CHAP. XX.] WAITEMATA HARBOUR. 277 



overtopped with stately kauri-pines : from every 

 crevice of the rocks on these islands, even where 

 washed by the salt water, the glossy green of various 

 shrubs meets our eyes. These islands in the Gulf 

 of Hauraki, luxuriantly wooded as they are, and 

 divided from each other by deep straits, afford a 

 succession of ever-changing scenery, and give the 

 region a variety which is unrivalled by any other 

 harbour in New Zealand, in most of which steep 

 and uniform surrounding hills shut in the view, 

 and confine it to a narrow space. 



The harbour of Waitemata is the most important 

 in the Gulf of Hauraki. It lies at the westernmost 

 extremity of the gulf, and stretches its ramifications 

 towards the harbours of Manukao and Kaipara. 

 The entrance into the harbour is distant from Co- 

 romandel Harbour forty miles, from the embou- 

 chure of the Thames forty-five miles, from Point 

 Rodney forty miles, and from Cape Colville forty-five 

 miles. 



The latitude of the flag-staff in the military bar- 

 racks at Auckland is 36 51 / 27", its longitude 

 174 45' 20" E. 



The northern head of the harbour forms a penin- 

 sula at high-water. Two conical hills rise here,, of 

 which that forming the north head r Takapuna, is 

 216 feet high, of an irregular form, and consists of 

 a hard basaltic rock ; the other, at a little distance 

 from it, Takarunga, has on its summit a crater, par- 

 tially broken in. It is 279 feet high, and consists 



