Cussen. — Notes on the King Country. 327 



25 miles, the pumice is most persistent, and does not appear to 

 alter much in the form of distribution or in the size of the 

 particles. In the valley of the Pungapunga, 15 miles west of 

 Taupo Lake, blocks of pumice measuring over 2 feet in 

 diameter are found, and all the valleys and flats are covered 

 deeply with the deposit. As we recede from Taupo the pumice 

 deposit thins out gradually, and the particles decrease in size, 

 until at a distance of 50 miles from the centre of the lake 

 very little is seen, and that in very small particles. I have 

 frequently seen pumice mixed with the earth brought up by 

 the roots of trees which were blown over by the wind. I have 

 also found it, at a depth of 3 feet or more, when constructing 

 trigonometrical stations on the mountain tops, but only in such 

 manner as I think may be accounted for by its becoming mixed 

 up with the earth in the ordinary course of surface-soil forma- 

 tion, its movements by the roots of trees and other vegetation 

 and by the action of earth-worms. The pumice must, I think, 

 be regarded as a superficial deposit, and probably the product 

 of some of the latest volcanic efforts. I saw no trace of the 

 remains of a crater within the district in which it is found, 

 although having, in the course of my duty, visited nearly all 

 the higher mountains. Eound Tongariro and Euapehu very 

 little pumice is found in comparison with other localities ; 

 whilst at the Waimarino Plains and westward of Euapehu 

 scarcely any is seen. The Assistant Surveyor-General, in his 

 "Geology of the Northern Portion of Hawke's Bay," read 

 before the Auckland Institute, 27th November, 1876,* mentions 

 the pumice as occurring in that district under somewhat similar 

 conditions. He says: "Towards the east the deposit gradually 

 thins out, until, approaching the vicinity of Poverty Bay, very 

 little is seen." The portion of Poverty Bay referred to by Mr. 

 Percy Smith would probably be about 50 miles from Taupo 

 Lake ; thus the limit of the pumice deposit in that direction 

 corresponds with that on the west of the lake. 



Mr. Percy Smith further states : " The general opinion 

 appears to be that this pumice was ejected from Tongariro and 

 adjacent volcanoes, and was spread over the surface of the 

 country by the wind. There are certain considerations which 

 favour this view, such for instance as finding the greatest 

 thickness of the sand on the lee sides of -high ranges, where it 

 would naturally accumulate, and also from the fact that the size 

 of the particles appears to diminish as we recede from the 

 supposed centre of distribution. The only other hypothesis 

 which would account for the presence of pumice over such an 

 extent of country is, that it has been carried into its present 

 position by water." This hypothesis seems to me quite out of 



Trans. N.Z. Inst.," vol. ix., p. 565. 



