244 VOLCANIC LAVAS. [PART II. 



are so hard, that time and the atmosphere have 

 scarcely any influence on them. When we speak 

 of a volcanic country we generally associate with it 

 the idea of fertility ; but this is true in particular 

 cases only. If the ejected matter be mud or ashes, 

 in forty or fifty years, or even in less time, it is 

 clothed with vegetation, and fit for planting, as we 

 see in the fruitful regions around Etna and Vesuvius : 

 but it would appear that the masses thrown up by 

 these Polynesian volcanoes have rarely consisted of 

 such soft substances, but have flowed out as lava, 

 forming hard scorise, like the slaggy refuse of an 

 iron-foundry ; and it will therefore easily be under- 

 stood that the lands immediately at the base of the 

 numberless volcanic cones which we see in New 

 Zealand are not always those best suited for agri- 

 cultural purposes. The lake which I have above 

 mentioned is about one square mile and a half in 

 extent, and apparently of great depth. In some 

 places its borders are steep, and consist of basaltic 

 lavas. It is perhaps an old crater; and, indeed, 

 there is a tradition amongst the natives that a large 

 village with its inhabitants was suddenly engulfed 

 during an earthquake. 



Several conical craters, similar to that above 

 mentioned, only with more perfect funnels in their 

 centres, lie to the eastward of Waimate. The in- 

 teriors are covered with vegetation, and all appear 

 to have long been in a state of repose. 



A few miles to the southward of Waimate are 



