270 
Memoranda of an Excursion 
pled to the opposite end. This little lake is about a 
mile in length, and about three quarters of a mile in 
breadth. Resuming our journey, and gaining the top 
of a high hill, we had a fine prospect of the principal 
Lake of Rotorua; a fine sheet of water about six miles 
in diameter, with a very picturesque island nearly in the 
midst. An easy journey of a few miles from the top of 
the hill, brought us to Te Ngae, a church mission sta¬ 
tion on the eastern side of the lake; where we were 
very hospitably received by Mr. Chapman. I gained 
not a single botanical specimen throughout the whole 
of this day. 
I remained at Te Ngae for a few days; during which 
time I visited Ohinemutu, a large and fenced town on 
the banks of the lake, celebrated for its boiling springs. 
This village is one of the principal ones belonging to 
that very turbulent tribe, Ngathvakaaue; in it the head 
chiefs of the tribe have for a long time resided. The 
large spring at this place w r as boiling most furiously, 
throwing out many gallons of water a minute, which 
rolled away steaming and smoking into the lake, a 
second Phlegethon. In the smaller springs, of which 
there were several, the natives cook their food, merely 
tying it up in a rude basket made of the leaves of 
Phormium tenax woven together, and placing it in the 
boiling water, where it is soon dressed. For this pur¬ 
pose, and for that of bathing, they have made a number 
of holes through the crust, or scoria, on which this 
village is principally built; so that it may truly be said, 
that this people dwell in houses built over subterranean 
fires. The sulphureous stench which abounded here, 
was almost insupportable. The blade of a knife im¬ 
mersed for a short period in some of these waters, soon 
