NGAURUHOE VOLCANO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14507, 26 April 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

NGAURUHOE VOLCANO.

ALARMING DISPLAYS. | AUCKLAND, April 14. 1 Xgaurulioe volcano has been showing such energy during the past few tlavs that' there stems .some reason for tiio I'ear that the outbursts are only i 11 prelude to a greater Manifestation of tlic forces at work. Oil ISood Friday and Saturday the volcano was very active, and on Kaster Monday some of the greatestoutbursts that have ever occurred there within the memory of man were witnessed. ] J)r Scott, who has just returned from a visit lo A'gauiuhoe states that the eruption on Monday was on a colossal scale, far eclipsing the eruptions of the previous week ami of last March. He also ex- ] pressed the opinion that it would not he surprsing if the volcano blow its cone off uiul scattered volcanic ejecta for 100 miles. A Mr Wilson, who, with several others, climbed the volcano on Good Friday, says: " On reaching the edge o[ the crater we lound the mountain fowling up a dense column of smoke tor fully 1000 ft, the smoke, on reaching that height, then being blown couth-east. It was a magnificent sight, but such as one could not look at without a feeling of awe. We ewlcit- | vonred to look down into the crater, lint we were unable to see anything, the smoke being so dense. We temained there for half (in hour watching, and on several occasions' saw the volcano shoot up . showers of small stones for ICOft, the stones falling back into the crater again. One of our party (Mr A. M'Dougall) had an exciting experience while standing on an eminence. Ho was suddenly enveloped in a dense cloud of smoke, wliicii - completely. obliterated liim Irum view, and when the smoke cleared away again his features were so black that we could ] hardly lwognise hint. The mountain, not long before we wout up, must have been ejecting larger stones, for we saw tho marks of them on the edtjes of the crater, just us though heavy objects hail landed , there recently and had rolled down the " mountain side. While we were, on top we heard loud rumblings coming from away down in the crater. It was just, as well for ns tin;! we starlet! the descent. I when we did. <'n getting to the foot of the mountain we bean! u number of very loud explosions, just tike the reports of liundraU of cannon going off at once, and on looking up we saw huge clouds of steam is.-uiiiir from cracks in the mountain side. In coming down we also noticed tint the river which had been running down the side of the mountain a mouth before had disappeared, its bed being a muss of huge lioulders, which were comolete'y thy. We also saw chasms measuring 20ft wide to 10ft in depth ntniiing oil' into the bed of the creek.''