no attempt to extort a permission, or to elude the natives, as the 
weather was much too bad for such an undertaking, and only a 
greater expense of time, such as a thorough exploration of the vol- 
cano necessarily required , could have led to any satisfactory result. 
Nevertheless I deem myself capable of contributing something 
to abetter understanding of the Tongariro system, and will endea- 
vour to describe the several portions of that grand volcanic moun- 
tain according to the knowledge which I gained from tire West- and 
North-sides , of course only at a distance of several miles ; yet, 
with objects so grand, the general proportions are much more 
easily and therefore often much more correctly viewed at a greater 
distance, than by climbing for whole days along the colossal sides. 
The Tongariro is not a single mountain like the Ruapahu, but 
is composed of a whole group of mountain-cones. The beautiful 
cone, towering high above the other parts of the group, is distin- 
guished by the special name of Ngauruhoe. 1 It bears a funnel- 
shaped top-crater, the principal active one of the Tongariro. The 
Ngauruhoe together with the grand circular range, from the centre 
of which it rears its head, forms the southern portion of the 
Tongariro system. It is a cinder-cone of the most regular conical 
shape with a slope of 30 to 35 degrees; the height from the basis 
to the top I estimate at 1600 feet. It overtops the heighest points 
of the other parts of the system by about 500 feet and attains 
probably an absolute height of 6500 feet above the level of the 
sea. 2 The outer circus, shelving off inside with steep walls, and 
from all appearances forming a grand mountain-amphitheater with 
rocky precipices of 1000 feet in height, is opened on the West-side 
by a broad chasm; and no doubt, it is through this chasm, from 
the atrium between the cone of cinder and its eircumvallation 
the that chief-source of the Wanganui river flows. This seems also 
Dyson, and Ihey went to his house, waited his return, and took several things 
from him. He was now a suspected man, and his conduct was watched. 
1 At the Rotoaira they say Auruhoe. 
2 Dieffmbach I. p. 355, infers from Mr. Bidwill’s observations a height of 6200 feet. 
No real measurement of the Tongariro has ever been made. Estimates of height 
exceeding 7000 feet are at any rate over-estimated. 
