282 Transactionf^. 



visited by any other that I am aware of. The Rotu-mahana is not more 

 than a mile in circumference. We crossed from it in a canoe into the lake 

 Tarawera. The stream connecting them is tepid, and of a temperature 

 of 85°. It is appropriately called Kaiwaka (canoe-spoiler), as the canoe 

 often touches the rocks of which the bottom is formed." 



In the " Tasmanian Journal of Science," vol. 1, page 268, there is given 

 an account of a journey by the late Rev. W. Colenso, F.R.S., taken in the 

 North Island of New Zealand in 1841-42. Mr. Colenso reached late one 

 night Lake Rangiwaka-aita, now known as Rerewhakiatu, which is situated 

 about two miles to the east of Lake Rotomahana. He describes the former 

 lake, and states that the country was overspread with many blocks of com- 

 pact lava, many being vitrified on the surface. The ground rose gently 

 from the lake on every side, which appeared to occupy a deep hollow, and 

 " I could but venture to suppose that this might perhaps have been the 

 crater of a volcano which in some bygone age inundated the whole country 

 with showers of pumice and ashes. At an early hour the next morning 

 we rose, feverish, stiff, and sore, to recommence our march. We soon came 

 within sight of the place where the hot springs were situated [Roto- 

 mahana ?], from which the steam and sulphurous vapours ascended in 

 dense white clouds. The air this morning was cool and bracing, and after 

 travelling about an hour and a half we arrived at Tarawera Lake [Te 

 Ariki ?]. At this place were several small hot springs, which flowed out 

 of the earth near the edge of the lake ; the water of some was hotter than 

 one could bear. . . . The Natives of the village informed me that at 

 a spring on a hill a little distance away the water M'-as quite hot enough 

 for the purpose of cooking, for which they often used it. Sulphur, too, 

 abounded there, and was often 'thrown up' out of the earth, from which 

 the steam and smoke ever ascended [the White Terrace ?]." This " steam 

 and smoke " was, of course, from Rotomahana geysers and puia, and 

 although Mr. Colenso started to visit the place while breakfast was getting 

 ready, he gave up the quest, " his hunger," as he said, " conquering 

 curiosity " ; and thus he missed, although less than three-quarters of a 

 mile away, seeing, as the third European visiting the district, the inimi- 

 table terraces. It is strange that a missionary traveller like Mr. Colenso, 

 who was so very observant, should have passed from the east to the north 

 end of Rotomahana by way of the south and west and yet did not see the lake. 



Hochstetter was the next traveller of note to visit Rotomahana. He 

 spent three days in April, 1859, visiting every place of interest within the 

 precincts of the lake, and made observations of great scientific value. The 

 map of Rotomahana Lake by Hochstetter and Petermann, published in 1863 

 at Gotha by Justus Perthes, is the only map, as far as I can discover, that 

 appeared in an official dress or under authority previous to the eruption. 

 Of Rotomahana and the Terraces Hochstetter thus writes : " The Roto- 

 mahana is one of the smallest lakes of the lake district, not even quite a 

 mile long from south to north, and only a quarter of a mile wide. Accord- 

 ing to my measurement it is 1,080 ft. above the level of the sea. Its form 

 is very irregular on the south side, where the shore is formed of swamps. 

 Three small creeks are meandering and discharging themselves into the 

 lake — the Haumi, from the south-west ; the Hangapoua, from south- 

 east ; and the middle creek without a name. Numerous observations 

 lead to the conclusion that constant changes are going on at Rotomahana 

 — that some springs go dry, others rise, and especially the earthquakes 

 which are felt here from time to time seem to exercise such a changing 



