Gorp-Surrg.— Description of Mayor Island. 491 
and you have to dip it up cup by cup. During my stay of three weeks on 
the island, in which we only used the water for tea and cooking food, this 
meagre supply was nearly exhausted. The spring in question, and one 
other of the same kind, is all that the inhabitants of the three pas had to 
depend upon for their water supply. A few chains from the spring, in 
another pretty glen, are growing a few fine bananas, which bear fruit that 
ripens, but not of a large size. They were brought to the island by a 
Kanaka some years ago. Cape gooseberries and peaches are also plentiful, 
though the latter here and generally over the island are a very bad kind. 
It is into this bay that the fragile nautilus sails at certain seasons, and it is 
also the landing place of excursionsts, the other places of interest being 
most conveniently approached from its shore. Leaving this beautiful bay 
with its charming scenery and perfect sea-bathing, and passing an open bay 
with high rugged cliffs, we arrive at Ruakikino Point, which presents to 
view a fine specimen of wild coast scenery—the sea having washed its way 
far into the basaltic rock which forms the point, and scooping out most 
beautiful caves and channels winding through the rock, these chasms 
being spanned by grand rugged arches. On a very calm day it is possible 
to take a boat up these channels and underneath the arches into the dark 
caves beyond, where the echo of the voices and the dashing of the waves 
produce a very weird impression. About a mile off this point is situated 
the Karoa Reef, which is the best fishing ground for hapuku, and the home 
of the mako, a small shark much prized by the natives for its teeth, which 
they use as earrings. These mako, however, are not often caught. There 
is one objection to this fishing ground, viz., its great depth of water of one 
hundred fathoms. ‘The sea here and all round the island is beautifully 
clear, objects being visible at a great distance from the surface. 
Passing on past Waitangi Bay with its crags and beetling cliffs we come 
to a small open bay, in the north-west corner of which (between Taratimi 
and Taumou Pas) is the lip of the crater. It was here that the sides of this 
large crater were broken through, and the lava poured into the sea. The 
cliffs here are about one hundred feet high, and it must have been a grand 
sight to have seen the glowing lava falling into the blue sea over this fall of 
one hundred feet. 
The crater is five miles in circumference and is very well defined, being 
marked out by lofty hills and ridges which vary in height from 1,162 feet 
down to 100 feet. The interior sides of this vast amphitheatre are very 
precipitous, and composed of a great variety of volcanic débris; obsidian 
and pumice are, however, the principal minerals found: the obsidian in 
some places having evidently cooled in layers, which gives it a stratified 
appearance ; at other places you find it in rocks, boulders, lodes and reefs, 
