupo Plateau, 

 there remain but few traces of those older volcanoes that must 

 have preceded Ruapehu and other adjacent volcanoes in the 

 history of the Taupo country. 



In January, 1902, I had the pleasure of coaching to Taupo 

 from Napier in company with Mr. Cheeseman, F.L.S., of the 

 Auckland Museum. Between Petane and Taupo barometric 

 observations were taken for every mile of the journey. Within 

 fifty miles of Napier the volcanic lavas appear for the first 

 time on the roadside, at an elevation of 1,520 ft. above sea-level. 

 They are in the hills two miles or more to the eastward of 

 Tarawera. The Maitai slates are the prevailing rocks, but the 

 country in many places is deeply covered with fine white pumice, 

 iii which are seen many specimens of trees burnt to a charcoal. 

 The lavas seem to have flowed through the. valley from the west, 

 for they are not seen in the exposed rocks near the Tarawera 

 Township, but they appear in the ridge over which the coach 

 passes, a mile or so to the west. This ridge runs as an offshoot 

 from the main line of hills, and ends in a single hill overlooking 

 the Waipunga River, into which a hot spring flows from the 

 hill. In several places the lavas appear on the roadside in 

 the beautiful valley known as the Nunneries, and between the 

 56th and the 57th milestone from Napier the rhyolitic lavas 

 are largely developed. From this place onward to the Rangitikei 

 River they appear as the only massive rock-structures by the 

 way. At Ohinehuka (61 m.), where there is a small native settle- 

 ment, the country is covered with heavy bush, but wherever an 

 exposure of rocks is seen they are rhyolite lavas of a greyish 

 dull colour. At the 65th milestone the road crosses the Waipunga 

 Stream (2,100 ft.), and the entire bed is seen to be made up of 

 lavas, and presents the appearance of paving-stones throughout 

 the whole bed of the stream. A mile or so lower down the 

 stream the rocks change somewhat, where three streams meet 

 and fall into a deep gulch-like area between enormous walls of 

 black basalt-like rock, which appears to have come from the 

 hills a mile or two south-east of the falls. Beyond Waipunga 

 the country begins to open into extensive swamp-areas leading 



