GIANT AWAKENS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 196, 20 August 1934, Page 8

GIANT AWAKENS

RUAPEHU’S LONG SLUMBER LAST ACTIVE IN 1895. The giant Ruapehu has awakened again, this time after a slumber of 39 years. Ruapehu’s truncated cone is considered to be only the shell of a mightier height, several thousand feet of which have been blasted off by terrific explosions. Its crater is remarkable for its contrasts of heat aud cold —there is the enonnous saucer of ice, deeply crevassed and of unknown depth, the glaciers fed by their own snowfields, and the extraordinary mountain lake, usually near to boiling temperature. Tins crater was regarded as practically extinct after it was found to be covered with ice in 1886, but later in , the same year the lake was reported to be boiling again and its activity increased aoout the time of the Tarawera eruption. Then it was realised that it was really a great intermittent geyser, the greatest geyser in the world. In August 1889, it erupted and the result was a sudden flood m the Wangaehu River. Again in 1895 it became extremely active. There was a huge discharge of hot water and steam clouds rose above the crater to a great height. The Wangaehu River was flooded and the Wanganui very much discoloured. Since then it has boon quiescent and during recent years the temperature of the lake became considerably cooler i until the thermal activity of a month ' or two ago. Shafts of Steam. i Thu eruption on Saturday last appears to have been similar to that of 1895, Then also shafts of steam spread like huge mushrooms being headed by spreading clouds which gradually dissolved into the cooler upper air. It was described by the late Mr. Josiah Marton, of Auckland, as “ a scene of most sublime and transccndan«t beauty. At sunset the rising •wind beat down the column to about half its former height, and about an hour later the drift of a shower was distinctly seen falling from the over- . arching cloud.” It was reported that in 1926 the : lake was frozen over, but this is a rare occurrence. The lake is situated toward the southern rim of the mountain top. Its greatest diameter is estimated at a quarter of a mile, but it is sup- ’ posed to vary according to the seasons of the year. Tuc walls are solid ice on the south and west, the cliffs beiug about 200 feet high. When the water is hot, it undermines the cliffs and 1 groat masses of ice break off in concern (trie crescent form and tumble into the sulphur hued water. The lake was described by one of the earliest, visitors to it being “the colour of dirty soap suds. It was covered with steam wreaths which made it difficult to say whether the water was in motion or simmering.” In his book on the Tonganro National Park, James Cowan says that as the level of the lake seldom rises above a certain point, there must be a subterranean outlet for its waters. It is believed that this channel leads to the headwaters of tho Wangaehu River, which accounts for the characteristic taste, smell, and colour of that greatly mineralised stream. The name Ruapehu, says Cowan, is suggestive of ancient volcanic activity and of Maori knowledge that the moun tain summit contained an active crater. “Rua” is a hole, a pit, a crater, and “pehu” is an explosive i noise. The famous poetic name for tho mountain is “Para-te-tai-tonga.” Ruapehu has its Maori traditions. The Taupo Maoris toll of the wooing of the lovely Pihanga by the gods and warriors of the mountains, and of the success of Tongariro. The defeated mountains made a magic pilgrimage. Taranaki travelled west and stopped at davlight. Now ho is Mount Egmont. The tale of the West Coast Maoris is that the great chief Taranaki returned from a hunting trip to find Tongariri making fiery love to his wife— Ruapehu. He used his magic powers to make the lovers into mountains, and then marched away until he reached the western sea. There his magic powers recoiled on himself and he too became a mountain —Egmont.