514 NOTES ON THE RECENT ERUPTIONS IN THE TAUPO ZONE, N.Z., 



coherent idea of the extraordinary phenomena of which, as I have 

 said, we have as yet but confused and broken accounts. The 

 more so, because the chief sources of our information, in the 

 extremely valuable descriptions and maps of the late distinguished 

 Geologist, Ferdinand von Hochstetter, are by no means readily or 

 generally available in Sydney. 



It was in the year 1859 that this explorer started from 

 Auckland in March to investigate the country previously though 

 hastily examined by Dieffenbach in 1840. He reached Lake 

 Taupo in April, after a rather discursive journey made partly in 

 Maori canoes and partly on foot, and at once devoted himself to 

 the survey and geological examination of the district. Thence he 

 proceeded to trace the manifold series of hot springs and allied 

 phenomena which crowd the banks of the Waikato and its tribu- 

 taries, to the point where it strikes away, from the still more 

 energetically volcanic area of Rotomahana, Rotorua and Tarawera 

 into the gorge which conducts its waters to the Middle Waikato 

 district. 



From this point he diverged into the famous Lake Region, where 

 he remained until May. In this flying survey he succeeded in laying 

 down a clear and trustworthy draft of the most remarkable 

 points in a very remarkable region, second in interest to none, in 

 his opinion, except the somewhat similar Geyser District of 

 Iceland. The third great collection of allied phenomena, and in 

 many respects the most noteworthy of all, the Yellowstone River 

 Geysers, in the Upper Missouri basin, was at the time compara- 

 tively unknown. At any rate he does not, so far as I recollect, even 

 allude to it. I do not doubt that much has been added, by way 

 of filling in, to Hochstetter's sketch, but I have not myself met 

 with any descriptions which have a higher aim than the 

 production of picturesque images for the lovers of the extra- 

 ordinary, whether in the natural features of the landscape, or in 

 the mode of life of the people who dwell among them ; and 

 certainly none which can be considered to supersede his account 

 from a scientific point of view. 



