Page:Overland Journey of the Governor of New Zealand.djvu/16

Rh pray that God, the Giver of all good, may pour his choicest gifts upon you all. (The Governor's speech was greeted with loud cheers by the natives.)

The name Tapuaeharuru signifies "resounding footsteps," and has reference to the hollow sound of the earth from the volcanic action which extends throughout the zone, reaching from the great burning mountain of Tongariro south of Taupo to Whakari, or White Island, also an active volcano, in the Bay of Plenty, a distance of 120 miles. Hot springs and geysers abound throughout this region, one of the most interesting and wonderful in the whole world. Good descriptions of it will be found in Hochstetter's "New Zealand," and in "A Ride through New Zealand," by Lieutenant the Hon. H. Meade, R.N. Hitherto, these grand natural phenomena have remained almost unknown; but now that tranquillity has been established, and that access to them will soon be rendered safe and easy by the completion of the roads, good inns will doubtless be erected, and New Zealand will become for the Australasian group of colonies what Switzerland and the German Baths are for Europe. The valuable medicinal qualities of these hot lakes and springs are well-known to the Maoris, who resort to them from all parts of the island for the cure of various diseases.

At the "koreros" which the Governor held with the natives in the interior, the chief requests were: first, for Queen's flags, i.e., union jacks, to be hoisted at their pas, instead of the old Hauhau or rebel flags, which have been everywhere destroyed by themselves;