Tarawera Valley and Mountain from the East Coast.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 157, 19 June 1886, Page 6

Tarawera Valley and Mountain from the East Coast.

The following information the scene of the volcanic disturbance has been supplied to us by Mr D. S. GKambers, who visited the district last January : — ** Cross the Tarawera River,' pass Mount Edgecombe on the left, recross Tarawera Hiver, and then keep between Tarawera River and Tarawera Mountain until you reach the Tarawera Lake,, pass round the left of the lake until you come to the nativo village Te Ariki, near Lake Rotomahana. "Such was the rough graphic outline of our day's journey,givon us^by an old tatooed Maori, who bketched our course with his finger on the eand as we sat on our horses surrounded by a group of natives, our host (Mr McGarvey) the schoolmaster, and a few of his black pupils. "We had journeyod on horseback 81 miles in three days from Tauranga down the coast to Whakatane, then across the country to Te Tekho,and on this,the fourth day, we hoped to reach the Tarawera Mountain from the East Coaat, a route so little known that our host, McGarvey, though he had lived there 20 years, had not travelled it There was no road ; an old Maori track we hoped to find, and as there was not a native village until we reached Rotomahana, wo each of us carried a few provisions. "The valley through -which the Tarawera and Rangitaiki Rivers flow revealed several curious natural phenomena. The river at the time of our visit: (January, 1830) waa^very bw, owing to the drought, and itarttting in the bed of the river wore hunireds of tree trunks, mostly puriri, which at somo time had been buried by eomo great convulsion of nature. 'I he banks of the liver wero composed of alternate layers of glacier, worn pebbles, and pumico, the whole valley appearing of the game formation. That the trec9 had grown where we »aw them there can b.i no doubt, beforo the valley was filled up in its present level by bho wearing aw ny of the hills above, and volcanic discharge from Mounta Edgesombe and Tarawera "After crossing a sivamp, a wall o. powdered pumice stone rose abruptly in front of us, and at the top of this was a level pumice etone plane, white as snow. No ioil was vigiblo, yet large manuka or ti-trees were growing every fifteen or twenty feet apart. The trunks and lower branches appeared white, like the ground, partly owing to the light-coloured lichens md pumice dust "with which they were covered, and partly owing to reflection. The tops of the trees appeared greener than usual. We visited several boiling sulphur springs, after crossing Tarawera River. For 20 miles the banks of the river and hill sidea re^Mlod immense deposits of sulphur and boiled mud. "After passing Mount Edgecombe, we ce-erossed Tarawera River, and our course was botween low, rounded hills, with small valleys running east and west, all of which opened into the larger ones, running north and south. All the hills had that welliefined, rounded appearance, due to glacier action. " After climbing a hot, Bandy, dusty hill, the cool, blue waters of Lake Tarawera appeared in view. The last mile to the lake md mountains was through a pasa, with bhe river flowing, partly hidden by the bush, in a gorge 80 feet below us, and 400 feet wide. Perpendicular cliffa formed the other side of the gorge (like Corinthian solumns piled one on the other), while the rest consisted of large masses of rock, 50 or 80 feet square. Tarawera Mountain rose, almost perpendicular, on our left, bhe top appearing like a saw, rough and jagged. The Maori told us we should find some wild cherry-trees growing on the edge of the Lake, which we did, and, as the cherries were just ripe, we enjoyed them after our 20-mile ride beneath a scorching sun. *' The waters of Lake Rotomahana, Lake Roto-Makariri, Lake Roto-Kakahi, Lake Tikitapu, and Lake Okareka all flow into Lake Tarawera, the only outlet for which is through the narrow gorge mentionod, and should it become blocked up by the falling of the almost perpendicular sides of Tai'awera Mountain into the gorge, it would cause a change in the aspect of the Lake district. " The base of tho mountain dips into the lake, and 300 feet up the side and face of the mountain we had to climb, leading our horses a step at a time as they walked up the rocky stairs, some of wh'.ch were 2 and 3 feet deep, at each step planting their feefc in footholes worn in the solid rock. The horses would stand for a time and look at the next step in advance, and in one place the step must have been at least 4 feet. Then we reached a kind of terrace (on the mountain side), along which we travelled a short distance. We descended to the level of the lake, and journeyed along its edge for about four miles, and lost our way for a time. Some natives who were crossing the lake in a canoe, observed us, and directed by signs the way we should go to reach the native village'of Te Ariki. "On the southern and western sidea the mountain slopes very much towards Lake Rotomahana, and south of Tarawera is one of the most perfectly - shaped volcanoes in the island. Tarawera mountain is about 20 miles in circumference at its base, and the crater appears to be about 4 miles in circumference. It has been the scene of fierce commotion. Large rents and fissures appear in its sides, and as we journeyed along the slopes our horses often sank up to their knees in pumice-stone. , We crossed several small gorges on the elopes of the mountain, but as we kept near the edge ot the lake they were not difficult to cross. The waUs of *he gorges were pumice-stone. The top and sides of the mountain in some places were bare of vegetation. There wag a thick growth of scrub in most parts. The surface was not near so rough as Rangitoto, near Auckland, but geologically speaking, the volcano appeared much older. There are not now any" native villages in between Te Teko and Rotomahana, a distance of about 35 miles. There were no European settlers that we could hear of,except one on the Galatea Plaina,Hooper by name. Sometimes a few natives fish for eels at the head of the Tarawera River. We saw four there, ! one of whom had just speared a largo eel 4ft. long, We saw also the ruins of ira old pa and mission station. "At the base of the mountain we saw herdi of wild horses and pigs, and lower down the river lota of wild cattle. Birds were scarce, except the ever-welcome tantail. After we had journeyed about nine miles round the base of the mountain, we came to the native village of Te Ariki, .composed of a few whares on the edge of Lake Tarawera, where the stream empties the waters of Lake Rotomahana into Lake Tarawera. This village is the only one round Tarawera Mountain. Generally- there are about 20 natives there, consisting of Thompson, his wife, and 6 children, biswhite-haired father, and a few other natives. Thompson was the adopted name of our Maori host, muscular and tall, 6 feet in height ; his heaci measured ,23^ inches in circumference by the tape just above the eyebrows, his forehead was full in the. centre and receded at the sides. Taller men and bigger men I have 'seen, but Thompson, ot Tarawera, is as fine a Specimen of manhood as I tever saw. He spread us mats at one end of> his whare, and provided us with' food. The ground on which wo 'al&?& was warm, Ifor wo were.

in the land of hot water, hot mud, hos riveiv, and hob lakes. Wo elept soundly on our warm, earthen bed, and in the morning prepared for our visit to the fatuous Pink and White Terraces, and from thence to Ohinomutu, distant about 20 miles by way of Wairoa, which is about halfway between Tarawera mountain and Ohinemutu townshio."