Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 1876. I.—Miscellaneous.

Art. I.—Notes on the Lake District of the Province of Auckland. By W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S. [Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 2nd September, 1876.] There is no part of New Zealand which offers greater points of interest to the traveller, whether scientific or merely in search of the picturesque, than that which is popularly known as the Lake District of the Province of Auckland; and there can be no doubt that, with reasonable facilities for reaching it, it would be visited by very large numbers of persons both from this and the neighbouring Colonies. Indeed, I was much surprised to find, on glancing over the visitors' books kept at the accommodation-houses at Ohinemutu and Wairoa, how many persons, especially from Australia, had already been attracted to it by the fame of the sulphur baths at Ohinemutu, and by the wonders of Rotomahana. Having had an opportunity, during the early part of last month, of making an excursion through parts of this district, I have thought it would be interesting to the Society if I put together, in the form of a paper, a short description of that part of it which the limited time at my command enabled me to visit, and certain facts communicated to me by residents on the spot (which were partly confirmed by my own observation) in reference to the remarkable volcanic phenomena which it everywhere exhibits. The Lake District comprises the larger lakes named Rotorua, Rotoiti, Rotokakahi, and Tarawera, and a considerable number of smaller lakes in the neighbourhood of these larger ones, of which Okataina, Okareka, Tikitapu, and others, are chiefly remarkable for the picturesque character of their scenery, whilst the Rotomahana, though somewhat deficient in this respect, surpasses them all in the interest and wonder which it excites.