316 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



basins represent as many natural bathing-basins, which the most refined luxury could 

 not have prepared in a more splendid and commodious style. The basins can be 

 chosen shallow or deep, large or small, and of every variety of temperature, as the 

 basins upon the higher stages, nearer to the main basin, contain warmer water than 

 those upon the lower ones. Some of the basins are so large and so deep that one can 

 easily swim about in them. In ascending the steps, it is, of course, necessary to wade 

 in the tepid water, which spreads beside the lower basins upon the platform of the 

 stages, but rarely reaching above the ankle. Dnring violent water-eruptions from 

 the main basin, steaming cascades may occur; at ordinary times but very little water 

 ripples over the terraces; and only the principal discharge on the south side forms a 

 hot, steaming fall. After reaching the highest terrace there is an extensive i^latform, 

 with a number of basins, 5 to 6 feet deep, their water showing a temperature of 90° 

 F. to 110° F. In the middle of this platform there arises, close to the brink of the 

 main basin, a kind of rock island, about twelve feet high, decked with manuka, 

 mosses, lycopodium, and fern. It may be visited without danger, and from it the 

 curious traveler has a fair and fall view into the blue, boiling, and steaming caldron. 

 Such is the famous Te Tarata. 



TMs geyser usually boils to a height of 10 or 15 feet. When there is 

 a south wind, according to Mair,* the water recedes, and when the wind 

 changes the basin refills at the rate of three or four feet per hour, boil- 

 ing and roaring like an engine, and when almost full sends up a column 

 of water 20 feet in diameter to a height of 60 feet. 



Otcikapuarangi {cloudy atmosphere) or the Pinlc Terrace is on the op- 

 posite side of the lake from Te Tarata, which it much resembles, except 

 that its 50 terraces are tinged with pink, which is most marked in the 

 upper portions of the deposit. The rocks on the hill surrounding the 

 siliceous mass are harder than those around Te Tarata. The main plat- 

 form upon which the basin of the geyser is situated is 60 feet above the 

 lake and measures 100 yards by 100 yards. The geyser is smaller than 

 that of Te Tarata, measuring about 50 feet diameter, and is very deep, 

 filled with azure-tinted water which is generally boiling, and has a tem- 

 perature of 204° to 208° F. At times the geyser quiets and the over- 

 flow ceases, but the times of these cessations have never been deter- 

 mined. The pink color is due to iron oxide, traces of which are found 

 upon analysis of the water. Unlike Te Tarata, the deposits are nar- 

 rower at the bottom near the lake, on account of being inclosed in a. 

 horseshoe curve of the hill. 



WHAKAARI, OR WHITE ISLAND. 



White Island is about 30 miles from the main land, in the Bay of 

 Plenty, and is the summit of a submerged volcanic cone which is now 

 in the condition of a solfatara. According to Dr. Hector the area cov- 

 ered with siliceous sinter is a flat of about 30 acres, 60 feet above sea- 

 level, in which there is an acid hot geyser-lake (Lake Hope), which cov- 

 ers a space of 15 acres. Its temperature is 110^' P. From one part of 

 this lake the water spouts to the height of 100 feet. There are mud 

 holes surrounding the lake, and calcareous sulphates are found among 

 the deposits, the sea- water making the dift'erence in the deposits, and, 

 according to Hector, marking a third class of springs not found in the 

 Iceland classification. 



ORAKEIKORAKO AREA. 



The Orakeikorako springs are about 20 miles from Taupo, on the 

 Waikato Eiver. The most remarkable springs are on a large whitish 

 mass of siliceous deposits, 120 yards long and of about the same num- 

 ber of feet in width. It is called the flat stone by the natives. Seventy- 



*New Zealand Institute Transactions, Vol. IX, 1876. 



