NEW ZEALAND— NORTH ISLAND. 



433 



is 1,200 feet above the sea, while its superficial area exceeds 300 square miles ; in 

 some places it is shallow, but towards the centre has a depth of several hundred 

 yards. Of its seventeen affluents the largest is the Waikato, which skirts the foot 

 of Mount Pihanga, and is now slowly encroaching with its sedimentary matter on 

 the southern part of the lake. The AVaikato, whose name simply means 

 " Running Water," rises amid the upland snows of E-uapehu near another stream, 

 which flows to Cook Strait. 



The river through which Taupo sends its overflow northwards to the Pacific 



Fig. 187.— Lake Taupo. 

 Scale 1 : 1,100.000. 



18 Maes. 



also takes the name of Waikato, and, like the Rhone, the upper and lower 

 Waikato are popularly supposed to form a continuous stream traversing the lake 

 without intermingling their currents. Like the Rhone the Waikato also plunges 

 into deep gorges cut through successive layers of pumice rising one above the 

 other in perfectly regular terraces. At several points the base of these crumbling 

 cliffs is lined by fissures emitting smoke, suggesting from a distance the fires 

 kindled by fishermen. The waters of Waikato are of a lovely opalescent colour, 

 said to be due to the silica with which they abound. Within six miles of the 

 outlet the river is crossed by a ledge of hard trachyte, over which it plunges some 

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