38 
THE GEOLOGY OE AUCKLAND. 
belong to the alkaline class, in which are also included the most 
of the ordinary boiling springs. Sulpliurets of Sodium and 
Potassium, and Carbonates ot Potash and Soda, are the solvents 
of the Silica, which, on the cooling and evaporation of the water, 
is deposited in such quantities as to form a striking characteristic 
in the appearance of these springs. 
Here 1 must leave this interesting subject. To enter more 
deeply into the theory of these phenomena would be out of 
place here. It may be, however, well to mention that numerous 
facts prove that the action which gives rise to the hot springs is 
slowly diminishing. 
I must also state my conviction that ere long these hot springs 
will be visited by many travellers, not only for the sake of their 
beauty and interest, but also for the medicinal virtues they have 
been proved to possess. Already many Europeans have bathed 
in, and derived benefit from, the warm waters at Orakei-korako 
and Rotomahana. 
I am unwilling to omit the interesting legend current among 
the Natives in reference to the origin of these hot springs. The 
legend, as told by Te Heuheu, the great chief on the Taupo 
lake, is the following :— 
The great chief Ngatiroimngi , after his arrival at Maketu 
at the time of the immigration of the Maoris from 
Hawaiki, set off with his slave Ngaurunoe to visit the interior? 
and, in order to obtain a better view of the country, they 
ascended the highest peak of Tongariro. Here they suffered 
severely from cold, and the Chief shouted to his sisters on Wha- 
kari (White Island) to send him some fire. This they did. 
They sent on the sacred fire they brought from Hawaiki, by the 
taniwha Pupil and Te Haeatci , through a subterranean passage 
to the top of Tongariro. The fire arrived just in time to save 
the life of the Chief, but poor Ngauruhoe was dead when the 
Chief turned to give him the fire. On this account the hole 
through which the fire made its appearance—the active crater 
of Tongariro—is called to this day by the name of the slave Nc/a- 
uruhoe ; and the sacred fire still burns within the whole under¬ 
ground passage along which it was carried from Whakari to 
'Tongariro. 
This legend affords a remarkable instance of the accurate 
