from the midst of a circular range shutting it in all around and 
open only on the Southwest, similar to the Vesuvius encircled 
by the Somma. The funnel-shaped crater at the summit of the 
cone could he distinctly seen, indeed almost looked into, the West- 
side of the crater being much lower, than the Eastside. Conse- 
quently the crater presented itself to us in the form of an ellipse, 
from which continually dense, white steam-clouds arose, which 
sometimes enshrouded the whole peak, and at other times were 
driven southward by the wind , which afforded us a view of the 
blackened edges of the Eastside of the crater. The generation of 
steam was to-day much stronger than at a former time, when I 
saw the mountain from Pukewhau. The natives assured me that 
the Westside of the crater had fallen in at the earthquake of Wel- 
lington in 1855, and that at that time also a second crater to the 
North had been active. Farther North , on the slope of the moun- 
tain, a briskly steaming solfatara was visible. The Tongariro was 
entirely clear of snow. But to the right of the Tongariro arose 
the towering mass of the Ruapaliu; its summit wrapped in dense 
clouds, and below the cloud-cap, the snowficlds of the peak were 
seen to reach down as far as an absolute height of about 7800 feet. 
At the base of these mountain -colosses, dark forests extended; but 
in the foreground, mountains with sharp edges and deeply fissured 
precipices; and at our feet the valleys with their long stretched 
terrace-lines. Thus we beheld in one glance the effects of fire and 
of water on the grandest scale in one and the same landscape-view. 
My stay at Ivatiaho enabled me also to buy from a Maori 
for the price of one pound Sterling the pelvis of a small Moa which 
had been found near Teruakuaho a few miles above Ivatiaho on 
the Ongaruhe, under a cliff of the Herepu mountain. This was 
the first Moa relic , that fell into my hands , and I was not little 
gratified at the lucky circumstance. 
April 1 1 . The terminus of our to-day’s journey was Petania 
at the foot of the Tuliua- mountain, a distance of about 16 miles 
from Ivatiaho. At the mouth of the Mangakahu we crossed the 
Ongaruhe by means of canoes, and followed the river up the 
