Near to the lake were several large mud-pools in a state of great activity, and still further along, close under a steep, rocky bluff, whose hot, quaking sides sent forth innumerable jets of steam, was an extensive chain of sulphur-pools, one of which was over 100 feet in diameter. In the vicinity of these pools were large deposits of bright yellow sulphur, with hematite iron, the red oxide, silica, alum, and other mineral products peculiar to thermal action. All these pools were so disposed that they formed, as it were, natural baths, and, from various tests I made, I found that the temperature averaged from 100° to 206° Fahr. The colour of the water varied in appearance from dark green to steel-grey, but all were evidently highly charged with sulphur and other minerals, and I believe that their curative properties would be found very efficacious in cutaneous and rheumatic affections. It was from the Blue Lake and the sulphur and mud-pools in its vicinity that a very remarkable spring took its rise. After passing a considerable distance underground, it wound on its way to the Waikato River. Along its entire course the country fell rapidly from the lake, and the stream in many places--which had a channel from three to six feet in width--descended at various intervals into small cascades which, falling into broad pools, formed natural baths. We bathed in one of these fountains where the water had a temperature of 110° Fahr., and as the whole volume of the stream passed over the body, it produced the most delightful sensation. The efficacy of this water for curative purposes has been long known to the Maoris, who have given it the name of Kiriohinekai, or "New Skin," from the singular properties which it possesses in the cure of cutaneous and rheumatic disorders. The water in colour was of a bluish green, and we found that our horses drank readily of it, even when in its warm state. To the south of the Kiriohinekai stream, and about a mile distant, there was another broad valley, the bottom of which was covered with innumerable _fumaroles_ that sent up their coils of steam in every direction. Here the soft, spongy, heated soil was covered with a dense growth of moss and stunted _manuka_ scrub. All the springs running over this valley were warm, and most of them were impregnated to a high degree with sulphur and alum.