THE GEOLOGY OF AUCKLAND. 
combed into innumerable longitudinal ridges of a fiorescent 
bronze of brilliant and variegated line. 
“Ofthis island, Captain Drury, of H.M.S. Pandora, gives 
the following description in the ‘New Zealand Pilot ’ 
“ ‘ White Island, or Whakari, is about three miles in circum¬ 
ference, and 860 feet high. The base of the crater is one and a 
half miles in circuit, and level with the sea. In the centre is a 
boiling spring about 100 yards in circumference, sending volumes 
of steam full two thousand feet high in calm weather. Around 
the edges of the crater are numberless smaller geysers sounding 
like so many high-pressure engines, and emitting steam with 
such velocity that a stone thrown into the vortex would imme- 
xf 
diately be shot in the air. 
“ ‘ Here and there are lakes of sulphurous water, dormant • 
but the whole island is so heated as to make it difficult to walk. 
From the edges of the crater to the scene below is only to be 
compared to a well-dressed meadow of gorgeous green, with 
meandering streams feeding the boiling cauldron ; but on 
approaching, we find this green to be the purest crystallised 
sulphur. 
“ ‘ No animal or insect breathes on this island, scarcely a limpet 
on the stones, and 200 fathoms will hardly reach the bottom 
within half a mile of its shores.’ 
“ Pein>'- under the lee of the island and in smooth water, 
Captain Bowden, in the most obliging manner, hove the steamer 
to, and lowering one of the quarter boats, conveyed us on shore to 
enjoy a personal inspection of this grand natural curiosity. 
There are two spots at which a landing may be effected, at the 
openings of the outer base of the crater ; by a very little exer¬ 
tion in clearing away some of the boulders, the landing may be 
rendered perfectly easy j but although, this day, the water was 
smooth, still there was such a swell that judgment and caution 
were requisite to pick out a spot where best to escape the 
rollers that tumbled on the rough and broxen beacn. 
“Never shall we forget the grand displays which we beheld in 
this sulphurous caldron. Its paintings fresh from Nature’s 
hand— its lake of gorgeous green—its roaring jets of stormy 
vapour_are things to be witnessed, difficult to be described ; 
but surpassing all these, and as if their central attraction, there 
