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remonstrations of tlie Maoris, ascended the mysterious mountain. 
After searching for a long time he found a small lizard scarcely 
span-long, which ho took with him to show to the Maoris, and to 
convince them, what kind of crocodiles really live there. An aged 
chief on seeing the lizard made the funny remark, that, if that 
huge monster was no longer seen, it must have been eaten up 
by cats. 
The outlet of lake Tarawera is on the Eastside; it is the 
Tarawera river or Awa o te Atua, running along the northern 
foot of the Putauaki mountain (Mount Edgumbe) and emptying 
into the sea near Matata on the Bay of Plenty. Besides numerous 
smaller tributaries it receives the discharges of five small lakes; 
from South-East the joint discharge of the Rotomahana and Roto- 
makariri (the warm and cold lakes); from North-West the waters 
of the Okataina and Okareka lakes, 1 and from the West the Wairoa 
river, which, flowing from the Rotokakahi, at a short distance from 
the missionary station forms a picturesque waterfall 80 feet high, 
and empties into the lake through a narrow gorge of rocks. At 
the shore of the lake there are various Maori settlements, the original 
names of which, similar to the Taupo settlements, wore changed 
into biblical appellations, such as Ruakeria into Kariri (Galilee), 
Te Ariki into Piripai (Philippi). A large portion of the land about 
the lake is still densely wooded; the cultivated portions, on the 
other hand are said to be very fertile. The principal rock found 
in the Tarawera country is a finely granulated rhyolite containing 
black mica, which makes an excellent building-stone and looks very 
much like finely granulated granite. With the banks of crystalline 
1 The Okataina as well as the Okareka lake, both distant from the Tarawera 
lake about one mile, seem to be connected with the Tarawera lake only by sub- 
terraneous channels. The Okataina lake has a very irregular form, with numerous 
far-jutting promontories. The Okareka lake is the larger; it is about six miles in 
circumference, and about 60 feet above the Tarawera. It is shut in by wooded 
heights, has an oblong shape with a valley at each end, and a peninsula, upon 
which the Pa Taumaihi is situated, projecting into the middle of the lake. Its outlet 
ilows underground for half a mile, and forms, where it comes to light again, the 
charming waterfall Waitangi. 
