108 Transactions. 
Small deposits of sulphur were seen in two or three places round the 
upper edge of the basin, on which we also found many insects, such as 
beetles and dragon-flies, as well as some feathers of a lark, and the whole 
body of a hawk, incrusted with the siliceous sinter. 
The water in the pools on the terraces was of very opaque light-blue 
colour; and when we first arrived, I noticed that the water in the basin 
and the lower portion of the column of steam ascending from it were also of 
the same hue. 
Art. XV.— Description of Arid Island, Hauraki Gulf. By Captain 
F. W. Hvrrow, F.G.S., and T. KIRK. ; 
Plate VI. 
[Read before the Auckland Institute, 3rd August, 1868.] 
Arr IsraxD lies about three miles from the north-east coast of the Great 
Barrier. It is rather less than one mile and a half long, by about three- 
quarters of a mile broad, and contains nearly 600 acres. Its highest point 
is about 700 feet above the sea level. 
In December, 1867, in company with Mr. A. J. Allom, we spent several 
hours in examining this island, which, owing to its out-of-the-way position 
and its rugged cliffs, is seldom visited except by Maoris in the Mutton-bird 
season—the end of November. The accompanying map (Plate VI.), which 
we then made, will serve to show its principal features; although, being 
merely an eye-sketch, and made without any instruments, it has no preten- 
sions to strict accuracy. | 
Arid Island certainly does not deserve the name bestowed on it by 
Captain Cook. The high, rugged, desolate-looking eliffs that encircle the 
greater part of the island, hide within them beautifully-sheltered valleys, 
covered with luxuriant fern and bush, and watered by streams which, 
uniting, empty themselves into the small boat harbour on the west coast. 
is harbour, although too small for a cutter to swing at her anchor, and 
exposed to north-westerly winds, is well adapted for boats, as it terminates 
in a fine, sandy beach, up which they can be easily hauled. It is the place 
where the Maoris always land when they come to eat Mutton-birds. These 
Mutton-birds, or Oii, as they call them, are a kind of petrel, of a dark 
brown colour, belonging, we suspect, to the genus Puffinus. We were not 
able to procure a specimen, the season being too far advanced, and saw 
nothing but the feathers lying about, where the Maoris had been eating 
them. These birds live in holes which they burrow into the soft hill sides. 
We were informed by the natives of the Great Barrier that formetly they 
. used to be very numerous, but that latterly they had become scarce, having 
