Wellington Philosophical Society. 387 



referred to tlie visit of Dr. Eolston and Lieut. Edwin, in 18G8,* and the illxis- 

 ti-ation by the Hon. J. C. Richmond, accompanying their paper on the subject; 

 and said that tliere must have been a considerable change in the features 

 of the lake since the visit of Dr. Hector, in 1870,f the water appearing 

 to be at its lowest ebb, and, in the great geyser, but little of anything above 

 the level of the sea. Much ground was traversed that in 1866, 1868, and 

 1870, was covered with water. Care had to be exercised, as the ground was 

 very rotten in places. Once the author sunk to the knee in lukewarm 

 sulphurous water. From the great geyser rose huge volumes of smoke above 

 the height of the surrounding hills, and, as every now and again a breath of 

 wind drove the smoke on one side, there was seen, some 50 feet below, a 

 seething mass of boiling water. Judging from the varying depth and extent 

 of the lake, as seen at different times ' by Dr. Rolston, Lieut. Edwin, and 

 Dr. Hector, the author thought that there might be some subterraneous 

 communication between the lake and the sea. " There is a dismal, dreary look 

 pervading the whole place. The grim, barren hills rising high up on all sides, 

 with here and there a little jet of steam issuing from some crevice at different 

 heights, even to the very summit of the hills ; and through the smoke little 

 glimpses of the blue vault of heaven, the only refreshing relief from the dreary, 

 dismal, awful hole of boiling sulphur below ; while far away to the back 

 stretches a broken surface of yellow sulphurous substance, with jets rising 

 here and there, the view again closed by the dreary, barren hills, for the 

 landing place is not visible from the great geyser." The author considers 

 White Island one of the greatest curiosities of these shores, equal in wonder, 

 though by no means in beauty, to the terraces of Roto mah ana. 



Dr. Hector gave some interesting information respecting the formation of 

 the island, and its geological features. 



2. The following letter, from Mr. T. H. Cockburn Hood, F.Gr.S., respecting 

 the caves in Otago where the skin, neck, and feathers of a Moa, and remains 

 of other birds, had been found, was read by Dr. Hector : — 



" 2nd January, 1874. — I had an opportunity lately of visiting the place 

 where the man found the skin with the feathers of the Moa which you have 

 in the Museum, and am quite convinced that it could not have lain there any 

 great number of years — at all events in the spot where he got it. 



" The cavern, formed by the sliding down of a mass of rock, has two main 

 entrances. It is about sixty feet deep to the lowest accessible floor, and there 

 is a narrow fissure leading down to a lower chasm. 



" After digging down about a foot, at the very lowest part, in the soft 

 debris of animal matter, droppings, etc. (not particularly dry), I found numbers 



* Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. I., p. 57. + Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. III., p. 278. 



