418 Transactions,— Miscellaneous. 
The island contains 8,154 acres, its greatest width being three miles and 
its least two miles, with a coast-line of eleven miles, whilst the highest 
point on it, Opuahau, is 1,274 feet above sea-level. 
The formation is voleanie, and it has been well named by the natives 
Tuhua, that being the Maori for obsidian or volcanic glass, of which, with 
basalt, the island principally consists; cliffs, reefs, boulders, eto., being 
composed of this mineral, or a conglomerate of it mixed with other volcanic 
matter. 
The island is very picturesque with its grand coast scenery, consisting 
of majestic arches and deep rugged caves and caverns in the basaltie rock. 
It has also its hot springs and large crater, which latter is five miles in cir- 
cumference, with well-defined walls, the sides of which are composed of 
various kinds of voleanie débris, affording a grand field for geological study. 
The island is, however, of no use for settlement, the whole surface being very 
broken, and with the exception of two small lakes, situated in the crater, 
which are difficult of access, badly watered. A few very small springs are 
to be found, but they would not supply sufficient water for an European 
population or for stock. There are no running streams of any descrip- 
tion 
The climate is very mild and pleasant. During the time I was there, 
viz., from the 28rd January to the 16th February, 1884, the mean shade 
temperature taken each day at noon was 79°, the maximum being 90°, the 
minimum being 72°, with a pleasant breeze blowing off the sea. I was in- 
formed by the natives that no frost is ever experienced—the place is therefore 
well suited for the growth of some kinds of fruits. Bananas, apples, 
peaches, grapes, figs, raspberries, strawberries, and Cape gooseberries, were 
seen in a flourishing condition on various parts of the island. Tobacco 
grows very well, the natives having some very fine specimens of it in their 
cultivations, in addition to potatoes, kumaras, and maize. 
At one period the Maori population must have been very large, pas, now 
in ruins, are found scattered over the island on every commanding hill or 
point of vantage. At present the inhabitants number only nine, viz., three 
men, four women, and two little girls, who all belong to the Urungawera 
hapu of the great Ngaiterangi tribe, and these lay claim to the ownership 
of the island.* Of the former inhabitants many have left for the main land, 
where they now reside on a reserve at Katikati; others have been cut off by 
Sickness, more particularly about the year 1862, when sixty of them died 
within a few days of some epidemie.- The greater number of the old in- 
habitants were, however, killed in the numerous battles which took place in 
* Mr. J. A. Wilson in his “ Story of Te Wakaroa,” says that in 1835 they numbered 
70 people, 
