g VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS. 
bearing a white blossom and a hard round 
berry. There can be no doubt that this hill was 
formerly— as was Pukenui, and several others 
in the immediate neighbourhood — a volcano; 
the large eruptions of which have covered the 
country, for many miles, with cinders or with 
lava. All the combustible matter seems, however, 
now to be expended; and there only remain 
the ravages which it has made, to tell what it has 
been. There is a large volcano, called the Ton- 
gariro, in active operation, midway between the 
Mahia or Table Cape and the opposite coast. 
The mountain is very lofty ; and is visible, in some 
parts of Waikato, at an immense distance. That 
there are, in the bowels of the earth, abundant 
materials for producing heat, is evident from the 
numerous hot springs, and springs impregnated 
with sulphuric acid, which here and there bubble 
up within a few miles from the base of these hills. 
A strong fetid smell issues from some of these 
springs; and the ground is damp and hollow all 
around them : so unsound, indeed, is it, that a horse 
refuses to pass over it ; and no efforts can force him 
to set his feet beyond a few yards of the edge where 
the ground first begins to lose its solidity, or as 
soon as the smell of the springs is perceptible. 
In the neighbourhood of these sulphuric springs 
is one remarkably cold : the water appears very 
clear, but of a red colour, as though slightly 
tinged with alkali-root. When quiescent, it soon ' 
precipitates a red earth ; with which the natives 
