1815 the intervals were of 6 hours and the altitude from 80 to 150 ft. About 100 paces from the Great Geyser is the _Strokkr_ or churn, which was first described by Stanlay in 1789. The shaft in this case is about 44 ft. deep, and, instead of being cylindrical, is funnel-shaped, having a width of about 8 ft. at the mouth, but contracting to about 10 in. near the centre. By casting stones or turf into the shaft so as to stopper the narrow neck, eruptions can be accelerated, and they often exceed in magnitude those of the Great Geyser itself. During quiescence the column of water fills only the lower part of the shaft, its surface usually lying from 9 to 12 ft. below the level of the soil. Unlike that of the Great Geyser, it is always in ebullition, and its temperature is subject to comparatively slight differences. On the 8th of July 1847 Bunsen found the temperature at the bottom 112.9° C; at 3 metres from the bottom, 111.4°; and at 6 metres, 108°; the whole depth of water was on that occasion 10.15 metres. On the 6th, at 2.90 metres from the bottom it was 114.2°; and at 6.20 metres, 109.3°. On the 10th, at 0.35 metres from the bottom, the reading gave 113.9°; at 4.65 metres, 113.7°; and at 8.85 metres, 99.9°. [Illustration: FIG. 1.] The great geyser-district of New Zealand is situated in the south of the province of Auckland in or near the upper basin of the Waikato river, to the N.E. of Lake Taupo. The scene presented in various parts of the districts is far more striking and beautiful than anything of the same kind to be found in Iceland, but this is due not so much to the grandeur of the geysers proper as to the bewildering profusion of boiling springs, steam-jets and mud-volcanoes, and to the fantastic effects produced on the rocks by the siliceous deposits and by the action of the boiling water. In about 1880 the geysers were no longer active, and this condition prevailed until the Tarawera eruption of 1886, when seven gigantic geysers came into existence; water, steam, mud and stones were discharged to a height of 600 to 800 ft. for a period of about four hours, when quieter conditions set in. Waikite near Lake Rotorua throws the column to a height of 30 or 35 ft. [Illustration: FIG. 2.]