268 
Memoranda of an Excursion 
obliged to bring up on the white gravelled shores of the 
placid Rangiwakaaita. I offered my natives the choice 
of staying supperless where we were, or of proceeding 
on to Tarawera, distant about three miles, and there 
getting supper; fatigue, however, overcame hunger, 
even in a New Zealander, and they chose the latter. 
The whole face of the country in the neighbourhood of 
the lake, was overspread with massy blocks of compact 
lava scattered in every direction; many of which were 
vitrified on the surface. The ground gently rose on 
every side from the lake, which appeared to occupy a 
deep hollow; and, I could but venture to suppose, that 
this might perhaps have been the crater of that volcano, 
which, in some by-gone age, inundated the whole of 
the adjacent country with showers of pumice and ashes. 
At an early hour the next morning we arose, feverish, 
stiff, and sore, to re-commence our march. We soon 
came within sight of the place where the hot-springs 
were situated; from which the steam and sulphureous 
vapours ascended in dense white clouds. The air, this 
morning, was cool and bracing; and, after travelling 
about an hour and a half we arrived at Tarawera Lake. 
Here, at a little village on its banks, we gained some 
potatoes, on which we breakfasted with a hearty zest. 
At this place, were several small hot springs, which 
flowed out of the earth near the edge of the lake; the 
water of some was hotter than the hand could bear. 
Just within the lake, the water was warm; a little fur¬ 
ther on, it was luke-warm; and further still, it was cold; 
so that these natives have baths, of every requisite 
degree of heat, always ready, without any trouble what¬ 
ever. The water of the lake, I supposed to be speci¬ 
fically heavier than the sulphureous hot waters which 
