Ikorangi, or "Fish of Heaven," but we had no means of measuring their elevation. The highest land to the north is called by them Maunga Taniwa, of which I did not learn the meaning. We descended the hill, and arrived in the evening at Waimati, after a fatiguing day's work.
We again set out at an early hour the next morning for the hot springs, at Taiami, called Tuakino: our road lay over a hilly and barren country, of which the most remarkable feature is the three volcanic conical hills which stand in the middle of an extensive depression of the table land, and of which Dr. Dieffenbach has given an account in his travels in New Zealand.[1] After three hours' laborious walking we reached the first lake, shortly before noon, and halted to obtain observations for latitude. The temperature of the lake was 62º, that of the air being at the time 60º. It is about half a mile in diameter; on its shores we observed numerous charred stems of trees, and near its centre a large flock of ducks, probably feeding on a small kind of fish, of which we saw a great many. Some pieces of pure sulphur were picked up along the margin of the lake.
The temperature of the smaller lake, near which are the hot springs, at only a short distance from the former, was found to be 65º.7, and that of the gaseous jets or bubbles that are continually rising in it 66º. Numerous holes had been dug, in- ↑ Vol. i. p. 245.
