379 
the statement the natives; and 50 yards from the source of the 
Waikato, the source of the Wangaehu is said to lie, which flows 
South, and empties into Cooks strait East of the mouth of the Wan- 
ganui river. Its water, the natives say, has a milky color, and a 
bitter, astringent taste. 
The pumicestone plateau, upon which the Tongariro and Rua- 
pahu rear their colossal heads , assumes on the South-East side of 
the Ruapahu, where it forms the watershed between the Waikato 
and Wangaehu, the character of a sandy desert. The natives call 
the plateau Rangipo, and the sandy desert Onetapu. Superstitious 
notions are connected with this sandy plain. The road from Lake 
Taupo to Wanganui, the so-called Rangipo-Road leads over it, and 
the natives have driven pegs into the ground in order to point out 
the direction of the road. 
From the southern foot of the Ruapahu the country slopes 
gradually towards Cooks strait in the same manner as from the North- 
end of Lake Taupo towards the Ray of Plenty. It consists on 
both sides principally of pumicestone, pumicestone-tuffs and rhyo- 
lite lavas , and it can be justly said , that the foot of the two vol- 
canic colosses reaches from sea to sea. 
S W. Ruapahu Tongariro NE. 
Cooks Strait Taupiri 9200' 6500* Lake Taupo Rotorua Putauaki Bay of Plenty 
Consequently the Taupo volcanoes arise upon a huge flat cone, 
which was formed by the first submarine eruptions, and rose only 
gradually by the upheaving of the land above the sea. In close 
connection with this rising is the terrace-formation in all the river- 
valleys of that cone , a phenomenon which is very characteristically 
marked on the shores of Lake Taupo. The first terrace is at Pu- 
kawa about 100 feet above the present level of the lake. It is 
covered with the sand- and boulder-alluvium of the lake, and so 
very characteristic that even the natives could not help noticing it. 
