There is a place on our earth where hot water and stream come up from under the ground. It is a large island in the Pacific Ocean. The island is North Island, in New Zealand.

The planet on which we live is a ball of very hot rock. It is a good thing for us that the outside shell is cold. If it were not, no one could live here. What if our earth were only as big as an egg? Then the outside part would be as deep as the egg's shell.

The earth's shell has cracks in it in some place. In New Zealand this shell seems to here more cracks than in other places on the earth. There are spots where the ground is so hot that it burns the bottom of your shoes. In some place, hot water shoots into the air from time to time. At other points, you can see steam coming up from pools of hot water.

The people who live in these places make use of the heat that comes from inside the earth. Some of them cook in the hot pools. They put food into a basket and place it in the water. Washing clothes is done in much the same way.

Many people bring the hot water from below the earth into their homes. They do this by putting a pipe a hundred feet or more into the ground. In this way they get hot water and steam for cooking and washing, and for heating their homes.

For most of us, the heat under our feet is too far away to use. We must make our heat by burning coal, oil, or gas. The people who get heat from inside the earth are lucky. It takes money to pay for coal, oil, or gas.

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