Passing this point we entered a thick scrub, where the ground was in a highly heated condition, and came suddenly into a bend in the creek, where the opposite sides of the valley rose perpendicularly from the water. In the centre of the place where we stood was a deep hole, from which shot up now and again a column of boiling water. Around the deep, cavernous aperture the dead branches of _manuka_ had fallen in a circle, and had interlaced and spread themselves around in the form of a large nest of the most delicate construction, while the water, falling upon the netted twigs and branches, had covered them completely with a pearly incrustation of snowy silica, converting the whole into a pure white nest of stone. Nothing but spreading trees and mosses grew around this secluded spot, and the singular structure, when we first came upon it, looked like the petrified nest of some gigantic antediluvian bird. From this curious structure, which we named the Eagle's Nest, we mounted the hot, treacherous sides of the valley to where a number of boiling mud-holes vomited forth vast quantities of white, silicious mud, of the consistency of thick gruel. All were nearly circular in form, and about six feet deep by twenty in circumference, and, while one had a pinkish tint, caused evidently by red oxide of iron, another next to it was of a milky-white colour. When the mud had become hardened, it was of the consistency of cheese, with a greasy feel, while it could be fashioned by the aid of a knife into any form. All the pools were in a constant state of ebullition, and emitted a strong odour of sulphuretted hydrogen. Close to them was a small lakelet of green, silicious water, warm and steaming. The sides of the valley in this vicinity were everywhere very hot, and when I inserted the thermometer about two feet below the surface it registered 215°, and yet on this heated soil the mosses grew luxuriantly, but all other vegetation had a somewhat stunted appearance.