434 AUSTEALASIA. 



50 feet into a wide basin of eddying waters. Farther down it receives on its left 

 bank a broad thermal stream descending from the Wairakei Cirque, where 

 numerous geysers with silicious margins jet up in all directions amid the sur- 

 rounding forest. Here and there fallen stems may still be recognised beneath the 

 crystalline incrustation by which they have been gradually coated. At the foot of 

 a hill a jet of hot vapour at a temperature of 252^ F. rushes with a ceaseless 

 hissing sound through the air. This geyser may at times be detected from a 

 distance of 50 miles round about, and the Maoris navigating Lake Taupo study its 

 varying phases as trustworthy weather forecastings. 



Below its confluence with the thermal stream, the Waikato describes a great 

 bend to the east across the pumice-strewn plateau, beyond which it trends north- 

 westwards to the west coast, where it enters the sea through a wide estuary south 

 of the Auckland Peninsula. 



Between the Waikato valley and the Bay of Plenty on the north-east sea- 

 board, the plateau is occupied by another group of volcanoes and of lakes, either 

 old craters or reservoirs formed by barriers of eruptive matter. Roto-rua, that is, 

 the "Second Lake," largest in this region, lies to the west of the other basins at 

 the east foot of Mount Ngongotaha (2,530 feet). Roto-rua, about 30 square 

 miles in extent, presents a charming view with its green islets, the hills and 

 headlands rising above its margin, the forests and thickets fringing the river 

 banks. But the whole of this region is a veritable land of wonders, conspicuous 

 amongst which are the springs and fountains which burst through the ground on 

 the west side of the lake, and which are endlessly diversified in their form, size, 

 periodicity and chemical composition. The district in a constant state of tremor 

 occupies a zone 3 or 4 miles long, and about a mile broad, along the margin of the 

 basin. Within this narrow space are concentrated the most varied igneous 

 phenomena, intermittent fountains, erratic jets disappearing in one place to 

 reappear in another, tranquil pools of clear water scarcely ruffled by a few bubbles, 

 cold, tepid, hot, or boiling springs, some sulphurous, others saline or acidulated, 

 solfataras, fumeroles, geysers, and the like. One of the geysers rises to a height of 

 60 feet above a silicious cone 50 feet high, the vapour escaping with a hissing 

 noise, and the water bursting out with a roar as of thunder. The thermal and 

 mineral waters, whose curative properties had formerly attracted the natives from 

 all quarters, are now visited even by the European settlers, who have erected a 

 sanatorium on the banks of the lake. 



East of Roto-rua follow other lacustrine basins, such as Roto-iti, or the 

 "Little Lake," Roto-ehu, the "Muddy Lake," and Roto-ma, the "White Lake," 

 all of whose short emissaries flow northwards to the Bay of Plenty. Farther 

 south, at a mean altitude of 1,000 feet, are grouped other lakes, the largest of 

 which is Tarawera, dominated eastwards by the volcano of like name. This 

 " Burnt Rock," as the word is interpreted, has the form of a truncated cone of 

 formidable aspect, whose red and black taluses rise 1,000 feet above the lake. 



Tarawera was supposed to be extinct till the year 1886, when one winter's 

 night it suddenly awoke. The whole region was shaken by a tremendous shock. 



