306 
was reminded of the fertile plains of Hungary or of the Rhine- 
valley, where the Neckar and the Main mingle with the Rhine. 
Like mirrors resplendent with the broken rays of the sun, you see 
glistening numerous lakes, and the serpentine currents of large 
rivers winding through the plains. The Waikato is the main-river 
in this richly watered, fertile basin, which, in its extent from 
the western to the eastern mountain-ranges , I call the Middle 
Waikato Basin. The Waikato flows through this basin in the 
direction from Southeast to Northwest, a distance of 35 miles. 1 
Immediately at the foot of the Taupiri the Mangawaro joins it, 
running trough large swamps in the East, and 5 miles farther up 
it receives the Waipa, the principal tributary from the Southwest. 
Up the Waipa towards Southwest and South, along the western 
coast-range, the low-land extends as far as the slopes of the pictu- 
resque trachytic mountain Pirongia, and the spurs of the Rangitoto- 
range, where from the midst of the plain the Kakepuku rises 
with a regular conical shape. To the South-Southeast, where the 
AVaikato enters from the southern table-land into the basin, there 
rises majestically the trachytic Maungatautari. Thence springs up 
a low range of hills, the Maungakawa-range, separating the eastern 
portion of the basin — the plains of the Piako and Waiho, rivers 
of considerable size emptying into the Hauraki Gulf, — from the 
Waikato and AVaipa plains. But it is only the steep margin of the 
eastern coast-range, from the Patetere Plateau to the Aroha moun- 
tain, .that forms the eastern boundary of the basin. This whole 
basin was previous to the last elevation of North Island, which 
was probably connected with the volcanic eruptions in the centre 
of the island, a bay of the sea, extending from the Hauraki Gulf 
far into the interior. The steep margin of the surrounding ranges 
has continued to this day displaying the sea-shore of old , and 
the singular terrace-formation on the declivities of the hills and the 
river-banks within this basin is the result of a slow and periodical 
upheaving. 
1 The designation of the AVaikato in the middle AVaikato Basin as Horotiu i£ 
wrong. Horotiu is the name of a river-district, 15 miles above Taupiri. 
