324 Essays. 
From the eastern base of Ruapehu the River Wangaehu rises as a stream 
of water, said to be charged with sulphurous acid as well as other mineral 
compounds. All along the base of the voleanie chain similar springs may be 
found, until on arriving at Tokanu, on the southern shores of Lake Taupo, 
the delta of the Tongariro River is found honeycombed by hot springs, and 
long lines of the same may be seen extending up the side of the hill over- 
looking the smothered village of Terapa, where the venerable Te Heuheu 
and many of his tribe met their death by the slipping of the side of the 
mountain in the year 1847. 
It would occupy too much space in an essay of this kind to enter into a 
deseription of the grand system of hot springs, warm lakes, mud springs, 
and other voleanie phenomena which are found in this eountry, extending 
from Lake Taupo to the Bay of Plenty, and thence to White Island.. For a 
description of these the reader must be referred to Hochstetter and other 
authors.* 
We may now proceed to consider the igneous rocks in the south-western 
or trappean part of the island, as previously indieated. 
These rocks are only to be perceived at a few points, apparently forming 
dykes in, or nearly in, the line of direction of the ranges. Thus amygda- 
loidal trap may be perceived traversing palmozoie rocks at Mukamuka, and 
amphibolite traversing calcareous rocks of a newer age at Waikekino, on the 
east coast of the Wellington Province. 
TERRACES AND RarsED BEACHES. 
These form a characteristic feature of New Zealand geology. Pumice- 
stone terraces are found fringing the volcanic chain at an elevation of about 
2,000 feet, and also occupying large areas in the Province of Auckland at a 
lower elevation. 
Terraces at the south part of the island are found, as previously stated, 
at about 1,000 feet, 400, 250 to 300, and decided raised beaches at about 15, 
and 4 to 9 feet. That these extend throughout the island at similar levels 
is probable, but more information is wanted to establish this fact. 
Between these principal terraces are many smaller ones. Although 
fossils are in general absent, it is likely that the terraces mark successive 
rests of the land during its rise. To account for them as lake terraces 
would require the supposed erection, or rather demolition, of a vast number 
of barriers. 
At a height of about fifteen feet above the present sea level a very well- 
defined sea beach is found all along the southern coast, worn into cavities 
and bored by the shells of Pholade. The latest raised beach is that which 
ae Fischer’s Translation, pp. 35 and 67. Thomson, Vol. I, 
