THE LOST TERRACES.

Press, Volume XLIII, Issue 6492, 14 July 1886, Page 6

THE LOST TERRACES.

Our Wellington correspondent sends by telegraph the report of Mr Percy Bmith, Assistant Surveyor-General, on the late eruptions. It is too long to print in full in the present crowded state of our columns, bat tfrfr following graphic description of the scene of honor which aow prevails in the spot formerly made lovely by the Pink and White Terraces will be read with interest:—

The next pcint of eruption on the line is Botomahana itself. Here the most wonderful alteration has taken place, changing a placid lake into a rough crater, from which rises a oolumn of steam nearly a mile and a qoarter in its longest diameter, and as far as can at present be ascertained nearly a mile in width. This grand column of steam, like a mass of cumulus cloud ascends to orer 15,000 ft, but the topof the column could not be seen. The westers ride of the orator at present can alone be studied, as the ashes and sand are too deep to admit of a jonroey to the eastern side. It has, as it were, eaten back southwards and westwards from the shore of the former lake, a distance of over half a mile, the southern aide being immediately at the f cot of the high hill called Tehape-o-toroa, which will be remembered as standing behind the Pink Terraces. The spot where once was situated the most beautiful objent of its kind in the world, the White Terrace, is now, I believe, occupied by a crater joining a sort of horse-shoe bay in the side of the greater eater of Botomahana, and from which, a vast column of steam arises .and joins the general mass above. I wish that I could write pesitively on this point, bnt as already pointed out the shape and coatoar of the ground is so altered by the mass of ejected matter, that exact localities cannot at present be identified. Should thie horseshoe crater hereafter prove to be not exactly where the White Terraces stood, it is at any rate qeite close to it, and its ezaefe position doe* not effect the question as to whether the terraces are in existence or not. If not there, then they are etcher buried deep under the stones and sand or have sunk into the main crater. The Fink Terrace* were in such a situation ac to be at least a quarter of a mile within the margin of the present crater, and no eye can penetrate through the dense steam to ascertain tbslrface. Oceasiootl breaks in this dense veil allow at momentary glances into the crater, but for no great distance, and the sight disclosed is one of horror. A dim brownish twilight, making everything of a hideous .hue, enables one to ccc a dreadful mus of boiling oar boiled mud, black and brown m color, with seething pools of steaming water er liquid mvd —sometimes cast up into fumaroles ejecting steam, at others .vomiting forth etonee and mod with a noise like the roar of innumerable steam engines. From time to time the more •cove vents along the mwgin, after a prolonged roar or a sharper detonation like that at a wnrim, ehoot forth high into the air large bodies of stones and mud, which, generally fall back from whence they came. This is not tJways so, however, for the Burfaoe of the e*nd and ash covering the hills around the margin is dotted over with fragments of atone ejected from the water, whilst other and larger pjeoes have sunk in the mud, leaving shallow round depressions to mark their ertee. The onteredge of the crater differs in the height above tile bottom of it aooerdisg to position, and no general statement could be given as to an average height; bat at the west ride it is probably about 300 ft, the upper part being formed of debris thrown out from' the crater. To the margin of this ejected matter it is dangerous to approach, as it is constantly falling in, and is full of oraokb for many yards back. To the east of Tβ-bape-o-tcroa ill, the valley of which was formerly occupied by a stream running into Botomahana, are saveral points of eruption, some of them throwing up stones aad mud at intervals, generally preoeded by a load detonation. The top of this hill being about 250 yards from the margin of the crater, affords an excellent view of the whole series of eruptions—exclusive of the Buawahia group—and it is easily reached by any one from Botorut in a ride of eighteen miles, with a walk across the aetfieJd of about three and a half milee. But at the same time the frequent earthquakes tend to engender a feeling of insecurity and a fear that the steep hillside might easily fall into the cratar. 'The wall itself is covered with coarse sand, as is the oountry ti the west of Uotomahana, with occasional large stone*, which have been ejected. Toi» sand, excepting on the hill its»if,- in places is v*ry d-wp, -and trying to walk through. Aft I happened to ride ortr part of this country about three months ago, I am in a po-dtion t> vudge of the depth to which it has been covered, and can say that in one little valley the sand is certainly 25ft deep, though doubtless this is too gteat far an average depth.