372 NEW ZEALAND. 



which the snow was absent only four months in the year. This region 

 is in the neighbourhood of the high peak of Mount Egmont, said, in 

 the Sydney Almanac, but upon what authority is not stated, to be 

 fourteen thousand feet high. Mr. Williams described the route as 

 exhibiting volcanic phenomena on a large scale, among which were 

 quantities of pumice, extending entirely across the island, and an 

 extensive plain, which had sunk in one place, and disclosed a bed of 

 that substance, three or four hundred feet in thickness; he likewise 

 spoke of geysers or jets of boiling water. 



The only volcano that was known to be in action, was one on a 

 small island in the Bay of Plenty, on the east coast. 



The embedded minerals in the rock about the bay are quartz, iron, 

 and iron pyrites. 



The hot spring of Taiaimi was visited, but it is described as rather 

 an emission of gas than of water. It is situated in a small basin, and 

 forms a lake of three or four acres in extent ; near the edge of this 

 lake, gas is constantly bubbling up, usually through the water, to 

 which it gives the appearance of boiling ; and gas also issues from the 

 surrounding land for an extent of several acres. The water was found 

 to be warm, but did not scald. The neighbouring ground w T as desti- 

 tute of vegetation, and appeared as if the surface of the earth had been 

 artificially removed. Sulphur was abundant, and there was also a 

 slight incrustation of alum. The water w 7 as strongly impregnated with 

 iron, was much discoloured, and in smell and taste not unlike pyrolig- 

 neous acid. A quantity of gas was brought away, but the bottle met 

 with an accident before it could be analyzed. It is not inflammable, 

 and had it been of a deleterious nature, the fact, (from the quantities 

 emitted,) could not fail to have been perceived. It had no smell, and 

 appeared not to differ from atmospheric air. The natives attribute 

 medical virtues to these waters. 



Twelve or fifteen miles to the westward of the Bay of Islands, near 

 Taiaimi, there are several small extinct craters, rising about five 

 hundred feet above the surrounding country. One of them is called 

 Poerua, and is remarkable for the regular figure of its cone when seen 

 from the eastward. Its western side is cut through by a deep gorge. 

 The interior is covered with large forest trees and huge blocks of 

 lava, while the exterior is clad in ferns of low growth. The diameter 

 of the crater is about half a mile. The plain which surrounds the cone 

 is composed of an uncommonly rich soil, strewed with lava, which 

 the natives collect in heaps, in order to obtain space for cultivation. 

 The lava does not extend far from the cone, and even in the interior, 

 rock seldom appeared, but where it was seen it proved to be vesicular 



