Note 1, Page 27.

“Deep was thy bed;”

The following is an extract from the journal of a missionary, relating to a journey from Wanganui to Taupo, which I found in an old colonial newspaper sometime after the poem was written, and which I here transcribe in support of the above expressed idea. “June 19, 1846.—We left Pipiriki after morning service, calling at a small kainga (village or dwelling place) where our natives were presented with a pig. Thence, we stopped at some curious caves called pura rota, where I heard there was some limestone. The scene was very romantic; half of a stream falls down a precipice of 100 feet, and the other through a cave out of which it comes with a rushing noise. There is an amphitheatre of rocks, in the middle of which is a cave fifty feet high, into which we entered. In this we saw some stalactites. I picked up one, which had fallen from the roof, about two feet long. We went to the end of this cave, the roof being white with a calcareous deposit. As we receded from the light, I noticed with astonishment innumerable spots of light which at first I thought came from openings in the top, but on further examination of some on the sides, I found the light proceeded from innumerable little worms of a luminous nature crawling upon the damp rock. ∗ ∗ ∗ Afterwards I lit a newspaper and we explored the termination. It is an immense rent in the cliff formed most probably by an earthquake, and extends nearly a quarter of a mile. The rock is soft sandstone containing sea shells in great quantities similar to those found on the shores; the cliffs of the river, there, are from four to five hundred feet high.