A VISIT TO KOTO-M A HAN A 
245 
HOTO-MAUANA, THE WARM LAKE. 
I cannot better conclude this chapter than by giving an 
account of a visit which I paid to the Warm Lake. 
The first view of Roto-Mahana is very remarkable, and 
cannot fail to excite the traveller’s astonishment. The lake 
lies in a great hollow, evidently a crater, flanked on the side 
by which we approached its margin with lofty precipices; but 
containing a considerable extent of low swampy land along one 
of the shores; the opposite bank is formed of hills, literally 
covered with boiling springs, emitting volumes of steam, and 
the soil being of red or white ochre, gives the whole a most 
The travellers who had visited this cave, have made dreadful havoc amongst 
these natural beauties; breaking off more than they could carry away. But 
many had evidently been broken long before Europeans visited the place, 
and, formerly, the natives were too superstitious to enter such spots: 
large fractured stalactites, having smaller ones attached to their extremities, 
were observed. The solid rock, too, on both sides, was fractured in 
regular lines, this had evidently been done by earthquakes, which most 
probably, had caused many of these pendant masses to fall. Some of the 
stalactites must have weighed a ton, and were full eight feet long, and two in 
diameter. The rock was of a pure cream colour. Under the stalagmite 
which covered the floor there was a layer of dark vegetable soil, but, although 
it was dug into, no bones were found. The length of the cave was estimated 
at about a hundred feet from the entrance. The natives stated that there 
were many similar caves, some of which are quite filled with Moa bones. 
