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state of calm repose, its temperature often falling considerably. To the 

 Hverjar belong, for example, the celebrated springs of Haukadal, the great 

 Geyser and Strokkur, and with these the Puias of New Zealand correspond. 

 The word Puia is especially used in the Taupo country, to designate the 

 intermittent, geyser-like fountains of Tokanu, of Orakeikorako on the Waikato, 

 and of Whakarewarewa on Lake Rotorua. Puia has, moreover, the more 

 general meaning of crater or volcano, and is applied to active as well as extinct 

 volcanoes. Namur, upon Iceland, are the non-intermittent springs, such as 

 the solfataras of Krisuvik and Reykjahlid, having no periodical eruptions ; and 

 the same are in New Zealand the Ngawhas, a term specially used for non- 

 intermittent springs, for the solfataras and sulphurous hot-springs on the 

 Rotomahana, Rotorua, and Rotoiti. Finally, the springs suited to bathing 

 purposes, the water of which never reaches the boiling point, and all naturally 

 warm baths are called : Waiariki,' corresponding to the Laugar of Iceland." 



From this it will be seen that "Te Puias" are intermittent springs, whose 

 temperature varies considerably at different times ; a phenomenon which seems 

 to be characteristic of this individual spring, as will appear from certain 

 considerations to be mentioned further on. This is an incident worthy of note, 

 as corroborative of the correctness of Hochstetter's general observations and 

 deductions, and illustrative of the general prevalence, amongst the Maoris, of 

 certain terms for cei'tain classes of phenomena. Hochstetter never visited this 

 spring, was never any nearer to it than the Waikato, and yet, here we find the 

 same term applied amongst one tribe, which he found prevailing amongst other 

 and totally different tribes, at least one hundred miles from this. 



For some distance before reaching the spring, the heavy air of the swampy 

 forest is impregnated with a sulphurous odour, occasionally to the extent of 

 being very offensive, and about ten chains from our journey's end, the bush 

 track, which we followed, brought us to the stream which flows from the 

 spring. Speaking from memory, this stream was from two to three feet wide, 

 of a similar depth, and running with a considerable current. It was clear, 

 with a bright but dark-green deposit, or, as I at first thought, with fungus 

 plants growing in the bottom. Steam was rising all along its course, and it 

 was so hot that you could not hold your hand in the water. The creek was 

 about four feet below the general level of the flat, and the bank sloped easily 

 down to the edge of the water. On this bank no herbage of any sort was 

 growing, but whether the red unclothed soil was the result of anything peculiar 

 in the water, or of recent floodings of the creek itself, I cannot pretend to say ; 

 I rather think of the latter, however, as evidences were not wanting of recent 

 iDundations. Following up the creek, and scrambling through some thick 

 undergrowth in the otherwise open Kahikatea bush, all of a sudden we come 

 upon "Te Puia." 



I confess I felt disappointed on seeing it. From what I had read of hot 

 springs, I expected to have seen a nice circular basin, with its sides encircled 

 by silica or lime ; a clean and graceful punch bowl on a gigantic scale, with a 

 funnel or tube descending from the centre, from whence proceeded all the 

 "hubble-bubble, boil and bubble," with which our ideas of subterranean igneous 

 action are generally associated. I might then have let my imagination 

 loose for a time, and pictured to you fairy nymphs with angelic forms laving 

 their graceful limbs in the enchanted bath, whilst sylvan satyrs kept watch 

 and ward in the dark recesses of the forest around. But alas, nothing could 

 be more prosaic than this xigly dub of water, more like a cluck or horse-pond 

 than anything else. Along one side and one end, the bush came close to the 

 pond's edge. On the other side and end, the bush was cleared for a space 

 of about ten feet, on the average, as shown in the sketch. There was no 

 hollow, or head of a gully, or anything of that sort, to indicate that water might 



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