Gold- Smith. — Description of Mayor Island. 425 



the island, and this fact — together with that of the hot springs being below 

 high-water mark, and numerous other indications all round the island — 

 point to the rapid encroachment of the sea. The cliffs in this bay are very 

 precipitous, being about 300 feet high, and they extend to the end of the 

 range below the Taupiri trig, station (585 feet), where they terminate in a 

 bold bluff, the hills then running inland, leaving a flat, named Te Ananui, 

 of about one hundred acres in extent, which has all been under cultivation. 

 There is a small pohutukawa bush upon it. The landing-place to this 

 locality is in an open bay called Hurihurihanga, and is a very bad one, 

 all amongt large rough boulders. Inland, about half a mile from the flat, 

 in a small patch of mixed bush, and at the foot of Opuahau Hill, is Opuhi, 

 where the best spring of the island is situated, where there are also numbers 

 of the korimako, or bell-bird, to be found — a bird not often now seen in 

 the Bay of Plenty. 



The flat before mentioned is bounded on the east by a range which 

 crosses the island in a generally northerly direction, the principal peak of 

 which, Opuahau (1,274 feet), is the highest point on the island. The termi- 

 nation of this range, called Tekopua, which forms the eastern boundary of 

 Te Ananui flat, is very singular. The bluff falls from Te Ohineiti hill, 

 897 feet high, with a gradual fall for a few chains. The whole range has 

 then slipped away into the sea, and now forms a huge slope, at about one in 

 one, with about 600 feet fall. This slope is composed of pumice sand, 

 pumice, obsidian, and other volcanic debris, into which one sinks up to one's 

 knees. This loose material in a wind or rain slides away into the sea, and 

 from the appearance of it has been doing so for years. It is very dangerous 

 work crossing it, the whole huge slope having an inclination to slide down 

 with you into the sea, some 600 feet below. At Tumutu Point, about a 

 quarter of a mile from Tekopua, is an immense cave, washed out by the 

 action of the sea in the side of the range. It is a very wild-looking spot, 

 and when a heavy sea is breaking into it, and dashing the spray up its 

 rugged sides, the effect is very grand. 



From this point to Mawai Bay there is nothing interesting, it being the 

 most dismal aspect of the island, consisting only of a mountain slope 

 falling from Opuahau with a steep incline into the sea, and covered with 

 a growth of tea-tree scrub and fern, without any bush or interesting feature. 



Mawai Bay. — This is a very pretty little bay, with a boulder beach, and 

 some fine pohutukawa trees growing round it ; and in the little glens lead- 

 ing up from the bay are some fine peach trees, the best to be found on the 

 island. These small glens have all been under cultivation at one time or 

 other. Passing round a rocky point with obsidian cliffs, about 20 feet high, 

 we arrive at 



