Gold- Smith. — Description of Mayor Island. 42l 



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 Euakikino 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 Eeef, which is the best fishing ground for hapuku, and the home 

 of the mako, a small sbark 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 debris ; 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$ 



