CHARACTERISTTCS AND DISTRIBUTION OF LAKES 643 
North and north-westward from Lake Tarawera lies a rugged 
volcanic country dotted with numerous lakes, the largest being Lake 
Kotorua. These lakes, called the " Hot Lakes of New Zealand, 
because their shores are marked by geysers and hot springs, appear to 
fill depressions formed by the down-faulting of limited areas in a lava 
plateau which formerly existed, but is now represented by the flat 
volcanic hills bordering the lakes. These lakes drain to the Bay of 
Plenty. 
Lake Rotorua, 915 feet above sea-level, covers an area of about 
32 square miles, and consists of a roughly circular basin 6 miles in 
diameter, broken by an irregular southern extension, which increases 
the length in a north-and-south direction to a maximum of 7J miles ; 
the mean breadth is about 4 miles. The deepest sounding taken in 
the lake was 120 feet, in a hole probably not more than a chain 
across near the southern shore, the average depth being 39 feet. The 
lake is fed by several streams and a great number of springs, many of 
which are hot. The hot springs occur in two main groups, one 
north-east of the lake, and the other on its southern shore. The 
springs of the latter group are close to the waters"' edge or actually in 
the lake, and where the water is shallow the presence of springs at 
the bottom is shown by the milkiness of the water, due to sulphur 
held in suspension. The south end of the lake is marked by great 
thermal activity. The outlet is by the Ohau stream, which, after 
crossing a belt of low-lying flat land little more than half a mile in 
width, enters the west end of Lake Rotoiti. 
Lake Rotoiti, 910 feet above the sea, covers an area of about 
14 square miles ; its length is nearly 11 miles, its breadth from 
1 to 2 miles, its greatest depth 230 feet, and its mean depth 
69 feet. The lake is divided by a narrow channel into a large 
eastern and a small western basin. The outlet is by the Okere or 
Kaituna River. 
Lakes Waikaremoana and Wairaumoana lie at the southern 
border of Tuhoe Land, 2015 feet above sea-level, 25 miles from the 
sea-coast of Hawke Bay, to which they drain by the Wairoa River. 
The land between the lakes and the sea-coast is intersected by 
irregular ranges of hills, increasing in height as the lakes are ap- 
proached. The valley occupied by the main body of the lakes runs 
parallel to the Panekiri range for a distance of 7^ miles measured in 
a straight line. Two arms run out from this valley from its opposite 
sides, about midway between its extreme ends, one towards the south, 
leading to the outlet of the lakes at Onepoto, the other formed by 
the Whanganui and Mokau inlets. The greater part of the lakes, 
therefore, has the form of a cross, the axes of which measure 7^ and 61 
miles in length, and to that part the name Lake Waikaremoana strictly 
