40

36. THE GEOLOGY OF AUCKLAND.

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. Temini-a-
Homaiterangi - the principal geyser - 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 Wai-
kato, and continues along the foot of the very remarkable Pai-
roa range on the Easterly side of the Waikato. The almost
perpendicular Western side of this range is cause bdy an
immense "fault" in the volcanic plateau, corresponding to a deep
fissure in the earth-crust, from which sulphureous acid, sulphur-
etted hydrogen, sulphur and steam, are continually escaping,
while huge bubbles of 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 circum-
stances 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 had this hap-
piness to look into the blue eyes of Otukapuarangi and Te
Tarata can ever forget their charms? and whoever has stood