Time, to our great regret, would not admit of a minute exploration, but all the grand features of the island had passed under view. We looked in vain for the gorgeous meadow described by Captain Drury; but we had only to enlarge any of the numberless miniature vapour holes to obtain pure crystallised sulphur hot from the bakery, and at the same time to convert these holes into more active vapour jets. The streams that issued in various directions were of boiling heat, limpid and tasteless; but, though sulphur was everywhere strewn around, it did not appear to be in quantities sufficient for shipment. After an hour’s stop, we returned to our ship greatly delighted with the visit, and much indebted to our obliging Captain for having put it in our power to enjoy it.

Mr. Heaphy has kindly furnished me with a map and views of this singularly interesting island.*)

If we take a wider view of the geological features and the physical outline of these just described high plains and plateaus consisting of regular layers of trachytic rocks, breccia, and tuff, we shall find that the steep cones of Ruapahu and Tongariro rise from the centre of a vast tuff cone of extremely gradual inclination, the basis of which occupies the whole country from shore to shore—from East to West—having a diameter of 100 sea miles, and forming the largest cone of tuffs, or in other words, the largest crater of elevation in the whole world.

The Hot Springs.

Intimately connected with the described volcanic phenomena of the active and extinct volcanic mountains, are the Solfataras, Fumaroles, and Hot Springs. They are found in a long series, stretching across the country in a N. N. E. direction, from the active crater Ngauruhoe in the Tongariro system, to the active crater of White Island (Whakari). They occupy the chasms and fissures to which I have already referred.

There is only one other place in the world in which such a number of hot springs are found that have periodical outbursts of boiling water—that is in Iceland, the well-known geysirs of which are of precisely similar character to those in New Zealand. The geysirs or boiling fountains of Iceland, long celebrated for possessing this property in an extraordinary degree, here, indeed, strong rivals in the puias and ngawhas of New Zealand. Although there may be no single intermittent spring in New Zealand of equal magnitude with the great geysir in Iceland, yet in the extent of country in which such springs occur, in the immense number of them, and in the beauty and extent of the siliceous incrustations and deposits, New Zealand far exceeds Iceland.

In enumerating the principal of these phenomena, we may begin with—

1. The active craters of Tongariro, which are at present in the condition of solfataras that may be called the state of repose of active craters, and with the hot springs rising on the slope and at the base of that mountain.

2. We then pass on to the Tokanu and Terapa springs, on the Southern extremity of Taupo lake. The principal ‘puia’ at Tokanu is called Piori, an intermittent fountain whose column of boiling water, of two feet in diameter, sometimes reaches a height of more than 40 feet.

3. On the opposite side of Taupo, at the Northern extremity of the lake, we again meet with hot springs, and with a river of warm water called Waipahihi, which, rising in the extinct volcanic cone of Tauhara, falls, in a vapour-crowned cascade, into Taupo.

4. Descending from Taupo by the outlet of the Waikato, we find, on the left bank, in the midst of a great number of pools of boiling mud, a fumarole called Karapiti, an enormous jet of high-pressure steam, escaping with such force as to produce a sound like letting-off the steam from huge boilers and as to eject to a great height sticks, or the like, thrown in by the curious traveller. On the right bank is another fumarole of similar character, called Parakiri.

5. About twenty-five miles below the outlet of the Waikato from Taupo, at the pa’ Orakei-korako, both banks of the rapidly-flowing river are perforated, in more than a hundred different places, by fumaroles and boiling springs, most of which are of the intermittent kind; and siliceous incrustations of beautiful colours decorate the banks of the river. Temimai-a-Homaiterangi—the principal geysir—throws up its large column of boiling water at intervals of about two hours to a height from 20 to 30 feet. An immense volume of steam succeeds the jet, and the water then suddenly sinks into the basin.

6. At Orakei-korako the line of hot springs crosses the Waikato, and continues along the foot of the very remarkable Pairoa range on the Easterly side of the Waikato. The almost perpendicular Western side of this range is caused by an immense ‘fault’ in the volcanic plateau, corresponding to a deep fissure in the earth-crust, from which sulphureous acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, sulphur and steam, are continually escaping, while huge bubbles of boiling ash-coloured mud are rising on the surface.

7. From the same range, the warm-water river Waikite takes its origin. On both sides are deep pools of boiling water, on the margins of which we discovered most beautiful ferns, hitherto unknown, one species belonging to the genus Nephrolepis, the other to the genus Goneopteris. These ferns are remarkable not only for their elegance, but also from the peculiar circumstances under which they exist, as they are always surrounded by an atmosphere of steam.

8. We now come to the well-known Rotomahana, the most wonderful of all the wonders of the Hot Springs district of New Zealand. I will not attempt to describe in a hasty lecture like this the beauties of this Fairy-land. Whoever has once had the happiness to look into the blue eyes of Otuhapuarangi and Te Tarata can never forget their charms; and whoever has stood beside the boiling surf of the Ngahapu basin will always retain a vivid impression of its terrors. The terraces of siliceous deposit on the shores of Rotomahana are unequalled in