- 
Anniversary A ddress, 5 
The name Tapuaeharuru signifies “ echoing footsteps,” and has reference to 
the hollow sound of the earth in this neighbourhood, owing to the hard 
superficial crust formed by the volcanic soil over the deep and vast caverns 
beneath. Along both banks of the Waikato there are numerous solfataras 
and geysers, which throw up constantly white clouds of steam, and, ever and 
anon, jets of boiling water. The extinct volcano of Mount Tauhara is a 
picturesque object rising above the right bank of the river. Below it, the 
north end of the lake is bounded by the Kaingaroa Plain, by old streams of 
lava from Tauhara, and by terraces of pumice-stone, varied by groves of 
manuka, resembling gigantic and evergreen heather. To the Southward 
stretches bright, broad, and long, the great Lake, or—as it is called by the 
Maoris*—the Sea of Taupo, realizing Virgil’s description of the Lago di Garda, 
the Benacus of ancient Italy :— 
“‘ Fluctibus et fremitu assurgens, Benace, marino.” + 
Taupo is indeed a noble inland sea, the Queen of the lakes of the N orth 
Island, with its coast formed mainly by dark and lofty cliffs, grand in their 
gloom, but relieved here and there by a mountain torrent or a glittering 
waterfall. At the southern horizon the prospect is bounded by the graceful 
outline of the peaks of the Kaimanawa range ; to the west of which towers 
the great active volcano of Tongariro,t with its ever- -steaming crater of Ngau- 
ruhoe ; and near it, clad in perpetual snow, the huge mass of Ruapehu.§ 
The Lake of Taupo is about 1,200 feet above the sea-level, and somewhat 
resembles in climate and scenery, as well as in extent (covering about 200 
square miles of water), the Lake of Geneva. It is in most parts of hitherto 
unfathomed depth, and its waters have, probably, filled and overflowed several 
ancient craters. It is on nearly all sides surrounded by masses of lava, 
pumice-stone, and other volcanic formations, rising, more or less abruptly, 
into a high and generally barren table-land. Not far from the centre of the 
lake is the rocky islet of Motutaiko, celebrated in Maori legend as the abode 
of the Taniwhas—the malignant water-fiends, whose spite often stirs up the 
fierce and sudden gales which render so dangerous = navigation of the “Sea” 
of Taupo. 
On the 9th April, we started in a boat for Tokano, the principal native 
settlement at the south end of the lake. The distance by water is about 
twenty-six miles, and by land, along the eastern shore, about thirty-six miles. 
The morning was calm and bright, but at noon a strong contrary gale arose ; 
so we landed at the site of the old Pa of Motutere, whither horses had been 
sent forward in anticipation of one of these sudden storms. Thence, we rode 
the rest of the distance (about sixteen miles) to Tokano, chiefly along the 
T of the lake; fording, however, several rivers which flow into its 
Maoris speak of the Moana (i.e. sea), not Roto (i.e. lake) of Taupo. 
T mp Geure IL., 160. t About 6,500 feet high. § About 9,200 feet high. 
