• Kirk. — On the Lake District of the N'orth Island. 325 



Te Kgae. 

 At the telegraph station, Te Ngae, formerly the residence of the I\^v. Mr. 

 Chapman, the false acacia, English elms, elder, hawthorn, poplar, apple, 

 walnut, and other trees, have attained a large size, and are growing with the 

 greatest luxuriance, clearly demonstrating the capabilities of the soil, notwith- 

 standing the sterile appearance of its surface. Introduced grasses also flourish. 

 The sweet-briar has escaped from the garden and become a complete pest ; the 

 old road by the telegraph line is so completely overgrown that it is difficult 

 even for horses to thread their way through it. In some parts of the district 

 it is spreading rapidly, the fruit being greedily eaten by horses ; the seeds are 

 distributed far and wide. It is easy to foresee that this plant is destined in a 

 few years to effect a considerable change in the scanty vegetation of the whole 

 Taupo district, as similar instances of its diffusion, although in a lesser degree, 

 are not uncommon. The shelter it affords is highly conducive to the growth 

 of native and introduced grasses, which in many spots are destroyed by the 

 scorching summer sun acting upon the pumiceous sand not yet decomposed 

 into soil. Horses, moreover, are said to fatten upon the fruit, so that its 

 spread will not be entirely prejudicial. 



EOTORUA. 



Rotorua is nearly circular in shape, its greatest diameter being under 

 seven miles. The wonderfid volcanic phenomena to which this lake owes its 

 interest are confined to the southern extremity between Te Arikiroa Bay and 

 the Pukeroa stream, and to the Island of Mokoia, which attains the height of 

 400 feet, and is situated near the centre of the lake. On the south and west 

 sides a low tolerably level plain extends one or two miles to the base of the 

 hills, which attain their greatest altitude, 2,500 to 2,600 feet, at Whanga- 

 pakau on the eastern, and Ngongotaha, an outlying spur of the Horohoro 

 range, on the south-west ; on the north and north-west the country rises more 

 gradually until it reaches the elevated forest-land separating the district from 

 Tauranga and the coast. 



In spots where the scrub attains a luxuriant growth the numerous boiling 

 springs and fumaroles are objects alike of interest and danger. The unwary 

 explorer suddenly finds himself on the extreme verge of chasms with vertical 

 sides from three to twelve feet in depth, which are constantly falling in from 

 the action of steam ', at the bottom liquid mud in a violent state of ebullition 

 presents a most repulsive appearance. In many mud-springs the contents are 

 less fluid and are occasionally ejected with considerable force ; in others the 

 contents appear to be about the consistency of putty, with the surface 

 undisturbed, a bubbling sputtering noise is heard, and in a moment the centre 

 of the mass rises in a son^what domed shape until it breaks from the apex in 



