452 
THE GEOLOGY OP NEW ZEALAND. 
powers of this fearful volcano appear to have long lain dor- 
man t, there is no security that it will not break out again. 
The size and active operation of Mount Erebus appear to be 
the grand security of New Zealand, and that crater may be 
viewed as its safety-valve ; for, if anything were to impede 
its operation, the entire line of New Zealand craters would, 
very probably, break out again ; lofty as Tongariro now 
appears, there is reason to suppose that its present height 
is much less than it was formerly ; or rather, that the grand 
crater of former days has sunk down, and, in doing so, caused 
Mount Taranaki to rise up ; this is agreeable with native 
tradition, f and, also, with the general features of the sfot, a 
space of nearly twelve miles intervening between the two 
principal mountains, Tongariro and Ruapehu, which, at a 
distance, appears to be elevated table land, but is in fact a 
deep lake. 
The matter ejected from these craters has been immense, 
chiefly pumice stones and sand : the central plains had once 
a super-stratum of yellow ochre, and were heavily timbered. 
The hot pumice ejected from the neighbouring volcanoes, 
appears to have first charred the forest and then covered it 
to the depth, in many places, of a hundred feet, and wherever 
there is a deep ravine, the charred timber is seen jutting out 
in large masses ; this deposit, in some places, extends a very 
long way; and, even at the mouth of the Wanganui, the low 
lands are deeply covered with it, as well as with solid lumps 
of charred wood. That Tongariro has caused the forma- 
mand from their Atua to make war ; and when the coast natives saw it, they 
always expected an invasion from Taupo. 
* The tradition is that Tongariro became jealous of Taranaki, and accused 
him of being too intimate with Pianga, another neighbouring mountain ; they 
fought, and Taranaki being worsted, set off one night down the Wanganui, 
thus forming the channel of the river ; he crossed over by Wai Totara, leav- 
ing a fragment there, and then fixed himself in his present position. The 
spot where he formerly stood is now occupied by a deep lake, which still bears 
the name of Taranaki, and is Supposed to be a kind of Pandemonium, the grand 
abode of all the New Zealand gods : this is probably a fable founded on fact. 
The Wanganui River is evidently a volcanic fissure, flowing in many places 
between walls of several hundred feet perpendicular height, and cutting through 
valleys at right angles, without having one of its own. 
