A weird region : New Zealand lakes, terraces, geysers, and volcanoes, with an account of the eruption of Tarawera

Leys, Thomson W., Printed and published by New Zealand Newspapers Ltd, at the office of the Auckland Star, [Auckland, N.Z.], 1950

THE GTEAT EURPTION OFM! TARAWERA IN 1886

NEWSPAPERS, LIMITID AUCKLAND

NEW ZEALAND'S WONDERLAND AWEIRD REGION

A WEIRD REGION: NEW ZEALAND Lakes, Terraces, Geysers, and Volcanoes, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE ERUPTION OF TARAWERA.

NEW EDITION COMPLETELY REVISED

By THOMSON W. LEYS.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY NEW ZEALAND NEWSPAPERS LTD., AT THE OFFICE OF THE "AUCKLAND STAR."

1950

RUINS OF WAIROA HOTEL. Partly destroyed by the eruption and later by fire.

RUINS OF THE OLD MISSION CHURCH AT TE MU, WAIROA.

From a photograph shortly after the eruption.

THE Volcanic Eruption at Tarawera.

CHAPTER I.

Introductory—The Suddenness of the Outburst —Physical Features of the District—-The Locality of the Eruption— Previous Condition of the District—Rise and Progress of Rotorua Township—Its Thermal Springs and Sanatorium—The Old Mission at Wairoa and the Modern Settlement —Lake Tarawera and its Environs— Mount Tarawera-Rotomahana the Terraces—The Buried Villages.

The scientific research of the past halfcentury, especially in the departments of Geology and Astronomy, has opened up to our view wonderful vistas along the pathway of creation, and we can comprehend with some measure of clearness the vastness of the scheme of the Universe, and the tremendous character of the forces that have been called into action to mould and subdue to order and to law the inchoate elements of a world; yet we are still inclined to regard ourselves as the heirs of the ages, the possessors of a creation in which the process of construction has been completed, and upon which the physical changes are now comparatively few and insignificant. Geology itself, in its primitive teachings, gave a certain amount of countenance to these impressions by depicting the earth as a huge ball, formed in a series of layers, unvarying and universal in their order, and but little interrupted in their development. This idea, however, has given way to a more accurate perception of the truth, that, though subject to greatly altered conditions, the forces which are ceaselessly at work destroying and rebuilding the physical features of the globe are the same that have, under the control of universal law, brought the component parts from that stage

when the earth was "without form and void" into their present order and beauty. Some of these forces are perhaps no less active now than during any past age of the earth's history; but the violent changes accomplished by volcanic action are, we know, happily of much rarer occurrence and lesser magnitude now than at an earlier stage in the geological development of the earth, ere its present physical configuration had been wrought out amid the contention and war of powerful agencies in Nature's laboratory. From time to time, however, a sudden outburst like that in the Straits of Sunda in 1883, or the eruption of Mount Tarawera in the North Island of New Zealand on June 10th, 1886, comes as a vivid reminder that the igneous energies are not exhausted, and that the earth as we now know it may, for aught we can tell, be only the unfinished outline of the earth that is to be—that in creation, as in all else, there has never been a period of stagnation in the past, and can never be one in the future; with inanimate nature, as with life, there is ever progress and development, or decay and death, change of form, and reproduction. We gather some conception of the magnitude of the convulsions which have in past ages disturbed the

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crust of the earth when we consider that by one throe of Nature in the eruption of Tarawera an area computed by Mr. S. Percy Smith, the Assistant Surveyor-General, at 1,850 square miles, has been affected in a sensible degree, and that there are traces of the dust deposit over an area of land equal to 5,700 square miles. It may be well to state here, however, lest these formidable figures should mislead with regard to the extent and character of the disaster, that the destructive power of the eruption was confined within the narrow limits of a very few miles from its focus; nevertheless, the effect of the dust deposits, spread over the whole extent of country between Lake Tarawera and the Bay of Plenty, on the East Coast of the North Island, cannot be omitted in considering the phenomena which have contributed to the preparation of the earth for the support of mankind.

The suddenness and unexpected character of this extraordinary volcanic outburst is one of the features of the occurrence that most strongly rivets the mind, yet few among the thousands of visitors to the Wonderland of New Zealand, which centred at Rotorua and Rotomahana, were altogether without a feeling of insecurity when treading with circumspection the treacherous ground in the localities where hydro-thermal action was especially violent, making the earth tremble in agitation from shocks administered by the confined steam and boiling water as they forced their way to the surface. The seething, the roaring, the sighing, the grunting, that accompanied the heavy thuds under ground, in the vicinity of some of the great geysers on the shores of Lake Rotomahana, excited no little apprehension for the present or future safety of the district in the breasts of persons who had not become familiarised with these phenomena.

But the most timid of men might feel confidence that a condition of things which had as a testimony to its comparative stability the traditions of at least five centuries, would outlast his day and generation. No doubt Maori tradition is faulty and incomplete. The sinking of the old native pa at Ohinemutu in the bed of the lake seems to be preserved more from the posts still showing above water than from any oral narrative transmitted from father to son, and we can only conjecture how far we should have had an accurate knowledge of the destruction of the chief Te Heuheu and his village by a landslip induced through the undermining of thermal springs near Taupo, if the occurrence had not

come within the record of European occupation. Probably the narrative would have been very imperfect. But the stability of Tarawera seemed to be attested by the testimony of the rocks; the forest-covered slopes of the deeply-furrowed mountain, and the uncracked alabaster walls of the beautiful terraces, inspired confidence. The Maori who squatted on the hot stones in Ohinemutu and smoked his pipe, while the wahine boiled potatoes in Nature's cooking-pot by the whare door, was not more assured that what had been would continue for ever, than the Government savants who, after consultation, laid off the site of a great city, with pleasure-grounds and public reserves, upon the most gruesome spot around Lake Rotorua, where the ever-rising fumes of sulphur act as a perpetual reminder of Sodom and Gomorrah.

But if the Maori at Ohinemutu, whose house was warmed and his dinner cooked by water heated underground, had no apparent cause for uneasiness, and, as events proved, was actually exempted from misfortune when the great outburst occurred, how much less reason for fear had the European and native inhabitants of Wairoa, overlooking the cool expanse of Lake Tarawera, and the dwellers in the villages of Tokoniho or Waitangi, so soon to be the scene of a tragedy without precedent in New Zealand history. The nearest of these villages was situated fully six miles as the crow flies from any manifestation of volcanic activity. In the villages of Te Ariki and Moura, which were buried with all their inhabitants, the risks were greater, because of all places in the Lake District, except, perhaps, the active solfataras of Tongariro and Ngauruhoe, Rotomahana was the spot where an eruption seemed most probable. Around the lake, at twenty-five points, boiling springs of great size poured forth volumes of water that heightened the temperature of the lake. Geysers throwing up massive columns into the air amid clouds of steam, huge cauldrons in unceasing turmoil, steam funnels snorting and roaring, mud geysers or miniature volcanoes sputtering, sulphur springs, and yawning chasms of unknown depths, from which steam issued with deafening noise, were among the phenomena of this uncanny region. The ground seemed everywhere permeated with steam, which would issue forth wherever the surface was disturbed. Nevertheless, the terraces stood monuments of stability, to which a period of two hundred years seemed the shortest time we could allot for their

THE PICTURESQUE OLD BATH-HOUSES AT ROTORUA, NORTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND.

A VIEW OF OHINEMUTU, ROTORUA, NORTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. SHOWING THE MAORI CHURCH ON THE RIGHT.

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production, and the general aspects of the lake gave no hint of very recent extensive disturbance.

The whole country around Lake Tarawera, from the mountain itself nearly to the shore of Rotorua, and southwards along the Paeroa range, was of porous light grey rhyolites and pumice. Professor A. P. W. Thomas, in his careful geological examination of the district during and after the eruption, found that Tarawera was a true volcanic cone, upon which a flat cap of porous but massive rhyolite lava had been formed by the welling-up of the viscid lava in some long by-gone eruption. But there was nothing in the existing appearances to indicate very recent disturbance.

The eye of the Maori saw nothing but the placid little lake with its beds of rushes, its marginal swamps overhung with clouds of steam, and beyond the hills and gullies covered with manuka or fern and tussock. To the fiftytwo natives who slept as they had done year after year within their recollection, in the Ariki settlement, beneath the shadow of Tarawera mountain, and whose ancestors had been reverentially laid to rest upon its summit, there was nothing upon the eve of that fatal 10th of June, 1886, to tell them that ere morn they would all be buried thirty feet deep in ashes. These dusky children of the soil, a good-natured, happy people, living lives of indolence and indulgence, as ministers to the pleasures of a more vigorous race, Iolled unconcernedly in the hot baths near the village, contented with existence as they found it, and convinced, from a gratified experience, that carelessness for the morrow is the first rule of life and the essence of all true philosophy.

Before narrating the events connected with the eruption, however, it will be wise for the reader to fix upon his mind clear ideas of the localities. The country in the North Island of New Zealand, over which boiling springs occur in more or less regular order, lies along a belt extending from Tongariro in a north-easterly direction to the coast, a distance of over 100 miles. The line may even be continued seaward to White Island, an active solfatara in the Bay of Plenty. Dr. Hochstetter estimated the earth-rent along which these hot springs are distributed as having a breadth of seventeen miles. There are, of course, very marked differences in point of activity. On the southern and eastern shores of Lake Rotorua, which come within the boundaries of this great earth-fault, the thermal springs are

numerous and of considerable volume. But from the south-eastern side of Rotorua to the vicinity of Rotomahana and Okaro, a distance of nearly fifteen miles in a direct line, the only trace of disturbance is that indicated by the colour of Lake Rotokakahi and the earthquake cracks on the Waiotapu road. Then occurs the channel of activity from the base of Tarawera to Orakei-korako, crossing Rotomahana. The thermal action here was probably greater than in any part of the Lake District, and it is not therefore very surprising that an eruption should have occurred along a section of that line.

The town which has arisen on Lake Rotorua is the natural centre for the Thermal Springs District, not merely because it is the terminus of the railway from Auckland, but because the hot springs at Ohinemutu, Rotorua, and Whakarewarewa, two miles distant, are of large volume, and afford a wide range of medicinal properties. Their reputation as curative agencies in all forms of gout and rheumatism, in sciatica, neuralgia, anaemia, and skin affections, has become widespread. On this account, as well as for its accessibility, the Government have established a Sanatorium at Rotorua, and have expended a very large sum of money upon the erection of hospital, the construction of baths, a water supply and drainage for the town. Here there is excellent hotel and boarding-house accommodation, churches, good shops, well-laid-out and tree-planted streets lighted at night by electric lamps, and one of the finest and most extensive recreation grounds and flower gardens in New Zealand. But ere such evidences of civilisation were thought of, the fame of the White and Pink Terraces of Rotomahana was noised abroad, and attracted tourists in annuallyincreasing numbers. Hotels were erected at Ohinemutu, from which place excursions to Rotomahana were organised. Regular coach services were established between Tauranga and Ohinemutu, a distance of 42 miles, connecting with steamer from Auckland, and the journey, which at one time was a formidable undertaking, became formidable in no sense except the extortionate charges of the natives, who were the owners of the land and the custodians of its wonders, which they kept locked and barred against intrusion unless opened by a golden key. Scarcely a book on New Zealand was published without the beauty of New Zealand scenery, the unique loveliness of the Terraces of Rotomahana and their wonderful surroundings, being extolled.

LAKE ROTOMAHANA AND MOUNT TARAWERA BEFORE THE ERUPTION, WITH THE TERRACES ON THE LEFT.

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and tourists flocked in from all parts of the world. A railway was projected, branching from the Southern trunk line, to bring this "eighth wonder of the world," as it has justly been designated, and also the healing waters of the Rotorua thermal springs, within still easier reach. This railway is now open, and the journey from Auckland may be accomplished in seven hours. The distance is 171 miles.

European settlement in the Hot Lakes country took first root close to the site of the native village of Ohinemutu, on Lake Rotorua, but the Government town was laid off at Sulphur Point, rather more than half-a-mile further on. The plan of this town anticipates, the growth of another Baden-Baden, and visitors in search of health or pleasure are attracted from all parts of the world. At Whakarewarewa, about two miles from Rotorua, the geysers, fumaroles, and sulphur pools, with fragments of terrace formation, represent in miniature some of the matchless marvels of Rotomahana that were destroyed during the eruption. There are, however, even better specimens of such formations at Waiotapu and Orakei-korako, the largest of the latter in ruins, the geyser which created it having become inactive; and at Wairakei, six miles from Taupo, the variety of thermal phenomena (if we except the terraces) are not even second to those which were seen around Rotomahana before it was desolated.

To reach Rotomahana from Rotorua, the tourist formerly set out by coach for Wairoa, a village about ten miles distant, along a fairly good road, which for the greater part of its length was rendered impassable by the deposit of volcanic mud, and remained so for many years, but has now been re-opened to traffic, and visits to the scene of the eruption are among the most interesting excursions undertaken by tourists. The surrounding country was hilly, bare, and unattractive, the land poor and uncultivated. The pretty little Tikitapu bush, through which the road passes, came as an oasis in the wilderness. After skirting the pebbly beach of Tikitapu for nearly a mile, the road opens out Rotokakahi, an oblong lake of considerable dimensions and of green colour, also skirted by steep, high hills, but having an outlet to Tarawera. Two miles from the Wairoa road, on this lake, and approached by a track round the hill-side, was the native village of Kaiteriria. Passing the end of Rotokakahi, a drive of half-a-mile landed the visitor in the village of Wairoa.

It would be pleasant if we could always think of Wairoa as it was when the Rev. Mr. Spencer established his mission station there in 1850. He had been labouring since 1845 at Kariri, a pa built upon a precipitous point on the western side of Lake Tarawera, about two miles from Wairoa. When the mission was removed to Wairoa the land at that settlement was marked off into half-acre lots, fenced in, every family having a patch of ground and industriously cultivating it. There was the mill, the school-house, and the church, with the parsonage adjacent, the missionary by example and precept inculcating habits of industry. The fertile soil about the settlement yielded abundant crops. But then came the war and its alarms, which disturbed the minds of all the Maoris far and near. Mr. Spencer stuck to the post of duty, but his flock deserted Wairoa and went back to live at Kariri, where the natural strength of the position offered an impregnable line of defence. Wairoa never flourished again; its cultivations were overrun with fern and scrub, the fences disappeared, the communal habit reasserted itself, the acacia grove planted on the church grounds ran into a thicket, and ivy grew unchecked over the walls and roof of the old church at the Mu, a beautiful emblem of decay. Superstition dies hard, and there was more of realistic belief among the Maoris in ancestral traditions and the power of the tohungas than in the creed of the missionaries. They accepted the Bible readily enough, but interpreted it by their own lights and grafted their superstitions upon it.

The Wairoa of 1886 was still very pretty. In buildings it had not much to boast of. Mr. McRae's Rotomahana Hotel, a well-managed hostelry, was the most pretentious structure, and did the chief business. Humphreys and Minnett's Terrace Hotel, conducted upon temperance lines, was also a comfortable boarding-house. Near these was the Snow Temperance Hall, and around them were the whares of the Maori village, extending as far down as the old mill, a relic of the days when the natives grew large crops of wheat and maize, and made their living from the soil. The house of Sophia, the native guide, stood back from the road, about 100 yards from McRae's; it was a good specimen of the better class of native house, with high-pitched roof and stout walls. Nearer to the lake, on high ground, affording a magnificent view of the broad sheet of water, with Mount Tarawera seven miles away, stood the native school and

J. Martin, photo.

TIKITAPU. OR THE BLUE LAKE.

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teacher's house, in the midst of a well-cultivated garden, where English flowers and vegetables flourished perennially. The old ivy-clad church was an object of interest; its parsonage had come into the possession of Captain Way, who married a daughter of the veteran missionary. Wairoa was built upon a hill, which sloped to a narrow arm of Lake Tarawera, from where the boats set out for Rotomahana. In a deeplyshaded ferny gully the Wairoa stream, carrying off the surplus water of Lake Rotokakahi, flowing rapidly along a verdurous bed, came down by one clear leap of eighty feet, and a succession of smaller bounds, into the great lake. Nature had done much for Wairoa. Its fertility was an agreeable change from the general poverty of the country. The broad expanse of Lake Tarawera reflected every change of sky in a surface of glass, or was tossed by the winds into angry waves that spent themselves upon its bluff headlands. The lake was endowed in a greater degree than most of the lakes in this district with the physical features that contribute to the charm of lake scenerv, the rugged outline of Tarawera Range, 2,600 feet above the lake level, contributing in no small degree to its beauty. But a tourist traffic does not tend to the elevation of an aboriginal race, and the natives about Wairoa had but little inducement to follow in the footsteps of their fathers when an easy, indolent life could be purchased by extortionate fees for ferriage over Tarawera, and liberal payment for the haka, with special pay for the exhibition of its grossest indecencies. The money distributed among the natives of Wairoa by tourists, prior to 1886, has been estimated at £4,000 a year. Mr. Snow, an American philanthropist, had worked, and with some success, to institute a temperance crusade at Wairoa, and after his death his relatives erected a memorial hall in the village. Through his exertions and liberality a mission was re-established, and carried on under the zealous direction of the Rev. A. Fairbrother with excellent results, as a number of touching incidents in connection with the eruption bear witness. Several of the leading men in the tribe gave their influence to the movement, and Mr. C. H. Hazard, the schoolmaster, did good work. But it is very hard to inculcate thrift and industry against the allurements of easily-earned gold, and the Wairoa settlement of 1886 was probably the antithesis of Mr. Spencer's dream in 1850.

11 is about seven miles from Wairoa to the site of the native settlement of Te Ariki. Boats

conveying tourists across Lake Tarawera, en route for Rotomahana, kept over towards the southern shore, which was picturesquely broken into receding bays and protruding headlands, clad with flowering rata and feathery toe-toe. Between five and six miles from Wairoa, an arm of the lake, about half-a-mile wide at the entrance, but broadening out, bends southwards. The village of Moura stood at the point, and the Maori crews almost invariably landed there in the season for supplies of fruit, potatoes, and crayfish, the latter being afterwards cooked in steam-holes near the terraces. The village was not a very extensive one; it is estimated that at the time of the eruption fifty-two natives were living there. Not one escaped. We are now in close proximity to the focus of the great convulsion. On the left hand of Te Ariki Bay Tarawera mountain rises majestically, its massive sides black, deeply furrowed, and broken into frightful precipices. Its appearance was always terrible and awe-inspiring rather than pleasing, and the dread with which the Maoris regarded it was no doubt due as much to the gloomy aspect of its frowning cliffs and weatherblasted ridges as to the knowledge that on its summit reposed in weird solitude the bones of their forefathers. The three peaks of the mountain were Wahanga, Ruawahia, and Tarawera, the first-named lying to the left looking from the lake. The name Ruawahia was applied to the central and highest peak, and to the mass of the mountain; the term Tarawera being employed by the natives to distinguish the southern end only, that nearest to Rotomahana. Europeans, however, commonly spoke of the long, massive, truncated mountain or range as Mount Tarawera. There was no known crater or other sign of recent volcanic activity on the mountain, nor any record of the occurrence of volcanic disturbance within the chronicles of Maori tradition, although it is urged by Dr. Hector, on the authority of Mr. Locke, that the names of the three peaks appear to signify that the igneous character of this remarkable eminence had at one time been known to the natives. Much stress, however, cannot be laid upon such fanciful interpretations, especially when they are contradicted by the ancient practice of burying the dead on the mountain, dating back, it is said, fourteen generations, a custom that would never have arisen if the Maoris, who are peculiarly solicitous for the safe custody of the bones of their ancestors, had suspected that they were liable to such rude disturbance. Mr. Percy Smith, who

LAKE TARAWERA, LOOKING TOWARDS MT. TARAWERA FROM ABOVE THE BOAT LANDING.

Beattie, photo.

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ascended the mountain three times in 1874, says: "There was no sign of a crater visible. Prior to the eruption the two mountains of Wahanga and Ruawahia (for Tarawera is only a local name for the south end of Ruawahia) formed two high table-lands of about three miles in total length by about half-a-mile in width, divided by the saddle before referred to, the top of which was covered with large angular fragments of trachyte, which had the appearance of having been shivered into pieces by frost; and the top was further divided into hillocks by deep crevasses running irregularly in all directions. The edge of this table-land has steep, precipitous, rocky sides, falling off into gentle slopes all round, on which were several forests of considerable size—now, alas! all destroyed!" On the other hand, the survey made by Professor Thomas afforded indications which he regarded as proving conclusively the occurrence of previous eruptions.

After rounding the point at the Moura, a pull of two miles brought the tourist past the native village of Te Ariki into the mouth of the Kaiwaka Creek, a warm stream which carried the overflow of Rotomahana into Lake Tarawera. A path through fern and manuka of about a mile and a-half in length connected the landingplace with Rotomahana, in the vicinity of the White Terrace. The lake itself was a dull, sedgy, unattractive sheet of water, with clouds of steam rising from the numerous boiling springs around it. Without the Terraces, Rotomahana would have been but little resorted to, its other wonders having counterparts at Rotorua, Whakarewarewa, and Tikitere. But no one who had ever visited Rotomahana came away disappointed. The dull, uninteresting aspect of the lake, and its scrubby vegetation, served rather to enhance than detract from the magnificence of those splendid natural stair-cases. The White Terrace surpassed its sister in size and loveliness. There is no comparison by which we can convey an exact impression of its appearance. At a distance it looked white as alabaster, but on nearer approach was seen not to be white, but tinged with a faint salmon or cream colour. Sometimes, when illuminated by the sunshine, it glittered with the varied colours of an opal, an effect, however, not attributable to the substance of the terrace itself, which was opaque, and so nearly white that a close inspection was required to detect the delicate flush over its surface, but arising from the action of light upon the water rippling downwards to the lake. In

the crater, and the baths upon the lips of the terrace, this water was a lovely blue, and the crystals deposited in its passage formed themselves into regular groups, covering the whole structure with a fine lacework. There was not an inch of it that had not in this way been chiselled, as it were, into graceful lines and curves. The fretwork over the surface was so sharp that a European could not ascend the terrace with bare feet. To the action of a geyser opening on the hillside we owe this marvellous structure. Mr. Josiah Martin, during a photographic tour in 1885, took, for the first time, the exact measurements of the White Terrace. Its height was 100 feet; frontage to the lake, 800 feet, and distance from the lake to the centre of the crowning basin or crater, also 800 feet, giving a superficies of silicated terracing of about seven and a-half acres. The circular crater had a diameter of 240 feet, with a silicated rim six feet in breadth, enclosing a basin, the platform of which was thirty feet below the rim. The basin was generally full to overflowing of azure blue water; while in the centre was a funnel. 15 feet across at its opening, and gradually narrowing to the dimensions of a broad pipe, that extended down to unfathomable depths. The geyser was intermittent, the water sinking down into the funnel and leaving the crater empty for several hours at a time. Then it would be thrown up to a height of ten feet, and sometimes sixty or seventy feet, until the huge cup was gradually filled and boiled over, the stream supplying the basins that were formed on the platforms of the terraces, and, widening out as it descended, renewing and beautifying the structure with fresh deposits of the silicious substance. The terrace was fan-shaped, with the crater at the apex, and the full extension on the lake level; the stairs or buttresses were also of unequal height, varying from a few inches to twelve feet; the platforms differed to an almost equal extent in width, and the largest of the baths was a basin about thirty feet long by about ten feet wide, covered like the rest of the terrace with rich tracery, more beautiful to survey than to scrape against. The water in this cistern was usually too hot for bathing, but when the geysers had been for some time inactive, a swimmer might safely dive into the blue waters. The baths on the Pink Terrace, which were smooth as polished marble, were more resorted to than those on Te Tarata. No more and graphic description of the White Terrace was ever written than that contained in

J. Martin, photo.

THE WHITE TERRACE.

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Mr. Domett's remarkable poem, "Ranolf and Amohia":—

A cataract carved in Parian stone, Or any purer substance known— Agate or milk-chalcedony! Its showering snow-cascades appear Long ranges low of stalactite, And sparry frets and fringes white, Thick-falling, plenteous, tier o'er tier; Its crowding stairs, in bold ascent, Piled up that silvery-glimmering height, Are layers, they know—accretions slow Of hard silicious sediment. For as they gain a rugged road, And cautious climb the rugged rime, Each step becomes a terrace broad, Each terrace a wide basin brimmed With water —brilliant, yet in hue The tenderest delicate hare-bell blue, Deepening to violet!

Slowly climb The twain, ana turn from time to time To mark the hundred baths in view— Crystalline azure, snowy-rimmed— The marge of every beauteous pond Curve after curve—each lower beyond The higher—outsweeping white and wide, Like snowy lines of foam that glide O'er level sea-sands, lightly skimmed By thin sheets of the glistening tide.

They climb those milk-white flats, incrusted And netted o'er with wavy ropes Of wrinkled silica. At last— Each basin's heat increasing fast— The topmost step the pair surmount, And, lo, the cause of all! Around Half-circling cliffs a crater bound; Cliffs damp with dark-green moss—their slopes All crimson-stained with blots and streaks— White-mottled and vermilion-rusted. And in the midst, beneath a cloud That ever upward rolls and reeks And hides the sky with its dim shroud, Look where upshoots a fuming fount— Up through a blue and boiling poul Perennial—a great sapphire steaming, In that coralline crater gleaming.

Upwelling ever, amethystal. Ebullient comes the bubbling crystal Still growing cooler and more cool, As down the porcelain stairway slips The fluid flint, and slowly drips And hangs each basin's curling lips.

Like sea-crests crystallised, the lips of the terrace, in some parts, were curved over so that a child might stand dry beneath the dripping rim. The process of incrustation went on very rapidly, any article exposed to the action of the water becoming coated in a month or two, but

there was no petrifying property in the water, and such specimens were valueless unless exposed long enough to acquire a hard silicious crust. Patches of manuka, still unsubdued, grew and flourished well within the margin of the terrace, which, however, was steadily advancing towards a complete conquest of this vegetable survival within its borders; but a greater force has controlled its destinies, and the site on which the Queen of Rotomahana stood is now submerged beneath the waters of a vast lake.

The Pink Terrace had been formed like the White, but it was of smaller area (about 51/2 acres), the surface smooth as enamel and of a pale pink hue. The water in the crater was usually calm, just simmering, and flowing gently over the rim. One might stand on the margin and look far down into its azure depths, a spectacle matched only by the coral forest viewed in the shimmer of a placid sea. The baths on the terrace were shallow, but sensuously luxurious, imparting a peculiar smoothness to the skin. Upon the terrace itself the process of renewal proceeded so rapidly that lead pencil marks were almost instantly rendered indelible, a quality which gave too tempting a hope of cheap advertisement or questionable fame to be resisted by the British globe-trotter. Many parts of the terrace had been disfigured by pencillings to such an extent that the aid of the Maori guides was at last invoked to put an end to the sacrilege.

It is hardly necessary to refer in detail to the large geysers, mud volcanoes, and sulphur pools which are associated in the minds of tourists with the environs of Rotomahana. The terraces eclipsed all else, and the other phenomena were not specially remarkable in a country that abounds over a stretch of a hundred miles with the curious effects of hydro-thermal action. We think rather of the ninety-one human beings who reposed with that sense of security which came of habit in the two villages near this strange turmoil on the 9th of June, and we feel thankful that no great town had sprung up here, but that, except for these villages, the country for many miles around was an uninhabited waste, across which the traveller passed uncheered by the smoke of human habitation or the lowing of cattle. If it had been otherwise, the story of the morrow would have been a more terrible record of suffering and death.

Burton Bros., photo.

HOT-WATER BASINS, WHITE TERRACE.

A WEIRD REGION.

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CHAPTER II.

The Eruption—Premonitory Signs—The Cloud Over Tarawera—Wonderful Electric Display—Earthquakes, Rumblings, and Crackling Noises—Narratives of Spectators Compared—Touching Scenes in Wairoa—Fall of the Schoolmaster's House—Death of the Young English Tourist—Escape from the Rotomahana Hotel— Exhuming the Dead Bodies—The Panic in Rotorua.

INCIDENTS trifling in themselves and without significance, may, when interpreted by the light of subsequent events, be made to assume the aspect of premonitions. So several slight earthquake shocks that were felt in the district during the year, and a kind of tidal wave which was said to have travelled across the surface of Lake Tarawera about a fortnight before the eruption, were afterwards spoken of as warnings. The earthquakes probably had a significance, and some importance may be attached to the reported oscillation of the water, although it was not thought much of at the time. Mr. Josiah Martin also witnessed a kind of eruption of water from the big cauldron of the White Terrace in November of the previous year. But in a country that is in a perpetual ferment, and where many of the geysers and springs are intermittent, trifling irregularities are but little noted, and similar disturbances may often have come under the observation of visitors before, and passed without record. The love of the marvellous and mysterious was ministered to by a story told by tourists, with much circumstantiality of detail, that a phantom canoe had been seen passing over Tarawera a short time before, and the natives very commonly believed that this evil was brought down upon the Tuhourangi tribe by the malevolence of the old tohunga, Tuhotu, who had been cursed by some indiscreet and irreverent member of the tribe. We find some substantial evidence of an abnormal activity in the reports published prior to the eruption that steam was issuing from Ruapehu, an unprecedented phenomenon, and of increased disturbance at Tongariro. But the latter mountain has on many occasions been very considerably disturbed without affecting the rest of the Thermal Springs

District, and the recent accelerated activity of the great solfatara south of Taupo, if taken as a sign at all, would have been interpreted as the forerunner of an impending eruption there rather than at Tarawera, eighty miles away. The fact that rumblings were heard in the vicinity of Tongariro during the night of the eruption does not necessarily indicate any close connection between the two centres of volcanic energy, because similar rumblings were heard at Tauranga and Gisborne, places widely removed from the line of weakness along which thermal springs abound. It is, in fact, absolutely certain that if there were any local premonitory signs of the impending convulsion, they were so trivial as not to occasion alarm, and if the catastrophe were to be repeated, such indications would not be sufficient even now to warn people to flee from the doomed settlements.

On Monday, the 7th of June, 1886, a party of six tourists, including Mr. Bainbridge, a young Englishman., who lost his life in Wairoa, visited the terraces, under the conduct of the favourite guide Sophia. They went through the regular routine, bathed on the Pink Terrace, and observed no unusual activity at any of the springs around Rotomahana. The whole party remained at McRae's hotel on Monday night, and all, with the exception of Mr. Bainbridge, returned on Tuesday to Rotorua. The last-named gentleman intended to have a day's shooting. Fortunately, it was the dead season, and there were very few visitors in the district. On Tuesday night it came on to rain, and rained heavily all Wednesday, but cleared in the evening. No suspicion of danger crossed the mind of anyone; the inhabitants of Rotorua and Wairoa retired to rest with their wonted sense of perfect security. The calamity was as sudden and unexpected as

Burton Bros. photo.

THE PINK TERRACE. The Terrace formation varied in height from a few inches to twelve feet

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A WEIRD REGION.

it was terrible. At about half-past one o'clock in the morning the people were startled from sleep by shocks of earthquake; these continued at frequent intervals, and occasioned such serious alarm that the residents in both townships got up and dressed hurriedly. The earthquakes were accompanied by a prolonged rumbling noise.

It is difficult to fix the time accurately from the rather conflicting statements bearing upon this point, but it would appear that a dark cloud, in a highly electrical condition, was observed gathering over Tarawera mountain before two o'clock. The great explosion seems, however, to have occurred at about twenty minutes to two o'clock. Whether the eruption first manifested itself upon the peak of Wahanga, or on Ruawahia, cannot be positively determined, but not more than a few minutes elapsed before what appeared to be flames—but which we may attribute to the glare of the incandescent rocks reflected upon the rising columns of steam—were seen above the three peaks of the mountain. Subsequent examination has confirmed this observation by showing that the mountain top was rent open from end to end. An earthquake, exceeding in violence all that had gone before, attended the mighty convulsion, and was felt along the East Coast from Tauranga to Gisborne. It is very remarkable, however, that at no time during the eruption were the earthquakes of such severity as to overturn a chimney at Rotorua, or even to throw down articles from shelves, and the atmospheric concussions occurred at too great a height to shatter glass in the windows of the townships. For an hour after the great explosion very sharp earthquake shocks were experienced at intervals of not more than ten minutes, coming from the direction of Tarawera mountain, and they continued throughout the night at longer intervals, and with varying degrees of severity.

The electrical display in the dark cloud overhanging Tarawera was of the most extraordinary description. Before two o'clock the residents of Wairoa, disturbed by the earthquakes, had gone up the hill at the Mu, in order to obtain a good view of the mountain. The inky canopy rapidly rose and extended. Forked lightning played about the peaks of the mountain, and in the cloud above it, in lurid and awful streaks. Fiery electric balls darted in every direction, and, bursting, extended out into serpentine ribbons of flame, or dispersed in showers of brilliant fireworks. Blood-red tongues, starting suddenly out

of darkness, lapped the face of the sky, and disappeared. Distinct from the electrical phenomena, although subdued by the recurrent blazes of brilliant light, the steady glare of the volcanic fires was plainly observed, and red-hot bodies—presumably volcanic bombs and stones —were seen to roll down the peaks.

Booming reports, like heavy cannonading, were heard in Auckland from half-past two o'clock until after four o'clock so loudly as to arouse people from sleep and create the belief that a ship was in distress on the Manukau bar. As the sounds of explosion heard in Auckland were of a very distinctive character, and may assist us in determining some of the phenomena connected with the eruption, a further reference to them here will not be out of place. They commenced about half-past two o'clock, and continued irregularly for an hour. Then for half-an-hour there was a marked acceleration both in frequency and violence. The sounds consisted of a series of detonations resembling the firing of a prolonged salute with cannon at about minute intervals. Then would intervene a lull of five or six minutes, followed, perhaps, by a rapid succession of reports so unequal in sound as to produce an effect such as we may suppose would attend a combat between two warships at unequal distances from the spectator, or which might be produced by a vessel firing a rapid salute with guns of varying calibre. Auckland is 120 miles in a direct line from the seat of the eruption, but these reports were heard at Hokianga, another 130 miles further north, and as far south as Christchurch, 420 miles distant. The flashes of lightning were also plainly visible from Auckland and Gisborne; this, it has been estimated, would require for their exhibition a height of between six and eight miles above the peak of Ruawahia.

The violent atmospheric disturbances set up by the eruption gave rise to a bitterly cold wind, which drove across towards Wairoa, and attained at one period of the night the strength of a tornado, uprooting great trees as it tore its way through the Tikitapu Bush. Subsequently, the atmosphere became charged with pungent gases, which were perceptible as far as Tauranga and Gisborne during the fall of the volcanic dust.

In placing upon record the events connected with this remarkable eruption, there are two circumstances which contribute materially to the production of an accurate account. The first is the fact that the phenomena were watched

WAIROA AND LAKE TARAWERA From Komiti Range (before the Eruption). (1) Director, of Mount Edgecumbe, (2) Mount Tarawera, (3) Road to Rotomahana, (4) Te Mu Old Mission Station, (5) Hazard's, (6) McRae's, (7) Terrace Hotel (alongside of which was Sophia's whare) (8) Snow's Temperance Hall, (9) Maori House ("Hinemihi"), (10) Old Mill.

J. Martin, photo.

A WEIRD REGION.

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throughout by a number of independent and intelligent observers; and the second, that the vivid impressions produced by experiences so startling were set down in writing while still fresh upon the mind. We think it will be valuable to reproduce these, as nearly as possible, in the words of the spectators. Mr. McRae, whose courage throughout the whole of that dreadful night has been deservedly extolled, said: — "About twenty minutes to one it began to shake, and shook continuously for about an hour before the eruption broke out. When this was first seen, it was just like a small cloud on the mountain shot with flashes of lightning of great brilliancy. We all got out of bed, and went up to the old mission station to ascertain the cause of the occurrence. While there we saw a sight that no man who witnessed can ever forget. Apparently the mount had three craters, and flames of fire were shooting up fully a thousand feet high. There seemed to be a continuous shower of balls of fire for miles around. As a storm appeared to be coming on, we returned to the hotel, and shortly after what seemed to be heavy hailstones came pouring on the roof, which continued about a quarter of an hour. This was succeeded by a fall of heavy stones, fire-balls, and mud, the latter falling after the manner of rain."

Mr. J. C. Blythe, surveyor, who was staying at Mr. Hazard's house, stated: —"We went to bed at the usual hour. I was awakened about ten minutes to two by Miss Hazard asking if I felt the earthquake shocks. The house was then shaking. I got up, and in ten minutes' time I found Miss Hazard and her two sisters dressed. Mr. Hazard was also dressed. We went on to the verandah, and saw immense volumes of smoke in the eastern direction, charged with what seemed to me to be electricity. The edge of the cloud was framed with flame. There was a loud rumbling, which continued for some time. I then saw on the northern end of Tarawera something like red lights, and thought it was the Ariki natives coming from Rotomahana. Mr. Hazard proposed to light a fire in the drawing-room, for all of us to go in there. It was now about three o'clock, and the noise outside was tremendous, and there was a great rattling on the roof as of stones falling. There were shocks of earthquake every ten minutes. We all kept to the centre of the room, thinking that its ridge was the strongest part to resist the stones. Mr. Hazard and myself kept walking to the windows to see

if we could make out what the trouble was. It was very dark. We could see nothing but lightning. We felt that the door was being pressed out of shape inwards, and we noticed some dirt at the bottom of it. The last thing I remember was when there was an earthquake shock at halfpast three. I am sure it was that time, as I looked at my watch. Without any warning, the roof fell in."

Mr. H. Lundius, who was also in Mr. Hazard's house, and to whose presence of mind the escape of Miss Hazard and Mr. Blythe was due, described the appalling electrical phenomena very much in the same terms as the other spectators at Wairoa, but although watching the mountain from the beginning of the disturbance, its appearance at no time gave him the idea that it was emitting flames. It does not appear, in fact, that the nature of the calamity was divined by those who were in Mr. Hazard's house until a piece of the ejected matter was picked up in the room.

Major Mair, who was holding a sitting of the Native Lands Court at Taheke, Lake Rotoiti, had a good view of the eruption from a point further north than that from which the spectators at Wairoa and Rotorua observed it. "I was awakened," he stated, "about a quarter past one o'clock by a slight shock of earthquake. This was soon followed by a heavier one, and then, in rapid succession, perhaps forty shocks, some of them very severe. About a quarter to two o'clock there was a terrific roar, and, upon looking out, I saw that the eastern sky was glowing, and that over the Whakapoungakau range a great column of fire was shooting into the sky, while above it was a mass of black smoke. Great bodies of solid matter appeared to be hurled up amid showers of sparks, and all around them was a continuous flare of every conceivable form of lightning—forked lightning, chain lightning, rounded masses of dazzling white light, as if caused by the explosion of bombs and showers of electric sparks. There was not so much tremor at this period. I went down to the shore of Lake Rotoiti, but saw no disturbance. There was a gentle breeze from the S.W., and the sky in that direction was perfectly clear. Later on the roar increased, and louder crashing reports could be heard, as of heavy bodies falling. The lightning, too, became, if possible, more vivid, the white light appearing to shoot through and through the red flames of the volcano, and the earthquake shocks were resumed with greater

VIEW OF MR. HAZARD'S HOUSE BEFORE THE ERUPTION.

From a photo by Mr. Blythe.

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A WEIRD REGION.

vigour. Soon after three o'clock the wind shifted to about S.E., and a black veil, as it were, dropped down and completely shut out the light for a time. The lightning flashes could be seen indistinctly, and then there came on the most utter darkness. Still the roar of the volcano was heard, and at short intervals tremendous peals of thunder. About four o'clock there was a pattering on the roof as if light cinders were falling, and soon afterwards a sulphurous smell was apparent. Upon opening my window I found the sill covered with fine, sandy ooze. At eight o'clock there was still the most intense darkness. No sound could be heard except an occasional rumble of thunder. The oozy sand was falling silently as snow, and covering up everything. About half-past nine o'clock there appeared a faint gleam of greenish light in the south-west. The wind changed again to that quarter. The fall of sand became less, then ceased, and the light increased, until at noon one might read ordinary print in the open air. Throughout the day there were occasional tremors of the earth and a little thunder. All round Lake Rotoiti, as far as the eye could reach, everything was covered with a pall of grey, sandy ash. In some places it was in drifts eighteen inches deep, but nowhere was it less than three inches. The fern and light shrubs were levelled with the ground, and in the woods every leaf had its burden clinging to it. All over this stretch of country there was not one green thing visible. The lake was turned to a yellowish-white colour, and the water was so mixed with earthy matter as to be undrinkable. The cattle, clothed in the universal grey garb, were wandering aimlessly about the hills. Numbers of trees had been struck by lightning, and were blazing like great torches. But it is quite impossible to give an adequate description of this weird scene of utter desolation."

The scene in the house of Mr. Hazard, the schoolmaster, who, with three of his children and his little nephew, lost their lives by the collapse of the building, was described in a very touching manner by Miss Clara Hazard, who, by her calmness in the presence of death, proved herself to be a brave girl. "We were all in bed," she said, "at eleven o'clock. At a quarter past one I was awakened by a rumbling noise, and father asked me if I felt the earthquake. I said 'Yes,' and it kept on a long time. Mr. Blythe was awakened, and father said, 'It is the most wonderful sight I have seen.' and we went on the verandah to see it. There was a large, inky.

black cloud hovering over the truncated cone of Tarawera, with lightning and balls of fire shooting out of it. Mr. Blythe said it was a cloud charged with electricity. We all dressed and went into the sitting-room, thinking it was the safest part of the building, as it was constructed of corrugated iron. We lit a fire in the stove, and mother sat down in the middle of the room, with all the children round her. Looking out of the window, it was like a great sheet of fire. Father, and Lundius, and Blythe were looking out of the window. I sat down at the organ and played and sang hymns. At three o'clock we heard a rattling as of stones falling on the top of the house. The noise was so great that we could not hear each other speak. When that came on father went into the middle of the room, leaning on mother's chair. Mr. Lundius picked up a piece of the matter which had fallen, when we all came to the conclusion that Tarawera had broken out into a state of eruption. The volcanic shower continued to fall on the house for about an hour. A tremendous gale of wind arose, and then came down the chimney with such force that we were nearly suffocated with the smoke, and had to cover the stove with a mat, and pour all the water we could get on it. This not being sufficient to put out the fire, my father took the pipe off the stove. At about four o'clock we were all, excepting Messrs. Blythe and Lundius, assembled in the middle of the room, believing it to be the safest place, as the walls were bulging, and threatened to come in. I walked over to the door, seeing it bulging, to lean against it. Messrs. Blythe and Lundius were standing at the same place, when suddenly there came a tremendous crash, and all was dark, the roof falling on top of us. I put out my hands, and grasped on one side Mr. Blythe's hand, and on the other Mr. Lundius, instinctively for protection. Meanwhile quantities of matter fell on our heads. Mr. Lundius jumped up and smashed the window, cutting his hand very much. Finding he could not do it so well with his hand, he used his foot, and got out. He then said, 'I'm out; come out, Miss Hazard, and he pulled me out. Mr. Blythe followed, but on getting into the open air we were struck about the head and body by the debris, which fell in lumps. We shut the door, but finding the roof bulging down, and being unable to get info some of the other rooms, we opened the door and stood in the doorway, so as to be ready to escape. I was perishing with cold.

MR. HAZARD'S HOUSE, WAIROA (After the Eruption, showing in the middle of the picture the remains of the Fowl-house in which the Refugees obtained shelter).

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A WEIRD REGION.

and Mr. Blythe got some blankets to protect me from the cold. Just then the house appeared to be struck with lightning, and it took fire. We all rushed out into the garden. When the portion of the building in which we were had burst into flames, we endeavoured to find some other shelter, and got into the paddocks, stumbling over some uprooted trees in the darkness. Seeing by the light of the burning apartment that the hen-house was standing, we went there for shelter, and remained there till daylight, watching the principal building burning. The corrugated iron building remained untouched, owing to the quantity of volcanic mud around and above it. We waited there in great anxiety, being under the apprehension that all the house was on fire. When daylight arrived, Mr. McRae and the two Birds, his brothers-in-law, came up from the hotel to see how we had fared, and we all went down to the corrugated portion of the dwelling-house to see about the rest, and found a Maori woman, old Mary of the Mu, with my sister Ina. It appears that when the building fell in old Mary snatched my sister into the bedroom, and they had crawled under the washstand; after a while, finding that no more mud fell on them, endeavouring to push away the stuff which was covering them. In this they succeeded, and raised themselves upright, waiting their fate, and continued there, in the dark, till half-past six o'clock in the morning. At daylight we were re-united through Mr. Lundius breaking the window and getting the native woman and my sister out. The whole party, including Mr. McRae's people, listened for any sound to show that any of the rest of the family were alive in the collapsed corrugated building, but hearing none, and seeing several feet of mud on the debris of the fallen roof, we all went down towards Ohinemutu, everybody leaving the settlement. When we got inside of Tikitapu Bush, we met Mr. Robertson's coach, which brought us to Mr. Brent's boarding-house at Rotorua. Mr. Blythe and Mr. Lundius went back to Wairoa."

The belief that all the other inmates of Mr. Hazard's house were dead turned out to be erroneous, Mrs. Hazard being dug out alive several hours after the disaster. She has since narrated her dreadful experiences: "My two daughters, Clara and Ina, escaped into a detached portion of the house. While sitting in my chair, with my three remaining children around me, I was pinned to the floor by the leg

through the roof falling in, and I believe that it was at that time my husband was killed. I had my youngest child, Mona, a girl aged four, in my arms, a boy aged ten, Adolphus, on my right, and a younger child, a girl, aged six, on my left. Mona, who was in my arms, cried to me to give her more room, as I was pressing her against the beam, but the load of volcanic mud pouring down on me prevented me from being able to render any assistance, and the child was crushed and smothered in my arms, and died. Adolphus said to me, 'Mamma, I will die with you,' and I think he did shortly after, as he did not answer again. The little girl, I think, died shortly after, as she said, 'Oh, my head! as the mud was beating down on her, and she spoke no more. During my entombment I thought a search party would come to search the room. I 'cooeed' to the first people I heard about the place. Mr. Blythe, Mr. McRae, Mr. Lundius, and others got me out, on hearing my call, after being entombed for several hours. My injuries consist of bruises and cuts about the head and limbs, and the leg which was jammed by the beam has not had the circulation restored to it yet. Many of the injuries were sustained by endeavouring to protect my head from the falling mud."

All the other Europeans in Wairoa at the time had meanwhile gathered together at Mr. McRae's Rotomahana Hotel. These were: Mr. McRae, Mr. and Mrs. Humphreys, and Mr. Minnett, of the Terrace Hotel; Mr. Stubbs, who was staying at the Terrace Hotel; Mr. Bainbridge, a young tourist; Mr. Falloona, storekeeper; George Baker, the cook; Mary Kean and Mary Bridan; Messrs. John and William Bird, Mr. McRae's brothers-in-law, one of whom had arrived the previous night from Rotorua with a wagon-load of goods for Mr. McRae's store. There were also some Maoris in the house. In his narrative of the occurrence, and when giving evidence at the inquest on Edwin A. Bainbridge, the young tourist who lost his life, Mr. McRae said:—"Deceased, Mr. and Mrs. Humphreys, myself, and others, went up the hill to see the eruption, and, after remaining twenty minutes, returned to the hotel. All went into one room, and stones commenced to fall, breaking all the windows. I thought the last day had arrived. The roof of the hotel gave way about half-past four a.m. with a loud smash, and the whole of the upper storey collapsed, the debris falling into the rooms below.

THE OLD MILL, WAIROA, AFTER THE ERUPTION.

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A WEIRD REGION.

We left the smoking-room, and went into the drawing-room, which, as it was the newest part of the house, we thought would stand the longest; but it was with the greatest difficulty that we got there, owing to the falling stones and mud which impeded us. When we went outside, everybody, without exception, was cool and self-possessed, and as good as gold. The back part of the house, in which was the dining-room, gave way next, and all of a sudden we heard a fearful crash and roar, as if thousands of tons of stuff were falling. The danger of our position was now painfully apparent. Mr. Bainbridge remarked on this fact, and suggested that we should engage in some sort of religious service. He remarked with awful calmness that he expected to be before his Maker in an hour or so. We acquicsced, and Mr. Bainbridge read a portion of Scripture, and said a prayer, in which we all fervently joined. At the same time we agreed that we should make an effort to save ourselves, and with this object determined to leave the hotel and make for the first Maori whare we saw standing. I said, 'Boys, we shall have to go. Put on what you can to cover your heads.' We all placed rugs and blankets over us to protect us from the danger. Mr. Humphreys and his wife went first; Mr. Bainbridge, the English tourist, next; then I took the girls, jumped over the broken balustrade which lay in our way, and lifted the girls over. I called out, 'Are you all right, boys?' and all seemed to call out 'Yes'; so we went on shouting to each other. Having only to go 100 yards to reach Sophia's house, we continued shouting to prevent us losing one another. Suddenly I missed the young tourist, and, putting a shawl tightly round my head, I went at once back after him. The shower of debris was great. I was knocked down, but, getting up again, called as loud as possible. Though unable to find him, I was rewarded by coming in contact with George Baker, my cook, who was standing against a tree, and got him to the whare. Then I went to look for Mr. and Mrs. Humphreys, whom I had missed. While looking for them I found Messrs. Minnett and Stubbs, who, after groping about in the blinding mud and darkness, had gone back to the drawing-room of the hotel. I helped them to reach Sophia's, and then went towards the wharepuni (“Hinemihi”), and my delight was great when I heard the voice of Mr. Humphreys answering to my shout. He and his wife were making for the carved house, and they reached there and remained

there all night. I went back to the whare, looking for Mr. Bainbridge, but could get no answer, and never saw him alive again.”

The death of this young Englishman was one of the saddest events of the catastrophe. He seems to have had a presentiment that he would not live through the night, and to have prepared for his end with great calmness and resignation. Mr. Minnett, after describing what occurred up to the point when they saw the fire burst out at Hazard's house, says:—“We dared not stir out to attempt assistance; between earthquake and fire we stood expecting death ourselves. Mr. Bainbridge now asked if any of those present would like to engage in prayer, and all cheerfully consented. He read a chapter from the Bible, and then offered up prayer. He said this might be the last hour of our lives, or we might at once, and without further preparation, be ushered into the presence of our Maker. But it was in His power to deliver and save us, even in this terrible extremity; and should any of our number mercifully be delivered from this present peril and imminent calamity, oh! might it be a turning-point in their lives, and induce them to give up their hearts and lives to Him. He said, in conclusion, 'O Lord, be with us now; our lives are in Thy hand, and should we meet Thee at this time, have mercy and forgive.' Some moments elapsed, and we were all silent. I went up to him and thanked him for having thought for us all in these dread moments; for during the whole time we were expecting death at any moment, either by being buried alive by the sand, mud, and stone that was overwhelming the house, or by suffocation with the sulphurous gases which pervaded the atmosphere, or by crushing under the falling timbers, or being swallowed by the opening ground as it trembled beneath our feet. There was also the additional danger of being burned to death by the fire-balls which were dashing over and through the building. Mr. Bainbridge, though calm, seemed to feel that he would not survive the night. He told me that the disaster would soon be heard of in England, and, whether he lived or died, that it would have a great effect on his family as his brother had been shot, and two of his sisters had lately died suddenly from disease. He said this in such a manner as to lead me to think that be felt positive he himself would not escape the terrors of the night.”

The following fragment of a letter which the deceased had begun to write, evidently with the

THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION AT TARAWERA.

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object of leaving it as a record for those who should afterwards search for their dead bodies, was found in the ruins of the hotel. The letter was written in a firm, clear hand, on the first page of half a quire of foreign notepaper:— "Written by Edwin Bainbridge, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. This is the most awful moment of my life. I cannot tell when I may be called upon to meet my God. I am thankful that I find His strength sufficient for me. We are under heavy falls of volcanic-" Mr. Bainbridge's body was found underneath the

able to despatch the women under escort to Rotorua. Protecting their heads as best they could from the still-falling volcanic debris, the procession of refugees set out on their ten-mile tramp through the heavy blue mud which covered the country for miles around. It was a welcome sight when, on emerging from Tikitapu Bush, they espied Mr. E. Robertson's coach, in care of its owner, who had gallantly set out from Rotorua at six o'clock in the morning, accompanied by Mr. Edward Douglas and Constable Moroney, to render what aid they

"HINEMIHI," THE WHARE RUNANGA, OR MEETING HOUSE, AT WAIROA, WHERE MOST OF THE MAORIS SHELTERED.

balcony in front of the hotel, which must have fallen upon him while in the act of escaping. Very early in the morning, the still-falling shower of mud prolonging the darkness, Mr, McRae and the two Birds went over to the schoolhouse to see how the family had fared. They found the survivors, and directed them to Sophia's house, which had borne its enormous covering of mud wonderfully well. An examination of the ruins of Hazard's still burning house was made, but without revealing any sign of life. The party were compelled to desist and return to shelter, and it was now deemed advis-

C. Spencer, photo.

could to the residents of Wairoa, for whose safety the greatest fears were entertained. Upon meeting the coach, the women from Wairoa were placed upon it, and the men who were with them, comprising Messrs. Humphreys, Blythe, Lundius and Willie Bird, again returned to the scene of their night's perils to render what aid they could. In the interval, Mr. McRae and Johnny Bird had made another ineffectual attempt to reach the buried inmates of Mr. Hazard's house, and had then set out towards Rotorua. About two miles from Wairoa they met the men returning after sending the women

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A WEIRD REGION.

on in the coach. The whole party returned to Wairoa together, spades were got out of Mr. McRae's store, and work was begun in earnest.

Mr. McRae, describing the discovery of Mrs. Hazard, and the subsequent operations to dig out the remaining members of the family, and the native whares, which were embedded in the grey-blue mud that covered the whole settlement to a depth of twelve inches on the level to three or four feet where it had drifted, says: “After digging some time, we were rewarded by seeing the hand of a woman, and quite a thrill was caused by the fingers moving, showing that she was alive. We called to her that we should soon have her out, and on digging away the accumulation found Mrs. Hazard with a shawl wrapped round her head, which we unfastened. She was sitting on a chair with her back to a chiffonier. Her right arm was round the neck of Mona, her dead little daughter. Her dead little son was across her lap. She said, 'Yes; I know they are both dead. You can take them away.' Ted Robertson now came to Wairoa, and helped us to carry Mrs. Hazard on a stretcher. Marchereau, manager for Mr. Carter, had been half-way to Oxford, but kindly brought his coach and refreshments over to our relief. Next morning (Friday) the Government sent men to help to clear the road, which had got packed up five feet deep with enormous trunks of trees nine feet in diameter, across the track; consequently the work of digging out the bodies was attended with the utmost difficulty, although from sixty to seventy men mustered on the ground. The first thing done was to search for the bodies of the Hazard family. After clearing the drift sand from the demolished structure, the sand was carefully taken from among the sheets of iron and timber, and after a little time the foot of a little boy was seen. When taken out he was quite dead. His head was fearfully mangled. The next body recovered was the little girl. Her face showed that she had been crying bitterly and suffered much, which corroborated her poor mother's statement that she was sure the child was dead, as she had heard her crying with pain. Next was found the body of Mr. Hazard, much injured on the head, but his face looked placid. He was lying face downward, evidently crushed to the earth with the weight of the beams which fell across his back. Mr. Hazard's death was probably instantaneous, as also was that of his little boy, who was in a fearfully crushed state; but his little seven-year-

old daughter appeased to have suffered a great deal of agony. She was lying on her back with a wound on her face. The house had taken fire, and was smouldering, but the bodies were not burnt. The three bodies taken out, with the bodies of the two children exhumed the day before, were conveyed to Rotorua.”

The inhabitants of Rotorua, although sixteen miles from the point of eruption, had spent the night in a condition of intense anxiety. They were suddenly aroused from sleep by the earthquakes, which commenced shortly after one o'clock, with rumbling noises, and continued without intermission. Then a dense black cloud was seen advancing from the direction of Tarawera. In this cloud occurred wonderful electric phenomena, like the most brilliant lightning, but terrible beyond description. Finally, the whole population rushed from their houses, terrorstricken, and ran down the street, moved, apparently, by the impulse to get away from the black canopy which swelled as if it were about to seal up the history of the village and involve all its inhabitants in a common grave. A cry was raised in the street that the day of judgment had come, and a number of women and children, semi-nude, rushed from their houses and ran along the road in disorder to the schoolhouse at Te Awahou, on the Tauranga road, where they took refuge for the remainder of the night. The nervous shock was so severe that for days afterwards the excitement and uneasiness were unabated. The following telegram, despatched by Mr. Dansey, officer-in-charge of the Telegraph Department, who, with his assistants, remained at the post of duty, conveys a good impression of the feeling which prevailed throughout the township:—“We have all passed a fearful night here. The earth has been in a continual quake since midnight. At 2.10 a.m. there was a heavy quake, then a fearful roar, which made everyone run out of their houses, and a grand, yet terrible, sight for those so near as we were presented itself. Mount Tarawera, close to Rotomahana, became suddenly an active volcano, belching out fire and lava to a great height. The eruption appears to have extended itself to several places southwards. A dense mass of ashes came pouring down here at 4 a.m., accompanied by a suffocating smell from the lower regions. This immense black cloud, which extended in line from Taheke to Paeroa mountain, was one continual mass of electricity all night, and is still the same. Between the roar of the thunder, the roaring of the three or four

McRAE'S HOTEL, WAIROA, THE REMAINS OF WHICH HAVE NOW ENTIRELY DISAPPEARED

30

A WEIRD REGION.

different craters, and the stench, and the continued quaking of the earth, several families left their homes in their night-dresses, with whatever they could seize in the hurry, and made for Tauranga. Others who were lucky got horses and left for Oxford (now Tirau). Judging from the quantity of ashes and dust here, I fear serious results to the people at Wairoa, and all the natives round Tarawera Lake.”

Notwithstanding the very natural alarm which prevailed in Rotorua through the night, when day dawned, and it was seen that the wind had turned the menacing cloud away from the village, and that the violence of the eruption had subsided, the first thought of the people was of the residents at Wairoa. Mr. E. Robertson had his team harnessed to the coach by six o'clock, as already narrated, and started out to render them assistance. Meeting the wornout refugees coming down through Tikitapu Bush, he soon had them comfortably domiciled at Rotorua, and returned to render what further

aid he could. Meanwhile Mr. Dunbar Johnstone, Government Native Agent at Rotorua, with Mr. Roche, surveyor, and a staff of men, had also set out to make a systematic examination of the whares in the village. Europeans and natives were employed to dig out the members of the tribe in the various buried whares. The road through Tikitapu Bush to Wairoa had to be cleared and great trees removed. One Maori, nearly 100 years old, was dug out. He had waited patiently with his elbows on his knees until his deliverance came, and when the mud was properly scraped off him, he rose, shook the refuse of the crater from his person, and, without giving a look of recognition to anyone, went straight away to satisfy the cravings of hunger.

The total loss of life in the eruption was 147 Maoris and six Europeans. The native loss of life in Wairoa was nine persons, the cause in most instances being the collapse of the whares from the weight of mud deposited on them.

CHAPTER III.

The Scare at Tauranga—A Rescue Steamer—First View of the Great Steam Cloud—Rotorua the Day after the Eruption—Expedition to Examine the Terraces—The Desolated Tikitapu Bush—Search for the Dead in Wairoa—Unearthing the Old Tohunga Tuhotu—Camping Behind Rotomahana—The Black Crater—The Roaring Turmoil of Rotomahana—The Boating Expedition on Tarawera—Dr. Hector's Visit—The Abandonment of Wairoa.

The great dust cloud, which had turned aside f rom Rotorua, after burying the whole country between Lake Tarawera and the eastern shore of Lake Rotorua in mud, drifted over towards the East Coast, and northwards beyond Tauranga, producing an unnatural darkness. During the night, the inhabitants of Tauranga, and other East Coast settlements, had been alarmed by the earthquake rumblings, and had seen the vivid lightning flashes in the direction of Rotorua, without any other visible signs of storm. When about seven o'clock in the morning the sun became obscured, the prevailing uneasiness increased. Onward came the great cloud, drifting up on the southwest wind. By eleven o'clock Tauranga was enveloped in total darkness, and something approaching to a panic prevailed. The people believed that the eruption must be nearer than Ohinemutu, especially as the volcanic dust began

to fall steadily until the streets were covered to a depth of nearly half an inch, and in some places the drift was two inches. The paddocks were covered, and cattle came lowing in distress to the farm buildings. Such complete darkness prevailed for some hours that lights had to be lit. About one o'clock, however, it cleared away, and the panic subsided. But before that time the Mayor had sent urgent telegrams to the Mayor of Auckland, asking for steamers to take the people away. In response to these appeals, the steamer “Wellington” was chartered and despatched to Tauranga, reaching there at two o'clock on Friday morning, only to find all the people protesting that they had never been even a little bit frightened. Those who had gone down in the steamer, therefore, immediately set out for the scene of the eruption. We left Tauranga at half-past six on Friday morning (the day following the eruption). The wind

TIKITAPU BUSH. DEVASTATED BY THE ERUPTION

32

A WEIRD REGION.

was sharp and bracing, and the ground covered with hoar-frost and the pools with ice. All over the surface of the land, as far as the eye could reach, lay a coating of volcanic dust, which was stirred up into clouds by every puff of the wind. The coating of dust steadily diminished as we approached Rotorua. On emerging from the bush at the top of the hill overlooking the lake, a magnificent panorama burst upon our view. A dense cloud of steam, of snowy whiteness, extended for miles above the range of hills bounding the eastern shore of Lake Rotorua. This bank of vapour drifted slowly to the northward, and merged into a dust-cloud that was being whirled about by the play of the wind. In the direction of Tarawera the bank of steam rose in a solid and unbroken mass to a height of more than 16,000 feet. Further to the right, apparently beyond Rotomahana, there was another vast column, while just across the lake the whole line of hills from Taheke to the Wairoa road, that is to say, all the eastern shore of Rotorua, wore the grey-blue hue of the volcanic mud. The setting sun shone upon the snowy mountains of steam, tinting them with a pink flush, and covering with glory the ramparts of desolation below.

The general appearance of the village of Ohinemutu gave very little token of the startling events of the previous day. In the township, among Europeans and natives, intense anxiety for the future prevailed, although most of the residents who had fled in the first panic returned to their homes on the Friday. The natives were coming in from Wairoa, and taking up their quarters at the big carved house, preparatory to holding a great tangi or wailing for the dead. The predominant feeling was one of incertitude and utter helplessness; every earthquake shock might be the precursor of another great convulsion, involving strong men, women, and children in a terrible death, and yet they knew that nothing could mitigate the calamity or save them from destruction, if it should come, except flight, abandoning all that they possessed. The steam jets in the neighbourhood, and visible for miles around, were scanned with anxious eyes, false rumours got afloat and were believed —Mokoia Island, it was said, was sinking, Mount Edgecumbe had broken out, and strange things were happening at Tikitere. These reports, which subsequently proved to be untrue, had a disturbing influence, but they never diverted the inhabitants from their duty towards those whose lives might still be in jeopardy.

The excavations went on at Wairoa, and on the afternoon of our arrival we saw a mournful procession come into Rotorua with the remains of the poor schoolmaster and his little ones, whose bodies were laid out to await the inquest. The search for the young tourist, Bainbridge, continued; steps were also being initiated by volunteer effort to convey a boat across to Wairoa to make an examination of the villages of Moura and Ariki. The boats previously plying on Lake Tarawera were destroyed in the strange tempest.

Although care for human life occupied a foremost place, it did not make men forget the terraces of Rotomahana, nor prevent speculation concerning their fate. This was, indeed, the topic that came uppermost when the widespread desolation was surveyed. To every one who had seen those beautiful natural structures the thought of their destruction was intolerable, and to the people of Rotorua these wonders had, besides, a monetary significance. They held a leading place among the attractions, on the strength of which a large amount of capital had been invested. Were they gone, and, if so, how would their destruction affect the district?

By nine o'clock on Saturday morning a search party was under weigh, consisting of Mr. James Stewart, C.E., Mr. Roche, surveyor, Mr. W. T. Firth, Mr. I. Hopkins, Mr. W. Berry, Mr. T. W. Leys, Mr. G. Nicholson, and two or three stalwart young fellows from the surveyor's camp. Captain Way joined the party at Wairoa. Mr. H. Lundius volunteered as guide. About two miles beyond Rotorua the deposit of volcanic mud upon the road became deeper, and before the Tikitapu Bush was reached, the thick, adhesive covering which overspread the whole surface of the country with a bluish-grey mantle as far as the eye could reach, had attained an average depth of about 2ft. 6in. The mud appeared to have fallen in rounded pellets like rain-drops, intermingled with finer particles which must have come down as moistened dust. The landscape was a very strange one—the ground as evenly spread as if it had been rolled, and hill and dale, land and shrub and tree, all draped in the same sombre garb. It was just as though there had been a snow-storm, only that in place of snow mud fell, which no summer sun could melt. Here and there could be seen the tracks of some human being or animal on the even surface, which was also dotted over by dead rats and mice, while affrighted birds wheeled o'erhead bewildered by

AN OLD MAORI AFTER BEING RELEASED FROM HIS WHARE, WHICH WAS ALONGSIDE McRAE'S HOTEL.

WAIROA BEFORE THE ERUPTION

C. Spencer, photo.

WAIROA IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ERUPTION.

C. Spencer, photo.

36

A WEIRD REGION.

the extraordinary transformation. The great weight of the deposit, and the force with which it was driven, had borne down vegetation and stripped the trees of their foliage. The pretty little Tikitapu Bush, the favourite of tourists, was utterly desolated. Great trees lay flat, their roots an earthy disc in some instances of ten feet diameter, attesting the force of the mighty wind that had torn along the opening of the road. Above them, as if outspread in lamentation, were extended the long, bare arms of those forest monarchs that had withstood the violence of the tornado. Torn and battered beyond recognition, the flowering koromiko, the delicate fern, and the tenacious creeper were buried in a common grave. The road here became very heavy, and was partially obstructed by trees, which had fallen across it, so that we were compelled to get out and tramp through the mud. What had become of the Blue Lake— surely that dirty brown sheet of water had never gone by such a name? Over the hill we came in view of Rotokakahi, once the Green Lake, now muddy water. The river conveying the outflow of the lake was completely choked up. In a gully beyond this point we saw the mudbespattered, lacerated body of a horse, which was tethered overnight, and had evidently made a fierce struggle for life.

The entrance of Wairoa presented a very singular spectacle, the whare-tops peeping out of the accumulated debris. On the roof of one was lying the dead body of its owner, only just dug out of the ruins. Three rooms of the Terrace Hotel were standing, but the back part was knocked away and the balcony stove in. The Rotomahana Hotel was a shattered wreck. The roof of a store next door had tumbled in with the weight of the stuff. The ruins of Hazard's house were still smouldering. Sophia's house, which had so strongly resisted the storm, stood out with its mud-thatched eaves a picturesque and conspicuous object in the native village.

The natives displayed extraordinary apathy and callousness with regard to their missing friends, and the entire work of the search was thrown upon the Europeans. Some of the fallen whares in Wairoa were not searched until three or four days after the eruption, and in one of these ruins the old tohunga Tuhotu, reported to be a hundred years old, was discovered alive. He was as much hated as feared by the natives, many of whom attributed the deaths and calamities that had befallen the settlement to his

magic and malevolence. His hundred and four hours' hibernating had not made him speechless, and he protested against being carried out. Having partaken of food, however, he submitted to removal to the Sanatorium at Rotorua, and was there fed upon milk, administered in small quantities. His dutiful nephews and grandchildren, who had made no effort to search for their aged relative, flocked down to weep over him when he came in, but no one would go near or touch him, and expressions of profound disgust were freely used by the natives regarding the insensate folly of the pakeha in bringing the wizard to light again from the grave, in which they had hoped he was comfortably disposed of. Their fears, however, were soon allayed, for the old man, after lingering about a week, during which he conversed cheerfully and described his experiences while buried, died. A week after the eruption Mr. S. Percy Smith found a woman from the deserted settlement of Waitangi, where she had lived alone with her husband. He was killed, and she had been a week without food. She had staggered towards Wairoa, but at last fell fainting. A party of natives who found her took no steps to bring her in, and the Assistant Surveyor-General, with Mr. Baker, a member of his staff, manufactured a litter out of an old shawl, and bore the poor creature in to Wairoa. Two months after the catastrophe, a dog rooting about the buried village drew the attention of some visitors to a spot, where, upon digging, they found the body of a Maori woman sitting in a natural posture, with her daughter across her knee lying face downwards. The old woman's name was Merita, and her daughter, a girl of 18, was called Uruti. Alfred Warbrick says that when the bodies were uncovered the girl was lying in her mother's arms, and in her hand was a Bible, her finger still marking the place where she had evidently been reading. These two were known to have left the house of the chief Kepa, close to where the bodies were found, and were evidently making for shelter when they were overwhelmed.

Passing through the village, we went as far as the hill descending to the boat sheds, where tourists formerly embarked on their voyage across the lake. No trace of boats or sheds remained; everything was covered with the universal pall, the vegetation battered down and buried, and even the Wairoa stream, which three days before had come bounding merrily down the hill in its sparkling falls, with ceaseless murmur and splash.

THE BLACK CRATER, TAKEN TEN DAYS AFTER THE ERUPTION

C. Spencer, photo.

38

A WEIRD REGION.

was gone, choked up at its source and along its channel. Not a drop of clean, fresh water was procurable in the settlement. Heavy vapours hung over Lake Tarawera, shutting in the view and enveloping in an impenetrable mystery the gloomy mountain from which all this evil had sprung.

Retracing our steps to Lake Rotokakahi, we gave up the coach for the conveyance of the dead into Rotorua, and shouldered our swags for the not very promising tramp through the mud around the side of the steep hill which borders the lake. The tent and heavy baggage were securely fastened on the pack-horse, and our sturdy guide proceeded to guess his way along the hill-side. We followed in single file along this ticklish way, stepping into tracks made by the horse, and leaning up towards the hillside to preserve our balance while drawing each foot out of the suction-holes. Two miles of this sort of travel brought us to Kaiteriria, a native settlement. where the fall of mud had been much lighter, and the track became comparatively easy. As we neared the vicinity of the lakes, the soft mud gave way to dry pebbles the size of marbles of the same material as the mud, and intermingled with fragments of scoria. On a stretch of level land between the hills which the track crosses, and which was known as “Earthquake Flat,” owing to the old earthquake cracks across it, we found a number of new fissures—one about a foot wide and of unknown depth. In this vicinity also a huge boulder had been rolled down from the hill above. After a weary tramp over hill and dale, Lake Okaro (near Waimangu) came suddenly in sight between the hills, and a wonderful scene broke upon our view. Where before had been green fern, now rose hillock upon hillock, glistening white beneath the setting sun. We pushed forward to ascertain the natur of the transformation that had produced this weird vision, and soon the track entered a region of dust or light earthy matter, into which with every footstep we sank over our boot-tops. The rapid closing in of night rendering it impossible to proceed further, we decided to camp on the margin of a little patch of bush. Here tents were pitched and a roaring fire was lit and we made ourselves as comfortable as possible. The air was clear and cold, the sky cloudless, and the stars shone with brilliancy. Away to the left, and apparently at no very great distance, but drifting slowly northwards before the southerly breeze, the massive steam-cloud rose to a height of fifteen or sixteen thousand feet.

At intervals we could hear the sound of distant concussions and detonations, not unlike the reports that awoke the inhabitants of Auckland on the night of the eruption; these were followed by the rattling sound of musketry, mingled with the roar of escaping steam. To discover whence these strange noises proceeded was to be our mission on the morrow.

Night passed with no further excitement than three or four earthquake shocks, that set the hill on which we were reposing in gentle oscillation. We were up with the sun, and after a hasty breakfast, having cut alpen-stocks from the adjacent bush, we set out upon our uncertain and adventurous expedition. It was at once seen that Lake Okaro and Kakaramea mountain at its head were in a normal condition. The white line which marked the dust deposit also stopped half-way up Kakaramea mountain; the fern was green beyond. But from that mountain to Rotomahana there was an unbroken succession of grey hills and gullies, the deposit being dry, and totally different in texture from the heavy mud on the Wairoa side. Jets of steam and brown smoke indicated a number of points of eruption between Okaro and Rotomahana, but Lake Okaro glistened placidly and undisturbed within the circle of its grey shores. We were soon plunging across the hills of dry dust, which, in appearance and texture, resembled hydraulic lime. At every step our boots went ankle deep, and sometimes we sank to the knees. The deposit varied from a foot to unknown depths. After travelling for two miles over hill and gully, we came in view of the blackened cone of a prominent hill in active eruption, throwing up showers of scoria, which fell back into the crater, or down the hill-side. Its side was torn out, and from several points of activity within the crater explosions occurred every few minutes, driving stones 500 feet into the air with the booming and rattling noise already described. The hill was about 400 feet high, with a black cone of about 20 feet built up by deposits of ejected stone. Volumes of steam and smoke issued from the yawning mouth which formed a long and cavernous-looking rent across the top of the hill and going deep down into its heart. Beyond the range of the regular shower of ash. the grey hillocks and gullies intervening between the volcano and the place where we were standing were studded with indentations, which, on probing, we discovered had been made by stones falling from a great height and burving themselves deep in the soft ash. In a more careful

ARIKI VILLAGE, WHICH WAS OVERWHELMED, FIFTY-TWO LIVES BEING LOST

J. Martin, photo.

40

A WEIRD REGION.

examination some time afterwards the Assistant Surveyor-General came across one block of stone a hundred tons weight, which had been thrown from this crater a distance of an eighth of a mile. As the discoverers of this grim vent for the subterranean fires, we felt called upon to give it a name, and “The Black Crater,” suggested by Mr. Stewart, met with immediate acceptance. The character of the deposits over which we were travelling now changed; showers of stones covered the dust, and in some parts the deposit was pure ash. It became apparent, from rising jets of steam and smoke, that along the former bed of the old creek carrying the overflow of Okaro Lake into Rotomahana, but which was covered over with ashes, five craters, similar in most of their characteristics to the one first noticed, but smaller and less active, had broken into eruption. The country before had been covered with fern and tussock.

Heavy masses of steam and brown smoke rising above Te Hape-o-Toroa, a mountain 1,920 feet high, on the western side of Rotomahana, directed our way, and, pushing on, we were soon toiling up the ash-covered steep, eager to gratify our curiosity with a view of the lake below. At last the summit was gained, and we looked down upon the most extraordinary spectacle imagination can conceive. The peak on which we were standing was formerly about half-a-mile from the margin of the lake, but now, instead of a placid sheet of water, there was opened out immediately beneath our feet, its edge not 250 yards distant, a huge crater, belching out showers of mud and stones from innumerable yawning mouths, amid dense volumes of steam and smoke, with a din and roar and rattle baffling description. Stones were being ejected high into the air from eleven separate orifices or small craters, on the side nearest to us, and the volumes of steam and smoke prevented further vision into the centre of the old lake site. A partial clearing away of the vaporous envelope, however, occasionally gave a brief glimpse into the gloomy recesses of the great crater, revealing only a bed of seething, steaming mud in flats and hillocks, bubbling and spouting in ceaseless ebullition. A small patch of discoloured water was dimly distinguishable in one part, but Rotomahana was gone—not only the water, but the bottom driven out, scooping the bed to a depth of at least 250 feet below the old level. The whole configuration of the place was so completely altered, that those who were most familiar with its features

hesitated in locating the site of the Pink Terrace. The spot finally settled upon was one of especial activity, dense masses of steam and smoke completely obscuring the view in that direction. That the Terraces were utterly destroyed was manifest enough to everyone, and we gazed in silence and in sorrow upon this fierce and destructive turmoil, which had driven into fragments a natural marvel without duplicate on the face of the globe, and which Nature had taken centuries to produce. The whole mountain side was strewn with fragments of terrace-forma-tion, but as the surroundings of the old lake at many points were marked by areas of silicious deposit, there was no clear evidence that these fragments came from either of the great Terraces, and there appeared then to be a narrow chance that the Terraces were not blown out, but were covered up beneath the deep deposits of ejected matter. Subsequent surveys proved conclusively that the Terraces were utterly destroyed. The stones ejected from the smaller craters mostly fell back into the orifices from which they had been expelled, choking up the vents. Then the uprushing steam, with booming sound, would send them flying once more high into the air, to fall back again with noisy clatter.

The prospect obtained from Te Hape-o-Toroa was most extensive and varied. Far away beyond Taupo were seen the snow-clad tops of Ruapehu and her sister Tongariro; nearer, the steam jets amid the green fern-hills around Maungaongaonga; then Kakaramea and Okaro Lake. Immediately beneath our feet, so that a slip on the hill-side might roll us into one of the roaring craters, the violent turmoil of Rotomahana; and along the bed of the old creek the other five active craters already mentioned. Northwards, towards the Wairoa, were hills glistening in mud. Beneath them, Tarawera Lake, calm and peaceful, with the dark outline of the great mountain itself visible through the steam and smoke. The dividing line between the mud deposit and the showers of dry dust was singularly marked. From Rotomahana towards Lake Okaro and back to Lake Rerewhakaitu, the hills of dust and ashes were visible in unbroken continuity, while in the other direction towards the ill-fated Wairoa village was the deposit of wet ash, which extended over to the eastern shore of Lake Rotorua, and which had been borne on the wind northwards in gradually diminishing thickness, beyond Te Puke. Careful examinations subsequently made of this heavy

GREAT RENT IN TOP OF MOUNT TARAWERA VIEWED FROM SOUTH-WEST OR ROTOMAHANA END

C. Spencer, photo.

42

A WEIRD REGION.

mud deposit indicated that it was not due to the expulsion of the bed of Lake Rotomahana, with the waters contained in the lake; these were doubtless vaporised by the force of the explosion and liberation of immense volumes of steam. But this steam, heavily charged with ash, was condensed when brought into contact with the cold south-west wind that diverted the cloud from Ohinemutu, and fell as rain. The fineness of the particles in some of the mud-covered districts showed clearly that the deposit there was simply dust that had become moistened in passing through a vaporous medium.

While ascending one hill, a more than ordinarily violent earthquake swayed the hill-side to such a degree that we had to pause in our climb until the oscillation ceased. Getting back to camp about noon, the tent was struck and the homeward march for Rotorua begun. On the return journey we made the discovery that the Galatea track, branching from the Wairoa road near Whakarewarewa, and passing on the southwestern side of Lake Rotokakahi, was very little obstructed by mud. It was. in fact, just within the boundary of the mud deposit on that side. The road was in fairly good condition, and in the weeks succeeding our expedition, scarcely a day passed without some visitor travelling by this track to see the new wonderland.

In our absence on Sunday a boat and light skiff had with great difficulty been got over from Rotorua to Wairoa. The volunteer crew consisted of Mr. Edwards (native interpreter), Captain Mair, Alfred and Arthur Warbrick, Black, C. Taylor, E. Harrow, Ainsley, and Sergeant Cahill. The work of getting the boat and party down to Lake Tarawera was attended with considerable danger. The boats were lowered over a precipice of mud by means of a rope; they managed to shove off without mishap, but on their return they were followed by mud avalanches in their passage up the creek. Dr. Hector, Government Geologist, who had arrived from Wellington on the day preceding, witnessed the launch, and expressed the warmest admiration for the courage of these hardy volunteers, whose lives were placed in peril from the mudslips which it was foreseen would inevitably ensue after the first heavy rainfall. Lake Tarawera was now comparatively clear of vapour, and black smoke was seen issuing at various points along the ton of the Tarawera range. The party found that the native settlement of Moura, where 39 natives formerly lived, had been overwhelmed by the fall of ashes and the

rising of the lake, which came up 42 feet. Warbrick landed, but found that the ground war, so hot it was impossible to walk more than six or seven yards from the bow of the boat. The inhabitants of the village were past human aid— overwhelmed with swift destruction. At the site of Te Ariki the change was still greater. The settlement itself was covered to a depth of many feet with stones, mud and ashes, and the bed of the Kaiwaka stream, which carried the overflow of Rotomahana into Lake Tarawera, was also completely buried with similar deposits —the stones still unbearably hot. The old landmarks were obliterated beyond recognition; the bay itself was filled up for a breadth of 150 feet. Death had come with avalanche swiftness upon all the inhabitants of the village, fifty-two in number. There was also a European lost at this village—Sam Brown, a surveyor's assistant, who had only returned from survey work the afternoon before the catastrophe. No palatial buildings, however, or buried wealth were there to tempt after-explorers to make Pompeian excavations. The thatched whares would offer but a frail resistance to the mountains of earth, and their inmates lie deep down in a grave that is never likely to be disturbed. The boating party got a good view of the southern end of Tarawera, which was smoking and steaming. Near the site of the White Terrace, there appeared to be a semi-circular cliff with a very active crater, emitting dense volumes of steam.

After making a general examination of the country, the party returned to the boats, and were exploring the eastern side of the lake, when they perceived nine natives, who, having come up from Matata in search of their relatives, had left their horses at Tapahoro, and were completely exhausted by their efforts to reach Te Ariki. When told of the sad fate of the village, they raised a great wailing. The boating party supplied the famished wayfarers with food and water, and conveyed them to a point where they could easily go back to their starting-place. This timely succour probably saved their lives, as they could not have returned before dark, and must have spent a frightful night on the mud. The party were unable to carry out a search of the settlement of Waitangi, on the western shore, and it was not until two months later that the bodies of the eleven inhabitants of that village were discovered. They had assembled together in a large house, which fell in and smothered them. When the boats reached Wairoa late

ROTOMAHANA CRATER AND LAKE ROTOMAKARIRI, AS SEEN FROM S.W. END OF TARAWERA EIGHT WEEKS AFTER THE ERUPTION.

C. Spencer, photo.

44

A WEIRD REGION.

at night, it took two hours and a-half to get up from the landing to Sophia's whare, and two of the party were compelled to lie down repeatedly on the mud utterly exhausted.

In addition to the casualties mentioned above, nineteen natives lost their lives at Tokiniho, on the hill above Wairoa, on the northern side of the valley. These natives had gone up to this fertile spot to put the potato crop, which had been previously dug, into the underground pits or “ruas,” where it would be stored during the winter.

Before the boating party got back. Dr. Hector had made arrangements for the abandonment of Wairoa and the closing of the road. He took this course in consequence of the opinion that after the first heavy rain mud glaciers would be formed, which, slipping down into the valleys and lakes, would cover the road to a great depth, and render escape impossible to anyone thus cut off. Also, that Lakes Rotokakahi and Tikitapu, filled with vast masses of mud, would overflow, and a long period, perhaps months, must elapse before the country could settle into a condition of anything like permanent subsidence. These anticipations were only very partially realised.

In connection with the slips which afterwards occurred on the Wairoa road, a very extraordinary chasm was opened near the Tikitapu Bush. This had apparently been formed originally by an old earthquake crack, which became filled up in the course of time with accumulations of loose debris. The road had gone across its border, no one suspecting the insecurity of the ground. By the down-rush of water and mud from the hill-side with the winter rains, the old deposit was swept out with the new, leaving a

great gap in the road, widening out into a deep and dangerous gorge, in one place 90 feet deep. The week following the eruption was an anxious time for Rotorua. Earthquake shocks continued with great frequency and considerable severity, and the thermal springs exhibited irregularities that caused some uneasiness. But the people gradually settled down to their old pursuits.

The natives assembled in the carved house at Rotorua and commenced the tangi for their dead, who numbered 147. They also began to consider their future prospects and place of abode. Return to Wairoa was now out of the question, for although analyses, subsequently made, afforded satisfactory evidence that the mud and dust deposits contained all the elements of a fair soil, return to the mud-covered lands of Wairoa was out of the question. But other lands were liberally offered by the Rotorua, Taupo, and East Coast tribes, and the homeless natives gradually distributed themselves in various directions; the bulk, however, remaining to keep guard over their ancestral estates, which, though all uncultivated, were once such an unfailing source of income.

The natives have a superstitious dread of the locality, but a party from Rotorua not long ago overcame their natural dread to recover a tribal heirloom in the shape of a valued tiki (greenstone ornament), which was known to have been buried in the whare of a Wairoa woman of rank. The descendants formed a secret expedition, and, unknown to the rest of the people, unearthed the whare, recovered the tiki, as well as another valuable pendant, and then as secretly departed. This is the only occasion on which the natives have had the temerity to disturb the ashes that cover their ancestral homes.

THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION AT TARAWERA.

CHAPTER IV.

Exploration of Rotomahana-Mr. S. Percy Smith's Ascents of Tarawera-The New Lake Rotomakariri-A Green Lake—The Great Chasm in Tarawera—The Range Torn Open from End to End—The Craters South of Rotomahana—How Crater Lakes are Formed-New Crater West of Rotomahana Waimangu's Tragic Story

The first attempt to ascertain the fate of the Terraces and explore Rotomahana was made by an expedition fitted out by the Auckland Star early in July, in connection with which Mr. J. A. Philp acted as special correspondent, and Mr. Alfred Warbrick as guide. Unfortunately, on the day selected for their descent into the crater the most violent eruption that had been observed for three weeks took place. The column of steam and smoke ascended in the course of a few minutes to a height of 14,000 feet, and, being seen from Rotorua and more distant places, gave rise to considerable anxiety for the safety of the explorers. However, they came safely out of the perilous situation in which the unexpected disturbance placed them, after penetrating much further into the mud-covered region than had previously been attempted. To the pen of Mr. Philp we are indebted for the first detailed description of the appearance of the great fissure where it crosses the site of Lake Rotomahana. He wrote: —

“The Star expedition confined its exploration of the lake to the western side, from the new fumaroles that lay at the southern end of the lake near the outlet of the stream which formerly flowed from Okaro to a point a mile past the covered channel of Kaiwaka Creek, which carried off the overflow of Rotomahana into Lake Tarawera. Without pictorial aid, it is almost impossible to give the reader an adequate conception of the appearance of this mighty centre of volcanic action. Let the imagination conjure an immense cutting or ditch two-and-a-half miles long, and varying in breadth from half-a-mile to one hundred yards, and with an average depth of four or five hundred feet. Conceive the sides of this cutting to be of various grades of steep-

ness, from the precipitous to a comparatively easy grade, these sides being thickly studded with jets of steam. Then along the centre of the cutting imagine a series of mounds of ejected mud and stones, interspersed with countless craters, also throwing off dense masses of steam and occasional stones, mud, and black smoke. When one has organised all these conceptions in his brain, he has a faint idea of what Rotomahana looks like; but the full effect on the nerves of a visit to the wonderful locality cannot be conceived unless the reader can imagine a continual trembling of the earth, with frequent heavy shocks that almost disturb one's equilibrium, and conjure up the noise as though thousands of steam escapes were yelling in chorus. The desolation of destruction is on all the surrounding landscape, and it is a stout heart that is not awed and humbled before this terrific scene of convulsed Nature.”

To Mr. S. Percy Smith, the Assistant Sur-veyor-General, belongs the distinction of making the first ascent of the Tarawera Range after the eruption. No one is more worthy of that honour Proceeding to the scene of the convulsion immediately after its occurrence, Mr. Smith made a careful examination of the country affected, and prepared an admirable report, which was laid before Parliament. In conjunction with Mr. J. A. Pond, Government Analyst for Auckland, he also reviewed the events connected with this remarkable volcanic outbreak in a paper read before the Auckland Institute. Returning to the district as soon as his many duties would permit. Mr. Smith undertook the arduous and perilous work of exploring the Tarawera Range in winter, a feat which it was generally believed would have to be left until the summer months. Professor Thomas, some days before, had

46

A WEIRD REGION.

ascended the mountain a distance of about 900 feet at the Rotomahana end, near the great chasm in Tarawera, but was compelled to return to camp, reaching it late at night. Mr. Smith, however, made two ascents to the highest peak of the range, and made a complete examination of the summit from the great rift or gorge at the south end of Mount Tarawera to Wahanga.

There was a vast chasm on the southern side of Mount Tarawera, as if the end of the mountain had been blown out. It was ascertained that, below this gorge, and continuing from its terminus near the bottom of the mountain to within half-a-mile of Lake Rotomahana, there was a huge fissure, three-quarters of a mile long by an eighth of a mile in width—its banks 150 to 200 feet high, the upper fifty feet being of ground built up with ejected matter. This tremendous earth-rent had already become filled in with water, the drainage of the mountain, and formed a new lake, absorbing the little lake, Rotomakariri, the name which Mr. Smith applied to its more expansive successor. The site of the new lake, prior to the eruption, was an easysloping valley, in which lay the original Rotomakariri, a little lake not more than an eighth of a mile in diameter. The old features of the country were completely obliterated by the enormous deposit of ejected matter, which exhibited on its surface unmistakable evidence of having been scoured by streams of water. Near the mountain the grey deposit was thickly strewn with stones, and at last gave way to the black and brown scoria which covers the mountain.

Between the new lake and the great chasm in the end of Tarawera, a small green lake intervened, divided from the considerable sheet of water below it by a narrow, knife-like ridge, too sharp to walk across. This lake was simply a crater, about 75 yards in diameter, containing a considerable quantity of water of a pretty green hue. The crater, which, from its breadth and depth, must at one time have been very active, exhibited no sign of disturbance. Apparently it had been a mere vent or “blowhole” for the steam and gases generated at some deep-seated source of heat. The craters between Rotomahana and Okaro also accorded some very interesting examples of the formation of these crater lakes.

Immediately beyond, and above the green lake, commenced the great chasm at the south end of Mount Tarawera, still coloured round its margin with ferro-chlorides, which, seen at

a distance, gave rise to the early report that the fissure was bordered with deposits of sulphur. This vast chasm starts about 250 feet above the level of Lake Tarawera, and extends to the top of the mountain, forming a deep gorge, averaging about 200 yards in width; its walls at the bottom are 250 feet high, and are composed of black and red scoria. The floor, which follows the upward slope of the mountain, is also of scoria; steam and, occasionally, a deep brown smoke were issuing at the time of Mr. Smith's visit from crevices in the side and bottom. As the adventurous explorer penetrated this gigantic chasm, hewn in a single night by the Vulcanian powers, its walls increased in height until they attained an altitude of about 800 feet above the floor. The thick forest which covered this slope of the mountain had been torn and blasted by the violence of the elements; its remnants were still visible beyond the borders of the rift, a melancholy ruin. It is interesting to notice that on some parts of the mountain the fine scoria, compacting together with mud, had already formed a kind of breccia, making a hard and comparatively smooth roadway of solid rock. Huge blocks of trachytic rock, blown out or detached during the eruption, strew the sides of the mountain.

A strip of about 200 yards separates the great rift in the south end of Tarawera from the deep fissure which has torn open the top of Tarawera and Rauwahia from one end to the other, a distance of about a mile and a-half. This fissure has an average width of about 240 yards, and is divided by three sharp ridges into four sections, or craters, the central one about 600 feet deep. The sides and bottom are composed of scoria, from which, for several months after the eruption, issued steam and suffocating gases, the odour of muriatic acid being the most prominent. The top of the mountain has been built up with fine scoria ash, but on the surface of this there are also many blocks of stone from 50 to 100 tons in weight, which have been expelled in the last throes of the eruption. The yellow tint of the ferro-chlorides showed out everywhere on the deposits, but it was a mere transient colouring, which disappeared from specimens of stone carried away; on the mountain itself in many places it had also changed to a coffee colour by oxidisation. Other hues also glistened under the sunlight in the cracks which tore open the margins of the great fissure. From the steepness of its walls it is possible to look right down into this dreadful chasm. The

THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION AT TARAWERA.

47

trachytic mass of the mountain was torn open to afford a passage for the incandescent rocks which were forced from below, and which have been heaped up on the top of Ruawahia to a height of 170 feet, completely changing its outline. There was no trace of a lava flow on the mountain, although probably a bed of molten rock lay beneath the deep scoria deposit. There is, however, abundant proof that the convulsion was not a mere displacement of the original constituents of the mountain, but that the rock when ejected was melted to softness.

earth and rock to form the bed of a lake threequarters of a mile long by an eighth wide. When we add to this the matter expelled from Rotomahana and the craters south of it, we no longer feel surprise at the extent of the deposit of ash which covered the surrounding country.

Mr. S. Percy Smith made a careful examination of the condition of Rotomahana and the southern craters. The bed of Rotomahana was about 250 feet below the old lake level, and was considerably lower than the level of Lake Tarawera, into which its surplus waters formerly

LAKE ROTOMAHANA IN 1911.

L. Birks, B.Sc., photo.

The examination of Tarawera serves to heighten rather than to lessen the first reports of the gigantic character of the eruption. It will be observed that the volcanic explosions have not simply opened two or three small craters, but have forcibly expelled the whole centre of the massive three-peaked mountain or range for a length of about three and a-half miles, to a depth varying from 400 feet to 1,400 feet. Beyond this is the enormous gorge, 600 feet wide, and from 250 to 800 feet deep, blown out of the side of Tarawera; then the excavation of the mass of

flowed down the Kaiwaka Creek. A considerable breadth of made ground prevented any inflow from the great lake upon the Rotomahana crater. With the exception of an area of about 250 yards by 100 yards, still covered with water, Rotomahana was entirely composed of steam-holes, or craters, some of them 50 yards across. These were fuming away amid a desolation of sand and mud in flats and hillocks, the highest of these heaps of made ground being towards the northern end of the old lake, near the site of the While Terrace. The ground at

A WEIRD REGION.

48

this end of Rotomahana consisted of heaped-up masses of ejected matter cut into by streams of water, heavily charged with minerals. Two streams of water, about 20 feet wide and 6 inches deep, boiling hot, were met with, both flowing from the eastern side of Tarawera Range, one falling into Rotomahana crater, and the other into Rotomakariri. Their direction and general appearance suggest the probability that these streams existed underground prior to the eruption, and that their beds were simply

about 320 feet, and it quickly became filled with water, which continued to give off heavy clouds of steam. A little to the southward of the Black Crater was a small rent still actively steaming. One of the most energetic stone-spitters in this locality was situated between the Black Crater and Okaro. Some ten acres of ground around this focus afforded a very interesting field of investigation for the geologist. It had not built up a cone, and the hole made by the eruption having become filled with water, covering an area of

STEAM CLIFFS, LAKE ROTOMAHANA

G. Shepherd, photo

exposed by the opening up of the fissure and the lowering of the bed of Rotomahana. They apparently formed a part of the drainage of Tarawera, which had acquired a high temperature in passing through the mountain. A more careful survey of the craters between Rotomahana and Okaro proved that the early guesses that were hazarded with respect to the height of the Black Crater considerably overshot the mark. Its external height is about 400 feet, not much more than 20 feet of it formed by the ejected matter. The depth of the crater is

between 10 and 12 acres, a perfect example was furnished of the formation of the crater lakes with which we are so familiar. Owing to a singular echo which is produced in the vicinity of this lake, it was named the Echo Lake Crater. The lip of the crater on the northern side is not more than twenty feet above the level of the water, but the ridge dividing this crater from the Southern Crater is some two or three hundred feet high. The Southern Crater also became the bed of a lake about three acres in extent, which emitted clouds of steam. The water was 300

CRATER AT TOP OF MT. TARAWERA IN 1911.

L. Birks, B.Sc., photo.

CRATER OF WAHANGA IN 1911

L. Birks, B.Sc,. photo.

D

50

A WEIRD REGION.

feet below the lip, and the hills rose to a greater height on the other side. The loose deposits around were cracked, and frequently fell into the crater. Each of these craters had been formed in a hill, the top or side of which was blown out, the material being strewn around on every side. Water was rapidly formed in all the craters. After the eruption the activity of all the craters in Rotomahana and southward steadily declined, although with intermittent revivals of their energy. Year after year the water gathered in the great crater of Rotomahana, until, joining Lake Rotomakariri, it formed an extensive sheet of water 5½ miles long by two miles wide, with a maximum depth of 525 feet, illustrating the processes by which other lakes in the district have doubtless had their origin.

On the western shores of Lake Rotomahana there are still evidences of minor thermal energy. The water near the shore in several places is heated by the outpouring of boiling springs and streams. In the vicinity of some of the craters south-west of Rotomahana there is also active thermal action; and in 1901 a huge geyser suddenly commenced to play near the Echo Lake Crater. This gigantic geyser, to which the name Waimangu was given, was the largest in the world. When in action it projected vast columns of black water, mud, and big boulders into the air, the column sometimes rising to a height of 1,500 feet. But after intermittent activity, shots occurring almost daily for three years, the geyser became quiescent in July, 1904. About seven weeks later it again became active, and continued in action daily until the 1st of November, when the eruptions ceased. The disturbed condition of the steaming basin, 319 feet long by 182 feet wide, from which its eruptions arose, afforded good reason for anticipating similar displays in the future. These expectations were only partially fulfilled by outbursts at very long intervals until 1908, and the geyser has now ceased to play, with no great probability of its revival. The causes which govern these eruptions are very obscure. Sir James Hector attributed the cessation of geyser action at Waimangu to the widening of the orifice through which the water and steam were discharged from the subterranean reservoir.

On Sunday, August 30th, 1903, there was a singularly sad tragedy at Waimangu, four people losing their lives. A party which was doing the Round Trip by way of Wairoa, Tarawera, and Rotomahana, was too large for the one boat which was on Lake Rotomahana, so

it was divided into two. Among the first section of the party to cross was Mr. Joe Warbrick, a farmer from the East Coast, who wanted to see Waimangu, not only on account of its strange action, but also because it was the scene of a daring adventure of his brother Alfred, the wellknown guide, who, in company with another man, had crossed the boiling basin in a small dinghy. While Alfred Warbrick returned across Rotomahana for the other half of the party, the first half went on according to instructions given to Mr. Joe Warbrick by his brother. In the second half was Mrs. Niccolls, of Timaru, and her two daughters.

When the party reached the south end of Rotomahana, these two girls, being keen to get their first view of the great geyser, went on ahead. Alfred Warbrick followed with the second half of the party, and when he reached the hill overlooking Waimangu he found his brother had gone down the slope a bit, and Alfred Warbrick's party followed. The geyser at this period was playing a shot every few minutes, but not very high—about 300 feet being the highest.

“While sitting down,” says Mr. Alf. Warbrick, detailing the sad events of the terrible accident, “three men were observed to be walking round the slope of the hill to a dangerous spot. I called out to them to come back, which they did. A minute or two after this my brother got up from where he was sitting and walked deliberately over to the spot from which I had ordered the three men away. Shortly after wards the two Misses Niccolls, a Mr. McNaughton, of Auckland, and two Australians followed my brother. I called out to them that they were in great danger, knowing as I did that the geyser was liable to play a big shot at any time without notice. I then turned round to the rest of my party and said, 'Let us go on,' thinking it would induce the others to follow us. When we got opposite to where they were standing I again called to them, and got Mrs. Niccolls to call her daughters. The elder girl replied that it was all right. I pushed my party on, and when we got to a safe place I then went back to see about those left behind, Mrs. Niccolls accompanying me.

“When we reached the hill overlooking Waimangu I said, 'There they are!' and had no sooner uttered the words than the geyser went off, and that was the last we saw of them alive. After carrying Mrs. Niccolls to a place of safety, I

WAIMANGU BASIN TEN DAYS AFTER THE ERUPTION

C. Spencer, photo.

52

A WEIRD REGION.

rushed down to the spot where I had last seen the little party. The gorge was now a river of boiling, seething water. Running along the bank, I first found my brother's body about a quarter of a mile below the spot where they were washed away. Dragging him out of the boiling water, I laid his body on the bank, and then went in search of the two girls, finding the elder about 250 yards away, and the younger girl another 200 yards further on. I came to the conclusion that there were only three victims, but the body of Mr. McNaughton was afterwards found— making four victims in all.”

In rescuing the bodies Warbrick took no thought for his own safety, and had all the unfortunate victims on the bank within twentyfive minutes of the awful disaster. Under Warbrick's supervision, the bodies were carried up to the Accommodation House—itself a difficult task—and the arrangements were made for taking them into Rotorua, where the inquest was held. The accident, with its awful suddenness, caused a thrill of pity to pass over the Dominion, especially for Mrs. Niccolls, whose two daughters met with such a terrible fate.

The ash deposited during the eruption of 1886 caused a scarcity of feed for stock in many districts, and there was much anxiety with regard to the permanent effect upon the land. In places where the covering was light, the vegetation quickly recovered, but several years elapsed before the land at Wairoa and surrounding districts, where the deposit was so heavy as to absolutely destroy all vegetation, regained its lost verdure. Now, except in places where hillsides have been scored with heavy rains, the country is as thickly covered with indigenous ferns, shrubs and trees as before the eruption, and at Wairoa Australian gums and acacia are conspicuous for their vigorous growth. With respect to fertility, there is no evidence that the land upon which the ash fell has been at all injuriously affected. The Tikitapu Bush is as beautiful as ever, and the Blue Lake, which for several years after the eruption was of a muddy colour, has regained its pristine loveliness.

Rotomahana and the central region of the eruption may be visited in the course of a day from Rotorua by an excursion locally known as "the round trip." For an ascent of Tarawera, arrangements may easily be made with reliable guides.

Guide Warbrick, one of the best-known figures in the service of the Tourist Department, retired some years ago. His unrivalled knowledge, extending back even before the tragic days of 1886, cannot be entirely replaced, but his successors in the Department have become steeped in the history of this remarkable district, and it is still possible for the tourist to visualise in some degree the wonders that preceded the eruption and the terror and holocaust that marked the blowing up of Mount Tarawera. In connection with Mr. Warbrick, it is of interest to relate that he was not quite satisfied

GUIDE ALF WARBRICK.

Parkerson, photo.

that the wonderful pink and white terraces were wholly destroyed. He made a deep study of the terrain, and formed the opinion that the terraces were simply buried, so that if Rotomahana were drained it would be possible to unearth them. In this view, Mr. Warbrick stands practically alone, for all other authorities competent to judge consider that the terraces were blown to pieces almost simultaneously with the first titanic upheaval, and that a thermal wonder, unapproached in our Wonderland, or in any other part of the world where similar phenomena exists, disappeared in the twinkling of an eye.

WAIMANGU GEYSER IN ERUPTION.

54

A WEIRD REGION.

CHAPTER V.

Possible Causes of the Outburst—Some Famous Seismic Disturbances—The Probabilities of Further Outbreaks—Conclusion.

Two circumstances—both fortunate in themselves—have contributed to dwarf the apparent magnitude of the disaster. The one is the fact that there was no large population in the vicinity, and the other that the surrounding lands were of poor quality and unsettled; but if the reader will consider what the effect would have been of the sudden opening up of a great fissure in the crust of the earth for a distance of eight and a-half miles, and the destruction of all life within five miles on either side of it, he will get a better conception of the gigantic nature of the disturbance, and the appalling consequences that would have attended its occurrence in any populous district.

An estimate made by Prof. Thomas of the amount of ash which fell as a result of the eruption places the total at 1,960,000,000 cubic yards, or nearly two-fifths of a cubic mile. The area over which the ash was distributed was not less than 6,120 square miles, and included places so widely separated as Tairua and Tologa Bay, a distance of 165 miles. Ash also fell on the s.s. ”Southern Cross” when off the East Cape, 122 miles distant from Tarawera. The composition of the deposits varied very considerably in different districts. Those to the eastward were mainly formed by the disintegration of basic rocks, and to the westward the basis was acidic. The following analyses of dust taken from two widely-separated points were made by Mr. Skey, the Colonial Analyst:

Tauranga. Hick's Bay.

Silica .. .. .. .. 60.74 59.37

Iron oxides .. .. .. 11.58 10.18

Alumina .. .. .. 16.09 17.96

Manganese .. .. .. Trace. Traces.

Lime .. .. .. 5.69 5.98

Magnesia .. .. .. .96 1.19

Phosphoric acid .. .. Trace. Traces.

Water .. .. .. .. 2.26 2.21

Salts soluble in water .. Trace. Traces.

Organic matter .. .. Trace. .99

Alkalies .. .. .. 2.68 2.12

100.0 100.0

As to the causes of the eruption, there is necessarily ample room for much diversity of

opinion. In a paper read before the Auckland Institute, Messrs. S. Percy Smith and Pond showed from calculations of the amount of solid matter carried out by the action of the thermal springs around Rotomahana—which represented many thousand of tons every year—that the heavy mass of Tarawera Range, 2,600 feet above the lake level, had probably been undermined, and was in a condition which favoured subsidence; that, presuming such a subsidence to have occurred, it would set in motion the imprisoned forces within, which were kept under by enormous pressure, and would lead to a series of explosions and earth-rents such as those which constituted the phenomena of the eruption. This theory agrees with Dr. Hochstetter's opinion, that the thermal phenomena on the borders of the lakes are local in the sense of being kept active by percolation in the vicinity rather than from continuous streams along underground channels, passing from one section of the thermal springs district to another. Dr. Hector also hazards the conjecture that the solfatara action around Rotomahana was fed from streams heated by passage over the molten rocks within or beneath Tarawera Range. The discovery of hot-water streams of considerable volume flow ing from the eastward—evidently the drainage of Tarawera Range—and discharging into Rotomahana crater, lends this theory a very strong support. It may fairly be assumed that beneath Rotomahana, though at greater depths, and along the whole line of earth weakness, which is defined by the development of thermal phenomena, there are masses of igneous rock at no great distance from the surface. If we conceive, therefore, the liberation of the imprisoned forces within Tarawera, either through subsidence or shrinkage of the cooling rocks, or the accumulation of the imprisoned forces beyond the resisting power of the walls of the chamber in which they were confined, or by any deep-seated movement in the earth crust, the sequence of events admits of simple explanation. The violent convulsion by which the great fissure was rent open through Rotomahana would let the

WAIMANGU GEYSER The Cross shows where two sisters and a guide were swept away during an eruption of the Geyser

56

A WEIRD REGION.

waters of that lake down upon the heated rocks below, producing the tremendous eruptive energy, the great cloud of steam, and other phenomena which were in very active play for many months after the eruption. The disturbance upon Tarawera ceased more rapidly because, having found vent for the confined vapours, there was no mass of water above to keep up the contest between the antagonistic elements. It must, however, be admitted that the apparent quiescence of Lake Rotomakariri, formed in the fissure from Tarawera towards Rotomahana, offers a difficulty in the acceptance

dome that supported the floor of the lake, accompained by the instant contac t of the waters with the highly-heated igneous mass lying immediately under the line of fracture, is the hypothesis that has received the most attention and support.”

Another theory takes a wider view, and associates the eruption with some deep-seated and extensive changes in the condition of the earth's crust, specially manifested along those recognised belts or apparent lines of fault upon which volcanoes are distributed. In support of this theory, there certainly seems to be a mass of

A TYPICAL BIT OF COUNTRY ROTOMA HANA AND WAIMANGU COVERED WITH VOLCANIC MUD AND SUBSEQUENTLY ERODED BY RAIN.

of this theory, and at any rate seems to indicate that the igneous rocks are very unequally distributed.

Professor James Park, in his “Geology of Ne w Zeland,” states: “The origin, or cause, of the Tarawera eruption of 1886, like that of most volcanic eruptions, although a source of much investigation, is still a matter of mere conjecture. The welling up of a molten magna, with the resultant Assuring and sudden admission of the waters of Lake Rotomahana to the uprising glowing mass, and the collapse of the

H. Winkelmann, photo.

evidence indicating an abnormal seismic and volcanic activity in various parts of the world during the three or four years preceding the eruption of Mount Tarawera.

Leaving these speculations with regard to the causes of the outburst for future discussion and elucidation, a word must be said upon the probability of renewed activity in the closed-up craters of Tarawera. While the causes of the first outburst are obscure, nothing can be affirmed with confidence on this subject. After the cruption of Vesuvius in B.C. 79 (the account of

THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION AT TARAWERA.

57

which, as told by the younger Pliny, shows that the attendant phenomena were very similar to those connected with the outburst at Tarawera), 125 years elapsed before the volcano again burst forth. Subsequently there were several eruptions at long intervals, but after a violent outbreak in 1136, the volcano once more became, to all outward seeming, extinct for a period of 500 years. When it again broke out in 1631, the crater was overgrown with venerable oaks and chestnut trees. There was no lava flow from Vesuvius for 1,000 years after the eruption in B.C. 79; Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried in mud and ashes. Mount Tarawera was formerly a volcano, though probably of the same class as some of the trachyte cones of Central France, without craters; but it had been at peace for hundreds of years, and may go to rest again for hundreds more. On the other hand, while the first eruption of Krakatoa occurred on the 20th of May, 1883, the volcano was comparatively quiet, although with intermittent activity, until August 26th of the same year, when the great outburst which annihilated the island occurred. The vast mass of molten scoria piled up on the top of Mount Tarawera gives indubitable evidence that the eruption, apart from the hydrothermal phenomena attending it, was volcanic in the strictest sense, and not, as was at first supposed, purely hydro-thermal, accepting that

somewhat ambiguous phrase as signifying merely an explosion of confined steam, unattended by the expulsion of molten rock. Further disturbances with the volcano may, therefore, at any moment lead to a new eruption proceeding on to an overflow of lava from the centres of heat which are now covered up by the deposits of scoria. Should this occur, there is no reason to anticipate such a violent convulsion as that which attended the bursting open of the sealed-up mountain summit. While a revival of the eruption is thus a possible and, it may even be said, a probable contingency, it is more likely that, escape having been found for the pent-up forces, the mountain will once more slumber peacefully for many centuries.

These opinions are not advanced with the wish that they should be accepted as authoritative in any sense, but are merely offered as a contribution towards the discussion of a subject which opens a wide door for speculation. The chief endeavour of the writer has been to set down in order, and with accuracy, the facts connected with an occurrence that is without parallel in the history of Australasia, and not to champion any particular set of theories. If he has succeeded in doing that, and has sustained the interest of his readers, the object which he had in view when entering upon the work will have been fully attained.

MAP OF THE COUNTRY AROUND TARAWERA VOLCANO ERUPTION

MOUNT TARAWERA AND ROTOMAHANA LAKE BED AFTER THE ERUPTION

From a drawing