CHAP. XXIV.] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Lake Taupo and Tongariro. 



WE started on the llth of May for Taupo lake, 

 which was only at a short distance. The road lay 

 in the valley, or alternately ascended or descended 

 the hills. From the last of these, a ridge with 

 a steep ascent, the great Lake Taupo burst on 

 our view, and was greeted by us all with delight. 

 Across the lake was the Tongariro bearing S. 20 E., 

 and to the north-west and north were the mountains 

 Titiraupena and Wakakahu. 



The rocks of which these hills consist is a leu- 

 citic lava of greater firmness than that we had 

 lately passed, and here and there I found fragments 

 of porphyry. Very near the lake a sand appears in 

 the section of a small landslip about fifty feet above 

 the present level of the lake, consisting entirely 

 .of small crystals of glassy felspar ; and the same 

 sort of sand is at present found at the borders of the 

 lake itself. This proves that the level of the lake 

 was once much higher than it now is, and that it 

 has broken through the barrier of cliffs which sur- 

 rounded it, thus, perhaps, overflowing the lower 

 country and giving rise to the formation of the 



