Sxxv.—On the Mineral Waters of New Zealand. 427 
It should be stated here that the amount of carbonie acid given in the 
above analysis is merely computed, sufficient of it being taken to make up 
all the substances in union with it to bi-carbonates. Besides the acid 
necessary for this, there is a considerable quantity present in a free state: 
indeed, the water is, I believe, described as effervescing strongly when 
escaping from the spring. 
. This water is clear aud sparkling, caustic as before observed, and has a 
specific gravity of 1006-46 at 60? Fahr. 
Exposed to the atmosphere a crystalline precipitate formed, consisting 
principally of carbonate of lime, the following being its approximate com- 
position :— 
Carbonate of lime ka i» i MS & Ol Ok 
n magnesia .. im se "i oe 18:79 
Iron oxide SN Pe ix AN E .. iraces 
100-00 
I append an excellent and very elaborate description which has been 
published of this mineral spring :— 
** About a mile and a-half from Say's, there may be seen an interesting 
mineral spring, which will well repay a visit. As we are not aware that it 
has ever been described, we devoted some time to its examination. On 
approaching the spring from Say’s, a white, somewhat elevated patch 
strikes the eye. At a distance of half a mile it is very conspicuous in the 
surrounding fern and swampy land, and looks not unlike a deposit of guano 
as seen sometimes on the coast. Turning aside to inspect, a few yards 
through the fern on the left-hand side of the track, we found ourselves on a 
hard, whitish, oval-shaped mound of calcareous matter, about fifty feet in 
length and thirty-five feet wide, and of generally level surface. The 
western end of the ellipse slopes gently away to some low, boggy land, 
green with raupo, toetoe, and convolvulus. The other end is level with 
the harder and higher ferny surface of a low, flat spur from the neighbour- 
ing ranges, and at this end is an oval-shaped hole, about six feet by five, 
and three-and-a-half feet deep, but contracting regularly downwards like a 
funnel. The bottom is a mere tube of about three inches in diameter, 
down which a stick was thrust to a depth of eight feet from the surface. 
This hole is full of cold, clear, bubbling water, which overflows by a gutter 
about two inches deep and three inches wide, sunk in the hard crust of the 
mound and coursing outwards to its western extremity, where the small rill 
of water loses itself in the swamp below. Bubbles of gas continuously 
ascend in three or four columns from the bottom of the hole, and burst on 
the surface in rapid succession. The water has the pleasant, brisk, and 
