'WHAKARI'

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 224, 21 September 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

'WHAKARI'

WHITE ISLAND is tlie summit and crater of a dying volcano, roughly 588 acres in extent and 1075 feet high. It is open to the Pacific, in deep water, and is roughly 40 miles from the New Zealand mainland. 'The visitor approaching it becomes aware of a great mass rising before him, and immense columns of steam hanging low over the crater. As the boat draws rearer to the island the sound of the gently lapping waves is drowned by the sonorous roar of escaping steam. In shape the island is rather like a huge cup, with a small piece broken out of one side, and here, in a boulder strewn bay, is a landing right into the cratcj-. An ascent to the summit is possible, though the journey is precarious and a rough one. The whole island is heated to such an extent that walking is macle difficult. No animal or insect breathes on Whakari —scarcely a linit could be found on a stone. Looking over the rim of the crater one can see the column of steam from the main fumarole below rising to a height of several thousand feet, the air trembling and pulsating with a tremendous outrusli. In keeping with the scene are the splendid gannets banking high above the waters, their saffron heads gleaming in the gold sunlight. And then the visitor stands fascinated, appalled near the main blowhole —the cliicf steam- Vent which since time immemorial has been the world's greatest safety valve. From out it, rushing with terrific force, comes hurtling from the very bowels of the earth a column of super-heated steam. All external sounds are stunned to silence. The ground beneath shudders; the air is vibrant. It is fearful; all around .is desolation, and a strange loneliness. The homing birds pass overhead with their plaintive cry — whis-kce, whis-kee; it seems an eerie lament to those who hear it.

White Island, or W'nakari, as the Maoris call it, was discovered by Captain Cook, who charted it incorrectly as the Isle of Wight. In 1859 it was explored by a naval landing party, who reported to the Admiralty that "it contained all the necessary ingredients for the manufacture of gunpowder." It was next visited in 18(51 by two British officers stationed in New Zealand; so impressed were these two men with its mineral wealth tliat tliey bought it from a native chief for "two hogsheads of rum," this

wThe Wonders of a Burning -tsmm Island

— • ! : Wonderful and weird, a ■place \cliere the mighty forccs of Nature may be beholden, where the j j pale yellow sunlight shines timidly on the arid areas; and whisps of grey smoke curl to greet • | a feathery sky; where the earth trembles and a great roaring as of thunders unloosed drowns j i the gentle whispers of the sea —this is White Island, which the natives call "Whakari. j

deed being duly recorded. The passing of the years have seen the arrival and departure of many men whose hopes for a brwf period have been pinned on the burning isle. In 1011 occurred a great landslide involving 2,000,000 tons of earth, and causing a blockage of the main steam vent. It followed that some other outlet must be forced in the surface of tho island, and this is what

actually came to pass. A lake 15 acres in extent was blown out of existence. Men, houses, factories and plant were either buried under tons of rock, or else shot thousands of feet into the air before they fell into tile sea. Such constitutes the brief history of the island, or as much of it as is known. To-day the island belongs to a Sydney syndicate who recently purchased it with the object of determining whether the heat of the fumaroles can be utilised for any industrial purpose.