PEALE.] THERMAL SPRINGS AND GEYSERS OF NEW ZEALAND. 315 



lake is of a dull green color, saline in all parts, except one corner, and 

 of varying temperatures. In some places it is as high as 100° F. In 

 the center is an island called Puia, filled with springs and steam vents. 



On the eastern side are three areas of siliceous sinter. At the head 

 of the northern is Te Tarata, which is some 250 yards back from the 

 edge of the lake, and 80 feet above it. South of this is another terrace, 

 with Eotopunamu, or Green Lake, at its head. This is about 300 yards 

 from the lake, and 100 feet above it. The siliceous deposits extend 

 from it in a southwesterly direction to the lake, with an average width 

 of about 100 yards. Between the foot of this terrace, which has numer- 

 ous springs scattered over it, and the foot of Te Tarata there is a nar- 

 row striji of deposits with springs. At the foot of the terrace it is joined 

 by a third, more southern siliceous terrace, at the head of which are 

 Ngawhaua, Koingo, and Whatapoho. This mass is about 150 yards 

 wide, and extends back from the shore of the lake about 200 yards at 

 the greatest distance. The top is 100 feet above the lake. The hill on 

 the slope of which these deposits are located, slopes on the southwest 

 into Eotomahana, and on the northeast to Eotomakari (Cold Lake), and 

 old craters may be found on its sides, and the surface is warm, and the 

 soil insecure and treacherous. 



Otakapuarangi, the Pink Terrace, is on the opposite side of the lake. 

 Besides these areas there are a couple of others which will be noted in 

 the accompanying table. 



Te Tarata {tattooed roclc or stone). — The siliceous deposits at the head 

 of which is the basin of the world-renowned spring, occupy a space of 

 over three acres. There is an upper plateau or platform, below which 

 the deposit is in three sections, viz, a central mass of two wings sepa- 

 rated from each other by clusters of foliage growing upon natural soil. 

 Below these, however, the deposits are again united. The central sec- 

 tion is the oldest, and has overhanging buttresses and terraces rising 

 tier above tier. The right wing is an irregular slope broken into steps 

 at several points, without any regular basins, and the left wing, over 

 which the most recent overflow finds its way, is much like the right 

 wing. Eidges and slopes, rather than basins and terraces are formed. 

 The following is Hochstetter's description of Te Tarata. 



About 80 feet above tbe lake, on the fem-clad slope of a hill, from which in various 

 places hot vapors are escaping, there lies the Immense boiling caldron in a crater-like 

 excavation, with steep reddish sides 30 to 40 feet high, and open only on the lake side 

 toward the west. The basin of the spring is about 80 feet long and 60 wide, and filled 

 to the brim with perfectly clear, transparent water, which in the snow-white incrusted 

 basin appears of a beautiful color like the blue turquoise. At the margin of the basin 

 I found a temperature of 183° F., but in the middle, where the water is in a constant 

 state of ebullition to the height of several feet, it probably reaches the boiling-point. 

 Immense clouds of steam, reflecting the beautiful blue of the basin, curl up, generally 

 obstructing the view of the whole surface of water ; but the noise of boiling and seeth- 

 ing is always distinctly audible. The reaction of the water is neutral ; it has a slight 

 salt}', but by no means unjileasant, taste, and possesses in a high degree petrifying, or 

 rather incrusting, qualities. The deposit of the water is like that of the Iceland 

 springs, siliceous, not calcareous, and the siliceous deposits and the incrustations of 

 the constantly overllowing water have formed on the slope of the hill a system of tor- 

 races, which, as white as if cut from marble, present an aspect which no description 

 or illustration is able to represent. It has the appearance of a cataract plunging 

 over natural shelves, which, as it falls, is suddenly turned into stone. 



The llat, spreading foot of the terraces extends far into the lake. There the terraces 

 commence with low shelves containing shallow water-basins. The farther up, the 

 higher grow the terraces; two, three, also some four and six feet high. They are 

 formed by a number of semicircular stages, of which, however, not two are of the 

 same h(;ight. Each of these stages has a small raised margin, from which slender 

 stalactites are hanging down upon the lower stage; and encircles on its platform one 

 or more basins resplendent with the most beautiful blue water. These suuvU water- 



