168 EEPOBT— 1891. 



sulphur are thrown from one of the craters at intervals. Bits 

 of these are to be found on the rim of the crater towards the west, 

 and there are also several boulders on a small shelving sur- 

 face between the two craters, which I imagine must have been 

 thrown from the crater at a recent date. On the sides of the 

 cone where the lip of the crater is lowest there is hardly any 

 trace of lava ; ashes, cinders, and scoria prevail, but possibly 

 this may arise, as in the case of the north cone of the group, 

 from the fact that denudation is less active towards the south 

 and west than towards the north and east. On the east side, 

 where there are traces of heavy flows of lava, they are deeply 

 guttered in places, and the exposures show a flow of basalt- 

 like lava overlying dust and sand, followed again by cinders, 

 which, in their turn, overlie compact lava. All the lava has 

 crystals of feldspar scattered through it, some of the crystals 

 being more than an inch in diameter. The different rock- 

 materials seen on the mountain were lavas, grey, red, and 

 black, the latter having a pitchy lustre. There was also a 

 bluish-grey lava, which had a metallic ring when struck, not 

 unlike phonolite. I saw no pumice on the mountain nor in its 

 vicinity, intermediate and basic rocks being the only kinds pre- 

 seiit. In the lower hills at the foot of Ngauruhoe, as at Puke-kai- 

 kiore, trachytic rocks are the only ones to be met with, and these 

 trachytic rocks continue from the base of Ngauruhoe to the foot 

 of Euapehu, between which mountains come the two crater- 

 lakes known as Nga-puna-a-Tama or Tama's Wells. These 

 crater-lakes are situated at a height of 4,350ft. above sea-level, 

 and near the highest part of the plateau- valley which separates 

 Euapehu from Ngauruhoe. Each crater is about three-eighths 

 of a mile in width and 500ft. in depth. They are nearly cir- 

 cular, and the floor is covered with deep-blue water, towards 

 the centre of which the circular shafts can be seen so cha- 

 racteristic of all the craters on the Tongariro Eange. 



During the breeding- season these lakes are resorted to by 

 hundreds of mutton-birds, but why to these in preference to the 

 other lakes in the district is not known. 



Euapehu. 

 Euapehu, the most southern of the volcanoes forming the 

 Tongariro Eange, is by far the largest of the three great cones 

 into which the chain naturally divides itself. It is situated on 

 a plateau which, in the vicinity of the mountain, is more than 

 3,000ft. above sea-level. From north to south it extends for a 

 distance of more than ten miles, and the distance round its base 

 cannot be less than from thirty-five to forty miles. The moun- 

 tain exceeds 9,000ft. in height, and its slopes for nearly 2,000ft. 

 are always mantled in snow. Towards the south and east the 

 mountain presents a series of steep ridges, whilst several long 



