A TRIP TO THE HOT LAKES.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 203, 21 October 1896, Page 3

A TRIP TO THE HOT LAKES.

Br A Soutu AFRICAN Visitok. A recent visitor to this district supplies the Ghristchurch "Critic" with his experiences. As. usual a curious jumble is made of the local nomen■'claliire, Waiotapu being transmogritied in " Waiaputo " and soon. Ho writes from Whakarowarewa, and says : " All this country is hollow underneath—in fact, you seem to be travel?on tho roof of Hades, with here and thero a siiot with the roof off. You could not wish old Satan a worse doom than to be confined in ono of the Tikitere mud volcanoes. In some of thorn things are very lively ; but, in others, the movement is very slow. You might imagine a few elephants and crocodiles moving up and down they go nt it so lazily. One hole, which was rather small, was somewhat eccentric —spitting mud like a sick toad. Now and then a few spots would c nne right up. One caught mo on the cheek, evidently meant for my eve , but a miss is as good as a mile. An-> ntlwr hole, also rather small, flung back mud at you every time you threw a clod ir-to it. At thH place (awful name) you ran get ( ery variety of volcano except . '' .ii'iy (iiie. The number of geysers i.ir.tinually spouting (worse than a Prohibitionist) is not so much a wonder as the variety of ingredients in them. They range from dear sulphur to a me-s like dirty porridge. I tasted some of the water, and found it had a 11 ivor like bad ean-j and smelt like a Dutchman on a hot day, just prior to his quarterly wash. Rotorua proper is not equal to this place for baths, geysers, and putrid smells. I think the sanatorium ought to have been here-; but the private baths belonging to the ho el are quite sufficient, and the attention much better. Of the sights around Rotorun, tho Waiotapu Valley is by far the mo*t interesting. Of" course, it is not at present, available for bathing, and it, has n diabolical black boiling mud craters like Tikitere. But it is more pictur-e-quo and pleasing to the eye than those smoke holes of the bottomless pit. There is very little mud at Waiofcipu, but plenty of funieroles and hot sorings, both of which lend some b tauty to the scene. It is quite a relief, after Whakarewp-rewa and Ti'kitpre, which are enough to give any nervous person tho horrors- The lakes and springs at, Waiotapu are chiefly in a crater, with tho end blown out, so that you can get down to them. The cliffs nround rise to about the height of 200 feet, and nre chiefly c imposed of alum and silica, beauti f illy white. Tho water from the upper sorings runs down to tho lower. One way the cascade is j'ellow, covered with sulphur, and the other is silica. The latter has a gentle fall for about 500 yards and looks fine in the sun.. It tins not the same fall as the old Whit" Terraceatßotomahanahad, and therefore does r.ot look so grand. Mo-t of the lakes here aro surrounded with luish which adds a little to their beauty. Tho Champagne Pool and Hlue Lake aro on a higher level. One is 100 feet across and the other fifty, and they are separated by about t,hr?e feet of roadway. One is ice cold, and the other is boiling hot; it is a puzzle to know how the difference is kept up. Near to them is a small pool with ■three fountains—one black, one yellow, and one white. How can the difference bo explained, when they aro so close together ? No doubt this is a splendid and wonderful country. It is a day's journey from here to Auckland by train. Your second-class carriages are a disgrace to a civilised country. They are worse than those on a Lyt telton line, which are good enough for -short, distances, but it is lownright cruelty to put men into them for twolve hours. Our South African secondclass carriages are infinitely superior to your first-class. In this, as in many other things, we find thnt we have not so much to grumble about in our country as we thought we had/"