The Aspect of the Country.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XX, Issue 144, 18 June 1886, Page 2

The Aspect of the Country.

The special reporter of the JJrening Post telegraphed from Rotorua on the morning of the 11th inst :—

Stewart's expedition to the Terraces left Ohinemutu about 9 o'clock on Saturday morning in a buggy with four horses. The party reached Rotomahana by the Wairoa road. The deposits of volcanic mud which cover the whole of this road and tlie adjacent country for miles, commences about 2 miles from Ohinemutu, and averages four inches thick to its extreme boundary on this side. The traffic on the Wairoa-road has ploughed it up into adhesive clay, which makes V.'airoa a very hard road to travel. Leaving the trap at Rotokakahi Bridge, where the Kaiterua track breaks round tho hill saddle, we placed our tent and heavy baggage on the back of a horse and our guide proceeded to guess his way along tho lull-side. This was ticklish work, the track being completely obliterated with mud several inches deep ; the hill, too, descends abruptly, and to take a slip would have sent tho horse and its burden headlong into the lake, a hundred feet below. We followed in single file along this ticklish way, stepping into tlie tracks made by the horses, and leaning up towards the liill-side to preserve our balance while drawing each foot out of the suction hole. Two miles of this sort of travelling brought us to Kaiteriria, a native settlement, where the fall had been lighter. The track now became comparatively easy, and as we ncared the vicinity of the lake the mud gave way to dry pebbles of tlie size of marbles, of the same material as the mud, and intermingled with ground ash. Several deep earthquake cracks also crossed the path. As Lake Okaro came in sight between the hills, a wonderful scene broke upon our view. Where before had been green fern, now rose hill upon hill of glistening white beneath the setting sun. Soon the track entered into the region of dust, and every footstep we sank over our boot tops. It

being now too dark to proceed further, it was decided to camp on the margin of a little patch of bush. Here the tents were pitched, aud a roaring fire was lit, and we made ourselves as comfortable as possible. Tlie night passed with no further excitement than three slight earthquake shocks, and the disturbing sounds of distant concussions, the rattling as of musketry, and roar of escaping steam. To discover whence these weird noises proceeded was to be our mission on the morrow. We were up with the sun, and after a hasty breakfast we set out upon our uncertain and adventurous expedition. It was at once seen that Lake Okaro and Kakaramea Mountain at its head, were in their normal condition, and the steam jets of Paeroa, further south, towards Taupo, showed no increase of activity. The white line which marked the dust deposit also stopped half way up Kakaramea Mountain, and the fern was green beyond. From that mountain to Rotomahana and Tarawera is an unbroken line of white hills. Jets of steam and black smoke marked a number of points of eruption between Okaro and Rotomahana. We were soon plunging across the hills of grey dust which in appearance and texture resembled hydraulic lime. At every step our boots went ankle deep, and sometimes we sank to the knees. The depth of the deposit varied from a foot to unknown depths. After travelling for two miles over hill and gully we came in view of a prominent cone in the crater f ally 400 yards long in active eruption, throwing up showers of scoria which fell back into tlie crater or down the hillside. The character of the hill deposits also changed — showers of stones covered the dust deposits, and in some parts the deposit was pure ash. It now became apparent that along the bed of the creek carrying the overflow of Okaro Lake into Rotomahana, four new craters similar in character to the one first noticed had broken into eruption. This country before had been covered with fern and tussock. The largest of these volcanoes displayed great energy. Its side was torn out, and from several points of activity within the crater and the sidos explosions occurred in every few minutes, driving stones high in the air with the rattling noise already described. Heavy masses of steam and black smoke directed the way unmistakeably to the high hill overlooking Rotomahana, and pushing forward we soon surmounted the last peak and stood looking down upon the most extraordinary spectacle imagination can conceive. Where the lake formerly existed there was nothing now visible but a series of craters in full activity, and belching out stones every few minutes. I counted eleven of those craters on tho side of the lake immediately below our feet, and heavy masses of smoke and steam hindered further view of the lake, but there is no doubt that other craters wero in play further towards the centre, and that if the water was not entirely driven out of the lake, it had become a great boiling cauldron. Where the beautiful Pink Terrace stood, one of the largest of these craters was in full play, but the fate of the terrace itself could only bo conjectured. From tho forces at work within and around it the nature of that fate can hardly be in doubt. The wonder of the world and the delight of tourists has beyond all reasonable doubt been driven into dust and fine ashes. Te Tarata, the White Terrace, we could not see, but, battered at on every side, its fate cannot be different from that of its beautiful sister. After watching with feelings of sorrow this spectacle of destructive forces engaged in sending into fragments the artistic work built up in Nature's laboratory operating through centuries, we turned our faces once more towards tho camp. The prospect obtained from this hill was most extensive and varied. Far away beyond Taupo was seen the snow-clad cone of Ruapehu and her sister Tongariro, with a light column of steam issuing from Ngaruhoe, the active point of Tongariro. Nearer, the steam jets and the green fern hills around Wairoa, then Kakaramea and Okaro Lake immediately beneath our feet, so that a slip on the hill-side might roll us into one of the roaring craters, the violent turmoil of Rotomahana, and along the bed of the old creek the other four active craters already described. All tho way towards the Wairoa wero hills clothed in mud. and beneath them Tarawera Lake, oalm and peaceful, with the dark outline of tho groat mountain itself visible through the steam and smoke. The dividing line between the mud eruption, and the showers of dry dust, was singularly marked. From Rotomahana towards Lake Okaro and back to Rcrewhakaitu the hills of dust and ashes were visible in unbroken continuity. Covering an area of not less than seven square miles in the other direction towards the illfated Wairoa village was the deposit of wet mud, which was undoubtedly projected out of the bed of Lake tiotomahana. This mud deposit covers a larger area than the dust, or, properly speaking, white earth. From Rotomahana to Wairoa is at least seven miles in a direct line, and to the limit of the mud deposit towards Ohinemutu is at least 11. Its line extends also over to Kaiteriria, and also in the opposite direction along the shores of Rotorua Lake to Takehe, tlie extent of country thus overlaid being 15 or 20 miles in length with an average breadth of 10 or 12. The depth varies with the proximity to the point of eruption and the drift of wind, but it must represent a tonnage which one hesitates to place in figures. The mud is very heavy, and to its great weight the catastrophe of Wairoa and Te Ariki native village are attributable. Whether this wide area of land will be made a desert by the eruption, or whether vegetation will re-appear, is a question for the future to decide, but meanwhile it is rendered totally incapable of sustaining animal life, and the dead bodies of rats which are scon everywhere on its surface show that even the rodent finds it impossible to gain a subsistence in tlie vast wilderness which has been created in a single night.