A TOUR THROUGH THE HOT LAKES DISTRICT.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7830, 7 April 1891, Page 2

A TOUR THROUGH THE HOT LAKES DISTRICT.

Weekly Press. , . The "Spa" itself, as the guide-booka infcrm you, is on the Continental system ; Instead of one large building there are a number of small cottages, built here and therein a pretty garden, through whicb the hot river runs. These contain.either one or two rooms; one cottage, for instance, has the dining-room and kitchen ; another the bar and smoking-room; a third Is a drawing-room, and' others contain one or two bed-rooms. This plan has the advantage of great privacy, and proves an excellent arrangement in every way. One of the most interesting buildings in the -grounds is the carved Maori house, which is valued at £1000. This is surely a fancy price; nevertheless, it i* a most interesting specimen of native art. Most of the carvings,are receijc, but .one or two bear unmistakeable signs of age, and evidently date from the " pre-chlsel" period, when'the Maoris did their earrings with stone implements. The figures resemble one another strongly iv general outline ; all are furnished with enormous mouths with grotesque tongues hanging out of them; and large discs of mutton-fish shell serve for eyes. It is a matter of great rsgret that this, like other of their ancient' arts, is dying out. A few old men are still adepts at it; but the rising generation learn neither carving nor matmaking. That pestilent fallacy of thinking you can civilize a savage-by putting a pair of moleskins oh him has had its effect ou tbeJVfaorls as oh other aboriginal race 3. First come the missionaries? «ien the vendors of tobacco and ?* fire-water," and in their*vake inevitable degeneration and ruin. * - -N6 one can view without sorrow the decadence of this once noble people. Of old a 'stalwart, niauly, and chivalrous race}, loving and accurate, if unscientific, observers of nature, endowed with a tine artistic* instinct, though still crude] in their mechanical methods; above all possessed of a fancy, a highly- ( wrought imagination that gives, even to their most primitive 1 superstitions aud legends the true ring of poetry, and, to their oratory the fire and earnestness that enthralls; multitudes. And what are they now? A people who, where the revenue from their lands frees them from absolute want", abandon themselves to animal sloth and animal Indulgence; the warrior's arm is paralysed with indolence; the poets-brain is muddled with strong drink; the carver's hand has lost Its cunning. Their young men and their young women cannot practise the old arts, cannot., even? sing the old songs. Ask them to tell you even the beautiful stc*y of the maiden that-loved Tutanekai— a > story which esrery, pakeha knows fey heart-and they.; stupidly shake their heads. Truly we are civilizing them off the face of the earth ; but philosophers console us—it is the law of the survival of the fittest. "And a very good law it is perhaps ip the abstract jbutwhenbrought Face to face with a concrete application "bf It like -thh*, even the most, cold-blooded scientist must wince a little. When wejhad Inspected the grounds the obliging guide belonging to the establishment volunteered to show us the Crow's Nest and surrounding "sights." Climbing.up a harrow path.we ascended the hill to the West of the glen, and after ten minutes climbing reached- the top, from which we could see the'great Wai- | kato flowing through the valley belowus. ! This is the most weird and, beautiful of New Zealand rivers. Flowing at this Elace between high and steep banks, It as In parts aa enormous depth, and its j waters are of a strangely sombre hue— heie a dark blue,- almost black, there a rich Olive green, whilst at intervals io its i channel and along the banks bubbles and, circular ripples indicate the places where hot springs feed its waters; So charged is it with mineral matter in this part of its course that no fish can live in it. Descending to the bank we first made our way to the Crow's Nest, our great anxiety being to see this fine geyser playing. It derives its name from the peculiar greyish mound which has formed round its mouth? This is some four or five feet high and the aperture the sartie distance across; it looks like a heap of petrified branches of trees built up In the shape of a nest. The activity of the geyser depends on the height of the river; as a rule it plays several times daily duiinir four months of the year; but at times it is inactive for a Whole season. This year, however, the guide said, It had been very obliging; and looking into, the cavity to see if the water was-- on the boil witn. the confidence of an expert he that we might expect a display in about a quarter of an hour. Meanwhile we determined to view the other marvels round this spot. And marvels indeed they are>, to one who: is brought face to face, with volcanic phenomena for the firat timeitis a series of revelations. The scene beggars Station. Although we had ojteu read accounts of these wonders they had as utterly failed as this that we »»*#"£ wm, to convey even a remote Idea of the character of the country* For a.stretch of aboutAvohundred yards ol the river teems with steam holes, geysers, boiline cauldrons andmud volcanoes. You haveto Pick your way with the greatest discrlmffion. or yon may at any time tumble into boiling water. In large hollows in the earth, mud of the colour and consistency of porridge bods and seethes incessantly. AU over the surface of it bubbles rise with a " wbix-buz-flop sort of sound ;-the name in faejtie act deseription-they are called Porridge Pots. "Anna'sCCauldronn n iaabeautiful pool of clear, hot water, .simmering in a funnel of great depth In the cliff; next to it boils the "milk pond," Its water discoieured -hj' soda in solution. An extremely beautiful basin of boiling water is aptly named ° The witches' Cauldron." Over half its length —some twenty feet— hangs the Aaricoloured rock, and from Its blue surface rise dense clouds of steam. The guide showed us a peculiar effect produced on the vapour by lighting a fire on the margin of the pond. As the tea tree branches blazed up j the draught—presumably—caused tha | vapour to assume the most varied and beautiful forms and patterns now streaked and radiating from the fire, now circling apparently round the centre of tbe pond, and then again accumulating in soft, fleecy masses. But Russell kept clicking his watch and asking if that quarter of au hour wasn't up yet; for we should have felt very disappointed if the Crow's Nest had played ia our absence. After a glance at some of the other wonders, therefore,—the Devil's Glory, the Champagne Pool, &c—we made our way back to the geyser. Again our guide peeped into the cavity, and this time he assured us we should see a display" directly. And sure enough no sooner had we reached a spotsome thirty-six feet up the bank, than up she went with a roar—a beautiful column of boiling water, thrown out at an angle of about sixty degrees, and forming an aro between sixty and seventy feet high. In the course ot about twenty minutes we witnessed three eruptions; and

though we afterwards saw the geysers at Wairak«l and Whakarewa-rewa, the Crow'SFNest has retained its position of first favourite in our estimation. On the return journey to the " Spa, the guide took us by a new route, keeDlng more to the south as we crossed 4he_liilL Our path lay through one of_ those pieces of country that maka you realise the propriety of the juama «f the village on the lake—" sounding footstep.." At each 9tep we took the hollow sound made by the footfall reminded us tbat we were walking oa a.<-thia Croat, and it became necessary to follow, the guide very carefully. Every now tod then we came across a large steam hole or a pool of boiling water. Ie was an uncanny experience, and some of the party seemed suddenly to become very anxious about the dim ar hour and very solicitous of getting back to ta-ra Jinna. But when we came to the Big Ben "paddle wheel even the most nervous must have felt himself repaid. For the Paddle Wheel is one of the most interesting of all the sights at Taupo. At the bottom of a chasm, some fifteen feet across and thirty feet or more deep, a cauldron of mud bolls perpetually. The seething and roaring, the sighing aud grunting, the bubbling and hissing of the mud, keep.up a constant turmoil while a cloud of vapour filling the chasm obscures the view. At the rare intervals, when the steam cloars and allows you to see anything at all, you behold the angry mud rushing backwards andforwards from one side of thechasm to the other witha noise which in character resembles that made by a huge paddle wheel, and in intensity far surpasses it. It was this spot that impresacd the Scotch tourist so forcibly. Drawing back from the sight with a terrified look, he only found breatb to exclaim, ** Eh ma conscience, but I'll no blaspheme any mo' I" After dinner—at whiph, by the bye. we eat some of the most delicious wild duck we had ever tasted—we lounged away the rest of the evening in the drawing-room. We werebutasmall party, three gentlemen beside ourselves being the only visiters to the "Spa' at the time; but everyone could contribute In some way to our amusement. A young English tourist proved a skilful pianist, and having just come out from Home he could give us the latest in the way of songs. He had -considerable aptitude for cowie singing, and gave us some good imitations of Coruey Grain and Gros.inlth. We were particularly struck with * The Choir Boy. Poll-a"—a burlesque on the sentimental song so much in vogue In London last season. Russell "elocuted" for our entertainment some selections from his large repertoire; and Stevens gave some skits on the eccentricities of public reciters by different renderings of a verse of " The RamsgafceGirl." Some one remarked on the fact that our audience if small was appreciative. "Talking of small audiences," said Eussell, "reminds .mc bf an odd experience I had in the Theatre at Christchurch many years ago. I have been a good many things in my time ; but that was the only occasion in wbich I was,** an audience." Some travelling Company, whose name I forget, was advertised to prqdupe a melodrama of the approved type, wherein virtue would triumph, and vice be vanquished'" quite in the usual way," and wherein above all, a real ship would sail on real water, in full view of the audience. It was a miserably wet night, and having nothing better to do I dropped into the theatre, and took a front seat in the dress circle. I sat the performance through, and they played the piece from beginning to end. though I was absolutely the only person In the house. They knew, I suppose, that if I would only sit the show out the charitable newspapers . next day would report that the piece was " performed to a good audience, who, by their frequent applause, testified Sec; whereasif they had shut the theatre for want of spectators it would have utterly ruined their chance of getting a house another night. ... .'. „, ; > vY The poor actors must have felt some* thing like Dean Swift on his first Sunday in tue. parish of Laracor, when,, alter having sat at his desk for some time with no other auditor bub Roger, the clerk, he got up, and with perfect gravity and composure began, •• Dearly beloved Roger, the Scripture moveth you and mo In sundry places," and so proceeded to the end of the ____!. V_C__ ' i *■'.*■•■'* • But *at this stage the clock struck Mm, and as We bad to get up with the lark we proceeded, in the language of the penny-a-liners, to '• woo the drowsy god."