CHAP. XX.] GULF OF HAURAKI. 283 



It has a harbour for small vessels, and there is an 

 anchorage for larger ones in the channel which 

 separates the island from the main. It consists 

 mostly of a yellow argillaceous rock and basalt ; it 

 is wooded and hilly, and contains kauri, but has also 

 many sheltered and cultivable valleys. 



Both islands are claimed by Europeans, the lat- 

 ter by nearly half a dozen different parties. Bar- 

 rier Island is the property of a merchant in Sydney, 

 and some Europeans live there. In Waiheke there 

 are some families of the Ngta-te-whatua and the 

 Nga-te-paoa tribes, and also a European family. 



Ran gi to to is another very remarkable island ; 

 between it and the mainland is the best channel 

 into Waitemata. It is a cone, rising slowly from 

 the sea, and has on its summit three cones, the 

 middle one being the highest, a conformation very 

 common to craters. Rangitoto is an immense heap 

 of scoriae, which in large hard masses surround it at 

 its base and the greater part of its height ; and it is 

 only on the top that a few bushes have taken root. 

 In the middle cone is a very perfect crater, about 

 150 feet deep. The highest point of the island rises 

 to 920 feet above the level of the sea, and com- 

 mands a most extensive panorama of the surround- 

 ing country. 



The meteorological table at p. 285, which was 

 kept at Auckland by David Rough, the harbour- 

 master, and to which has been annexed a table 

 of the average heights of the thermometer, taken 

 by Dr. Johnson with Adie's register thermome- 



