Mair. — On Eiirima Rocks. 151 



Art. XYIII. — Notes on Rurima Rods. By Major W. G. Mair. 



[Read before the Auchland Institute, 2Zrd Decemher, 1872.] 



This group of islets, situated about four miles fi-om the main land and ti\e or 

 six miles north-east from the entrance to the Awaateatua river in the Bay of 

 Plenty, presents many interesting features, and would, I believe, well repay a 

 careful examination. In the early part of 1871 I visited them during a 

 fishing excursion, and as nothing, I believe, has ever been w^ritten about 

 them, it has occurred to me to jot down, as w-ell as my memory serves, these 

 few notes. 



Unlike most islands or rocks on the Xew Zealand coast this group stands 

 on a shallow patch, and the shores, instead of being steep-to, present a margin 

 of rock or sand extending in some parts to a breadth of 150 yards between 

 high and low water-mark. This formation breaks the sea, and prevents that 

 weather-beaten appearance so characteristic of sea-girt islets. The most 

 western islet (Burima proper) is about 100 feet in height; it covers an area of 

 perhaps four acres, and consists of three hummocks placed in the form of a 

 triangle, with one of its points presented to the north and another to the west. 

 The western hummock is insulated at high water, the other two are connected 

 by a belt of light sandy soil about seventy yards broad, and not more than ten 

 feet above high water. On either side of this belt is a sand beach, the 

 westei'n one forming a landing in southerly and easterly winds, if the sea is 

 not heavy ; w^hile that on the eastern side, protected as it is by rocks on 

 either hand, forms a bay, with good landing in almost any weather with wind 

 from north nearly round to south. There is hardly water enough for anything 

 larger than ten or fifteen tons to use this bay as an anchorage in hea\y 

 weather. The first mentioned hummock is the smallest, it is jirecipitous and 

 densely covered with the ordinary littoral plants. The one forming the 

 southern corner of the angle is lower, and flat-topped, with a growth of short 

 fern. The heat imparted to the soil by an old fumarole has made this mound 

 a favourite breeding place for many varieties of gulls. 



Under favourable conditions of the atmosphere steam may be seen issuing 

 from the ground in several places, but it is evident that the igneous action is 

 all but extinct. 



The northern hummock is the largest and highest in the group ; it is 

 thickly wooded, and possesses some fine specimens of pohutukawa {Jfetrosi- 

 deros tomentosa), in some of w^hich I observed nests of the common pied shag 

 {Graculus varius). The only fresh water in the group is on the north-west 

 face of this hummock. It is a dripping spring not many yards above high 

 water-mark, nearly hidden by the arching roots of a huge, half prostrate 



