THE VOLCANOES OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13497, 25 May 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE VOLCANOES OF NEW ZEALAND.

LEGENDS AND HISTORY.

BT ME. MALCOLM BOSS.

To students of : volcanology the changes ( that have taken place in the; volcanic belt of New Zealand since' the advent of the _ white man are extremely interesting. The ', Maoris looked upon these mountains with . superstitious/dread/ and this, combined ■ with the fact that they were "tapu," prevented for a long time the obtaining of ' detailed scientific knowledge regarding their ; craters, arid their summit configuration generally. Their history begins with legend and their origin is attributed to the great "tohunga," Ngatororirangi, who piloted the famous Arawa canoe from Ha- ' waiki to New Zealand. This man, and one Tia, also a high chief, took possession of all the country between the Bay of Plenty and Ruapehu. In order to assure fruitful years and the prosperity of their people they ascended Ngauruhoe, and set up an altar there to.make the necessary incantations. The cold, then as now, was very bitter, and it seemed as if the old "tohunga" must die, when the happy thought occurred to him to send for some of the sacred fire of the priests in far-away, ,Ha- ■ waiki. This sacred fire was in the keeping of his sisters, one of whom dived into the sea with it, making straight for her brother, who, in the midst of his incantations, was almost perishing with the cold. -; During her journey she set fire to the world underground, but/ in places she had to come to the surface to. breathe, < hence the boiling pools; and geysers along her route from White Island right down through all the thermal region to .' Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu. The fire revivified the old man, arid in commemoration of the event : he left it burning in Ngauruhoe, and as a sacrifice to the gods cast his slave-wife, Ngauruhoe, down the crater, the mountain being ever afterwards called by. her name. This would seem to prove three things: That slaves were not of great value in those days as an addition to the larder, that the tohungas were more powerful then .than now, and that Marconi is not' Ihe real; inventor of wireless telegraphy. OTHER LEGENDS. There are other legends regarding Tonga- • riro and Ruapehu. The latter volcano is haunted by a spirit known as Te Ririo, a sort, of Maori Lorelei, who entices men from their homes and causes them to wan- . der over the rocks and snOws of the inoun- ' tain until they go mad. In this state they . fall an easy, prey to the/spirit, who leads . them into one of the mountain caves to \ die. So far no pakeha has left his bones I on Ruapehu Mountain,'which would seem to prove that a brown Lorelei has rio power 1 over a. white man—at all events to the ex--1 tent that is claimed in the legend. ■ Then there; is, the story of Tongariro arid Taranaki, two male mountains, who- quar--1 relied ; over / Pihanga, / Tongariro's wife,' .• a j ' mountain that still maintains solemn guard. i of the eastern' shores of the great Taupo- • moana, and the smaller but- more beautiful! ■ lake, known as ; Rotoaira. Taranaki, & as i » everyone knows, got the wOrst of it, and ? departed to New Plymouth, whence he is I able to look back with a.serene calm upon i Tongariro, whose... volcanic heart'- at times ; still beats furiously, but who gets near- ; er\ to his unresponsive lady-love. ..She, if tit-* "truth, were;.knowrij np..doubt looks back ' Regretfully' to 'her; rirofe■•' haadsome lover standing beautiful and alone on, the plain • beside the'- western " s*a.,.-'. , ' ' " ! " TE HEUHEU'S,REMAINS. /. " The. romance ; of, these mountains, however, is not wholly legendary, for. the' re-. mains of /Te Heuheu in., the great chief of: Tokaanu,. who was killed in/ the big landslide at • Te Rapa in 1846, lie hidden in a cave somewhere on/ Tongariro. Men of the tribe were conveying his bones .to/their. 'resting-place on the summit of the.sacred mountain, when they were overtaken by a thunderstorm. Regarding this as an evil omen, they hastily deposited their burden in a cave and fled to lower arid less uncanny heights/ X I believe the burial-place of all that remains of * i he, famous old chief ; is known to: some of : the old men in ■ - the tribe, and my friend,; the present Te ; Heuheu, talks of reinterring them at Te/Rapa., and ; building over the grave /a. suitablemonument. The fact that.the; remains of the great chief were in a/cave on Tongariro, of course made the mountain. more "tapu" than before, so that; Diffenbach, in 1841, and Hochstetter, in 1859, were prevented from ascending the volcano. . •<■■ ,' EARLY ASCENTS. . '-. **j The first ascent of Ngauruhoe was made as : long ago, as March, 1839, by Bid well, end must be considered a somewhat remarkable one. Details of :• the journey, which are most interesting, are chronicled in a pamphlet, now/very rare. "As I was toiling , up a steep hill," he writes, " I heard a noise which caused me to look up, and saw s the mountain was .": in a . state of eruption. A thick column of black; smoke rose up for some distance and then spread out : like a mushroom. The noise, which was very loud and not unlike that of/a steam engine, lasted for half an hour, arid then ceased after two or three sudden in*terruptions. I could see-no fire, nor do I believe that the eruption was anything more than hot water and steam, although from the density of the latter it looked like very black smoke." During his ascentBid well, about two-thirds of." the way up, got into what appeared to be a watercourse. "It was lucky for me," he says, : "that another eruption did not take- place while ; I was in it', as I should have infallibly been boiled t.o death', as I afterwards found out • it led to the lowest part of the crater, and, from undisputable proofs, that a stream of hot; mud and water had been running there during the time I saw the smoke from the top. The crater was the , most terrible abyss I ever looked into or imagined. The rocks overhung it on. all sides, and it was not possible to see above ten yards into it ; from the. quantity of steam, which.it was constantly discharging. It was impossible to get to the inside of the crater, as all the sides I saw were, if not quite precipitous, ac'utaJly overhanging, so 'as to make it disagreeable to look over them; I did not stay at the top so long, as I could have wished, because I heard strange noises coming out of the crater, /which I thought betokened another eruption." Bidwell estimated that the crater was about a-quarter of a mile across, and very deep. . ..:..■' .- .. -,; /;. .";•'" ' The old chief, Te Heuheu, was very angry with Mr. Bidwell for having ascended the mountain during his absence, and in 1842 he refused Mr. . J. Wakefield permission to make the ascent. In 1851, however, the mountain was ascended by Mr. Dyson. He estimated the diameter of the crater at six hundred yards. There was no possible way of descending the crater. "I stretched out my neck," he writes, " and looked down the fearful abyss, which lay gaping before me, sight was obstructed by large clouds of steam and vapour, and I do not think I saw 30ft down. I dropped into the crater several large stones, and it made me shudder to hear some of .them rebounding from rock. to rock." , Further remarks made by these early explorers go to show that important changes even at that time were being wrought in the crater. • Mr. H. Hill, of Napier, who is a careful observer, and - who has made the volcanic belt his special study, also found that great changes had' been" taking place between his visits in. 1887 and 1890. Of the latter visit he writes : —" The south-west-ern crater is the most active portion of the mountain, and dense- volumes of steam and sulphurous fumes are contantly being given off. From the several shafts there is sound, as from a thick; rapidly-boiling

'substance*, but the dense volumes of poisonous vapour which ■> are \ constantly issuing make it impossible to penetrate the gloom. Nor, ■ indeed, ;is the observer anxious- to make any close acquaintance with the seeming fiends, -whose,; noises and screechings r , continually arise','' as from those in the direst ' agony of despair. Extending from the lip s of; the -crater on the -north side for'some 1 distance down the slope of ; the mountain i is a sulphur area, an immense solfatara, ] , which can be readily seen from Tokaanu, and it would seem i-hat the mountain is giving way in this ; direction. The whole | place was in a state of intense activity, and ■ very dangerous." - ..■>;.■'.-■ ' This Elope, down which we walked with ; ease in 1898, is- at the present time again , showing signs of considerable activity. The rocks and cinders were hot enough to : melt ' the snow, while the temperature was ; much below freezing-point, and steam was issuing »in places. There had also been a recent ► discharge from the northern crateral vent , down this declivity. Mr. Hill formed the , opinion that the crater was formerly much ' deeper* and not divided as it now is. My : two visits,; during each of which I entered ■ the crater, have led me to a similar conl conclusion. There can be no doubt that , the crags of the eastern lip are crumbling ' rapidly away. On the other hand, the new 1 crater, on the north-west, is building up • the mountain on that side;, but.the whole r summit of the volcano is now in a very . active (and rotten condition. Though, the . fumes \ betoken the presence of very , hot ' rocks hot , far below the surface, there is, 5 as yet, 1 ho sign of lava in the crater, and I - do not think there has been any lava flow ; from it* since New Zealand. was first in- » habited by white people. -Whether/or not , the volcano will during our time again emit lava or be blown to pieces by pent-up ' super-heated steam, as was the case with ' Mount ? Tarawera, • cannot with any degree - of accuracy be predicted ; but either con- > tingency is not beyond the bounds of possi- , bility. '- It is quite clear that in former times ' streams ; of lava have issued from the present crater, and that ■ there have been ex--5 plosions that : sent volcanic debris far and • wide. iWe also know, from the history of I other volcanoes, that what took place per■j haps , centuries ago, may take place again, „■ even after a volcano has to all appearance been dead for many years. Fortunately the ' principal New Zealand volcanoes are situr ated in 'the centre of the island, in the 1 midst jof an unproductive and sparsely--3 peopled district. -