Chap. IV. LAKE TAUPO. 101 
are probably Rangitoto, and another of the same range. 
On the eastern shore, the cliffs recede from the lake, and 
become more gentle in their slope from the table-land 
to a marshy flat, which reaches without interruption 
from the S.E. to the S.W. corner of the lake. In the 
S.E. corner, a long low isthmus joins a peninsula of 
considerable size and height to the main ; and in a line 
between the peninsula and Mount Tauhara, a small 
island rises to the height of 200 or 300 feet from the 
water. The peninsula is called Motu o Apa, and the 
island Motu Tahiko. About three miles to the south- 
ward of the isthmus, the TVaihato river flows into the 
lake, by three sluggish, shallow mouths ; and the valley 
of the river, from four to five miles in breadth, stretches 
away to the S.E., between Pihanga and Totiga Riro 
to the W., and the western extremity of Kai Manawa 
to the east. Kai Manawa, or " Heart-eater," is the 
name given to that part of the Ruahine range which 
lies to the northward of the source of the Rangitikei 
river. The chain of hills formed by Pihanga, the ridge 
which we had just crossed, and Kakaramea, approaches 
gradually to the lake; and a little beyond the S.W. 
corner, the shores again consist of rocky cliffs, fringed 
with wood to the water's edge, for two or three miles. 
Further to the N., the land again gradually slopes from 
a beach to the table prairie, which extends for about 12 
miles to wooded mountains in the direction of Kawia, 
and apparently with little interruption to the north- 
Ward. About 10 miles from the S.W. corner, the 
gentle acclivity is interrupted by an isolated mountain, 
called TVareroa, whose eastern face appears to be a 
basaltic cliff. Beyond this, the shores are again gradual 
in their rise to the table-land for several miles, till the 
cliffs close in, and continue round the northern extre- 
mity of the lake, where the Waikato issues seaward. 
