appearance which the clayey strata of the coal measures present, although entirely formed of partially decomposed pumice.” Between Tauranga and Roturua the country is alter nately forest and fern land. The forests contain trees of gigantic size, some of which are very valuable from the hardness of their timber, but too far inland to be available. Like all the New Zealand forests, they are rendered almost impenetrable by the number of lianis, or creepers, which hang from the branches in festoons, and, passing from tree to tree, envelope the traveller in a species of network. One of these, the smilax, or native vine, pro duces a species of berry ; and its stems, split longitudi nally, are used by the natives in fencing, and by Europeans in boat-building. The Lake of Roturua is five or six miles in diameter, and has an island in the centre, on which there is a native village, surrounded by boiling springs, of a temperature sufficiently high to cook the shellfish and potatoes of the natives. From the temperature of the lake, it is evident that it also receives many hot springs; and in the sur rounding district there are several mud craters and solfataras. The island in the centre of the lake is about a mile in length, and contains, probably, fifty acres suffi ciently level for cultivation. Like the hot springs already noticed as existing near Waimatc, those of Roturua are strongly impregnated with sulphuric acid. Several of the springs contain sul- phuret of iron, and it is singular that, notwithstanding this circumstance, and their high temperature, some plants are seen growing on the bottom. The ground about the village is full of springs and holes, which con- p 2