A VISIT TO ROTO MAH ANA. * 
469 
the verge, the infant struggled in its bearer’s arms, and it is 
supposed, fell in ; the other, without hesitation, jumped in 
to its rescue. The place has ever since been “"tapu.” 
These wonderful works of the Creator, while they excite 
our admiration, cannot be looked upon without awe : it 
is here we see a portion of the grand laboratory of nature, 
where the process of resolving and renewing is constantly 
going on ; here we see how easily soft and impalpable pow- 
der can be cemented into solid stone, and the apparently 
indestructible rocks be either softened and reduced to mud, 
or sublimed so as to fly off in gas. 
The number of lakes in close proximity to each other, 
forming a cluster of sixteen, without including many of 
trifling size, has acquired for the whole the name of “ The 
Lake District,” and probably there is not a similar collection 
to be found anywhere else, containing so many natural phe- 
nomena and varied points of interest : one large lake being 
filled with diluted sulphuric acid, has gained the name of 
Roto Kawa, sour lake ; another having a volcanic cone 
beautifully rising up in its centre, and each possessing its 
own characteristic feature to distinguish it from the others ; 
so that, as a whole, it must soon become a great attraction, 
not only to those living in New Zealand, but likewise in 
other lands. 
COOKING IN A BOILING SPRING. 
