Anniversary Address. 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, marine. " + 



Taupo is indeed a noble inland sea, the Queen of the lakes of the North 

 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,;}; with its ever-steaming crater of Ngau- 

 ruhoe ; and near it, clad in perpetual snow, the huge mass of Iluapehu.§ 



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, jn'obably, 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 the 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 

 margin of the lake ; fording, however, several rivers which flow into its 



* The Maoris speak of tlie Moana {i.e. sea), not Roto {i.e. lake) of Taupo. 

 + Virgil, Georg. IT., 160. X About 6,500 feet high. § About 9,200 feet high. 



