THE GEYSERS, HOT SPRINGS, AND TERRACES OF NEW ZEALAND. 379 
of sticks, stones, and clumps of soil projecting above the sinter, 
but all are incrusted more or less with silica. No regular basins 
are seen in this section, but, where an obstruction occurs, small 
terraced ridges are formed. 
(c.) The left wing (looking downward) has similar character- 
istics : and as the stream, after depositing the silica (held 
in solution by great subterranean pressure) on the upper or 
snowy plateau, makes its way over the slope of the hill and 
among shrubs and grasses, the new deposit, caused by the 
slow evaporation, spreads its snowy mantle over the soil ; the 
scarcely concealed foliage and mosses sparkle and glisten, but, 
if gathered, their frosted incrustation speedily falls off. Where 
the siliceous deposit is indurated and hardened, their forms or 
outlines may be traced long after the vegetation has disappeared, 
but we were unable to discover any true petrifactions. The 
most recent overflow finds its way over this wing, but the 
tendency is to form incrusted ridges and slopes, and not cups, 
basins, or terraces. The evidence is strongly in favour of the 
theory which supposes the central reservoir to have been origin- 
ally at a lower level and nearer to the edge of the lake, the 
deposit of sinter having elevated the reservoir and causing it 
to retreat along the path of least resistance into the side of the 
hill. 
The lower platform is the most extensive, and may be esti- 
mated at about one hundred and fifty feet in width, while it 
has a frontage of about three hundred yards along the edge 
of the lake. Its surface is in rippled layers, discoloured in 
many places, and supporting patches of scrub, fern, or moss 
upon a thin stratum of soil of recent deposit. Its general 
appearance is that of a pavement of concrete which has been 
subjected to the action of water overflowing from the lake. 
From our hasty review we could gain no idea of the thickness of 
the deposit in any place, but some enterprising geologist will 
doubtless spend a long vacation in this region and give the 
world the benefit of his investigations. 
Leaving Terata, and passing again through ti-tree scrub, we 
examine more closely the southern portion of this remarkable 
volcanic hill. The smaller fumaroles escaping notice, our atten- 
tion is arrested by two immense geysers (see fig. 2), Nga Hutu, 
which occasionally works great wonders, and Kakarike, which is 
truly appalling, its huge cauldron (about 50 feet in diameter) 
rolling in boiling waves, which break against its side and dash 
upward in angry menace. Passing several hot springs on right 
and left, a terrific roar breaks forth from a deep recess at some 
distance, caused by an escape of steam in great volume at enor- 
mous pressure. Subterranean rumblings and noxious exhala- 
tions combine to form a sensation the most perfect antithesis to 
