The Hot Lake District — New Zealmid. 35 



the famous Waikato river, which, once the scene of fierce 

 fighting and campaigning, is now a prosperous agricultural 

 district, and to use the words of another writer " cattle may be 

 seen browsing on the land where once stood the Maori Pah and 

 British redoubt, and Maori faces may be seen grinning a smile 

 of cheerful recognition where they once gloated over the slain." 



On the second day the Lake of Rotor ua comes into view, and 

 as we approached nearer and saw its outline and the distant 

 township enveloped in clouds of steam, felt that we were at 

 length in sight of the Wonderland of the World. At first the 

 view of Ohinemutu, which is the native name of the township, 

 is not impressive. Lying low near the edge of the lake on a 

 sort of peninsula, there are no special features in its situation or 

 surroundings to attract the eye. The lake is large and generally 

 uninteresting, from its sides rise barren low-lying hills and the 

 township presents a picture of the ordinary colonial township, 

 consisting of a small cluster of low wooden houses. Nearing 

 the lake, the first impression is of an odour which cannot be 

 called balmy, and as we approach, it grows in intensity till the 

 whole atmosphere seems charged with the fumes of Hydrogen 

 Sulphide. Arriving at the Lake House Hotel, we were greeted 

 by a curious crowd composed of Europeans, Half-castes and 

 Maori men, women, and children to whom the arrival of the 

 mail coach is a matter of great interest. They seemed to mix 

 and mingle and display a genuine good feeling one to another. 

 Their past feuds quite forgotten, they are now brethren and 

 citizens under our own beloved Queen. 



The name of Rotorua being now so well known in connection 

 with those strange natural phenomena the hot lakes^ and so much 

 having been written thereon, it would be useless for me to 

 describe in detail the wonders of the place ; but for those who 

 have not seen for themselves or may not have read much 

 thereon I will endeavour to sketch as briefly as possible its 

 principal and most interesting features. 



All around the shores on the land lying between the town- 

 ship and the lake, and beyond the township, may be seen dense 



