68 A Sketch of New Zealand. | [ February, 
tions, the most remarkable are Mts. Egmont and Ruapeau, to- 
gether with the still smoking peak of Tongario. The latter rises 
near the center of the island to an elevation of 6500 feet, and is 
the sacred “tapu,” mountain of the natives, which no one is 
allowed to ascend. The trachytic mountain, known as Ruapeau, 
is the near neighbor of Tongario, and is the highest point in the 
North Island, its summit being 9165 feet above the sea, and 
about a thousand feet above the line of perpetual snow. According 
to the traditions of the Maoris, these mountains once had another 
neighbor whom they 
called Taranaki, a 
quarrel having arisen 
among them concern- 
the westward as far 
as the sea, and now 
forms the grand Mt. 
Egmont, whose 
snowy summit is a 
beacon to the far off 
mariner. 
Northward of the 
central volcanic re- 
gion is the beautiful 
Lake Topu, about 
twenty-five miles in 
length, which is espe- 
cially interesting for 
the numerous hot-springs and geysers along its shores, and also 
for its charming scenery, the grand summits of Tongario and 
Ruapeau limiting the view to the southward. Between Tongario 
and White island, in the Bay of Plenty, the only active volcanoes 
in New Zealand, lies the wonderful “ Lake District,’ that is so 
widely known for the extent and beauty of its spouting geysers, 
mud-volcanoes, etc. The heated waters of these springs bring 
with them large quantities of silica which is deposited around 
them in a series of beautiful siliceous basins, which are orna- 
mented, as if by fairy art, with the most delicate tints and tracery ; 
Maori Woman. 
