GLOW-WORM CAVE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4952, 6 February 1937, Page 5

GLOW-WORM CAVE

A DOMINION MARVEL. TRIBUTE BY VISITOR. To leave New. Zealand without seeing the Waitomo Caves is somewhat on a par with leaving Rome without visiting St. Peter’s, Writes E. Cora Hind in the Winnipeg Free Press of “A New Zealand Marvel.” There is no air service to the caves as yet, nevertheless 20,000 people have visited them this year, and Canada could not be left behind. After much consulting of time-tables and maps it was decided that by leaving Palmerston North on the night express, leaving it, in turn, at Te Kuiti, motoring 14 miles across country, a day at the caves and a day and a half at Rotorua in the thermal regions could be counted on. Hurrah! It should be done. The glow-worm grotto in the Waitomo caves is more than worth any sacrifice of comfort or convenience made to see it. There are three Waitomo caves. While all are interesting, it was the one with the glow-worm grotto which was first discovered and explored by Fred Mace, a surveyor of intrepid courage and inquiring mind. This was in 1879, Mace,, paddling up the small river which runs through the valley, came to this opening in the rock and paddled up it until he came to a great open shaft running up like the sides of a well, which convinced him that there were caves. He paddied back to the opening, induced the natives to bring wood, constructed rude ladders and with candles for light managed to make the ascent to the great cave above. The Modern Entrance. Later the entrance which is now used was discovered and .through it you reach the top of the well-like shaft up which Mace climbed. There is no mention of Mace seeing the glow-worms, though it would seem as if entering by the river he must have passed near or under them. They hate noise and would be capable of shutting off their lights if unduly disturbed.

Entering by the up level we worked slowly through the wonderful chambers with their many beautiful forms and colours. At one place a tiny delicate moss or lichen is growing on the rocks. It is a deep rich green though there is not on the average light more than an hour and a half in the twenty-four, when electricity is turned on. What keeps it green? No one knows.

Finally we came down to the river. There was the boat, not Mace’s canoe, but a boat that might hold twenty people; Lights were turned off. Our guide standing in the bow pulled very gently along; there was no ripple or splash. Suddenly the darkness above us began to quiver with tiny points of light and presently the glow was strong enough to distinguish the outline of the rocks on each side. It was strange, weird, but indescribably beautiful. The boat had to go round several bends. Suddenly the glow ceased and we were at the mouth of the opening and looked out on the very scene through which Mace must have passed on his first trip inward. Turning About. Silently the boat turned and was pulled backward and once again we were' under the glow-worm canopy and when, very gently, the boat bumped against the landing stage, the glow-worm light dimmed perceptibly —they do not like noise. Once a few yards away from the river, it seemed as if the scene might almost be the figment of a dream — but no —the glow-worms are living creatures and carnivorous at that. They are not akin to the ordinary glow-worms of the forest and their scientific name according - to a great French scientist who visited the caves and studied them is Boletophela Luminosa (Arachenocanios). The truth of the matter is that, seen at a distance or rather seeing only the lights like myriads of tiny stars, the effect is beautiful beyond words, but seen close up and in daylight, they are repulsive rather than beautiful. According to the learned scientist, the grub ‘is slimy, fragile, dirty grey in colour, and has a body so transparent it is possible to see all its internal workings. It has a segmented body, no legs, and carries a tiny lamp in the last segment.” It lets down long slimy thi-eads to catch food, etc.; all of which is no doubt of great interest to the scientist, but to the ordinary mortal the gorgeous effect is the thing.