AMONG THE GEYSERS

Otago Witness, Issue 2467, 26 June 1901, Page 27

AMONG THE GEYSERS

The scene at Whakarewarewa or 1 Friday morning was qude unique. Many t'.ouFands oi Natives and Europeans, mo^l of the former m picturesque Maori costume, bvvarmed about the rugged volcanic mounds, spluttering mud-holes. scetHng cauldrons, and wonderful intermittent geysers. Groups of men, women, and children formed around tho variou" "shows" of Dame Nature, some on height* half-hidden in green scrub, .some on repulsive-looking silicate and sulphur mounds, tome doivn declivities svggestive of a scsne from Dante's '"Inferno." The sul-p'-urouh spray from the furiou=ly boiling potholes scattered the royal visitors and sulphurous fumes assailed the nostrils, while Kty.-er-; shot scalding columns, of water high into the air with a roar and fury, and their Highnesses found tl'em^.ves among sights nnd sounds that must have been an interesting horror to them. Amid all these scenes the royalties pa-seel minutely inspecting each in company with one or other of the Ministors, and at each point being snaDshot+ed fiom a multitude of cameras. When the royal party reached this ebullant locality the Pohutu geyser was in full activity, sendingup columns of water to a considerable height. A better sight, however, had been prepared fov the royalties in the enforced eruption of th.j Wairoa geyser, which has a tendency to hide its force--. It is a large, u^ly hole at the foot of a rugged silicate hillock, which in hot and steaming from many fractures. Ie might be likened somewhat to that which phot up the subterrestrial exploring professor in Verne's story, for it apparently reached into the very bowels of the earth. To set it on a show footing, Mr Clark, Government inspector at Whakarewarewa, who acted os mar.ter of the ceremonies to the underground demons fed it with a bag of soap. Within a few minutes thereafter the demons responded, and, with a loud report, a volume of boiling sulphurous water lose to the surface. In a succession of jerks up it went ever higher and higher, until a huge pillar of water, wide at the base, but narrowing aloft, and ending in feathery spray, rose to a height of about 100 ft. It was a glorious sight, and one which the royalties arc likely to remember as among the most interesting of their experiences ;in this remarkable part of the colony. Pohutu was subsequently bribed with soap, but refused to respond in time to enable it to be seen by the royal visitors.