A TRIP TO TONGARIRO.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3041, 3 September 1870, Page 2

A TRIP TO TONGARIRO.

« We take the following interesting extract from ar. account of a visit to Tangariro by the specia. reporter of the " Hawkcs Bay Herald," who was accompaned by a friend. The following is thf account of their experiences at the foot of the cove : — A few minutes after we arrived at the foot of the cone, we heard a hoarse, rumbling noise and saw volumes of dense black smoke rolling oul of the fissure. Soon these inarticulate rumbling; were exchanged for a series of short sharp oxplo. sions, like a volley of musketry ; and then we observed, what we had not been able to discovei before, that these explosions were accompanied bj showers of Btones, which were projected from the crater to a considerable height above it. Most of them foil on tho north-western side of the mountain, where tho fissure was ; the wind blowing from the south-cast at the time, perhaps also tended to prevent them falling in any other direcI tion. Some of them seemed as if they fell into the j crater, and a few were thrown over the eastern rim and consequently rolled down tho side, of the mountain on which we were standing. As L was watching ouo which had just alighted near i the summit of the mountain, and was beginning to roll down towards v.", I observed another, which was already within a few yards of him, and shouted to him to get out of its wny. He had barely time to do so, when it came rolling over tho spot where he had been standing. Had he boon a moment later, it is more than probable that it would have broken his leg ; and to have a broken leg on the cone of Ngaruhoo would bo as bad as to bo killed outright, ns it would have been utterly impossible for me to have carried him down the ice-covered precipices into the gorge below. The stone haying slopped a short distance below us (the ground was there move level), we won! and examined it, We found that it was a picco of bluish grey scoria, almost cylindrical in shapp, being about half-a-foot in diameter, and about four inches thick. It was so hot that wo could hardly touch it without being burnt, on wetting our thumbs nnd touching it, we could hear stcum hissing off it. The following shows tho Alpine nature of the spot and its dangers : — The way seemed now quite clear to the crater ; half an hour's climbing would, no doubt, have brought me there. L in the meantime had made a daring attempt tc j reach the crater, by climbing straight towards it;. I The higher he ascended, the stcepor and hardci ! became the walls of ico which ho had to scale J Aftor a good deal of scrambling, he. reached atlasl 1 the northern ridge of the gully, considerably above tho point where I had crossed it. Hero he found himself in a position of some danger. The ice I was so stocp and slippery, that he dare not take ! a single step forward, without previously cutting a hole for hia foot, with tho pointed stick that he curried. As the stick was becoming moro and more blunted iifc every stroke, and the ice becoming continually harder, making any progress n( all soon became a matter of great difficulty. II was evident that, supposing ho was able to go or at the rate at which ho was at present going, he would not reach the crater, nor even got hnli I way to it before dark. If he could have reached J it, ho cou'd huvo got clown safely by the othcu I ridgp. However, of course it was useless fo thin! lof this. At the same time it was impossible foi him to descend. Had ho attempted to do so he would undoubtedly have lost his footing and slid will] fearful and fatal rapidity, to tho foot of the mountain. There was ono way, and only one way of escaping from his perilous position. He was, as 1 said, on the ridge bordering tho gully. In the gully, about fivo or six feet below him, there was snow, some two or three feet deep. This snow was thjiokly encrusted with ice, and was laying against tho rocks, at an angle of aboui sixty degrees. He saw that his only chance was to jump from the ridge into the snow. There was, however, great danger, that when he alighted he would fall forward, and bo precipitated headlong down the gully. Bj this time I had climbed up the southern ridge to about a level with the spot where ho was, and seeing tho danger in which he was placed, I managed to cross the gully, not without some difficulty nnd even risk, as at this point, it was very steep and slippery in the middle, I reached the snow just under the rid go where L was standing. I then proceeded to dig a hole, about a couple of feet in diameter, ond a foot deep with the stick I carried. Under this again, I made another similar hole, in which I could stand myself securely. Standing in this lower hole with my arms extended, I called to L to jump. He looked at it for a moment and shuddered. Next moment I felt n violent shock all through my frame. We were shaking hands with each other. lie wa? safe. It 6till wanted several hours to sundown, and they were not far from the mouth of the crater, to look into which and sco the whole formation of the Tongariro system nnd as far a* Taranaki, wns the principal object of this expedition. But at this juncture a contretemps occurred. He siys : — Before I had reached tho middle, my feet had slipped from under mo two or three times, and I had just barely time to recover myself. It appeared to mo now to be the wisest plan to let tho stick go, to sit down upon tho ice, and to endeavor to work my way down by inches, sticking my heels into the ground at each step, to prevent, mysolf from slipping. After I had gone a few yards in this manner, one of my heels failed to catch, and having nothing to support me, off I went. My hat at the same time flew off, and in a moment or two was several hundred feet below me. After having slid down fifty or sixty feet, I managed to steer myself against a rock, which I saw ahead of me, and which stopped my progress. I rested there for a few minutes ; but I could see no bettei plan of making tho descent tho vest of tho way, than the rather precarious ono which had brought mo so far. It was getting late ; I could not wait there long ; so there was nothing for it but to start off again, sitting on the ice, and digging my hods into if. Very soon, however, I lost my foothold again, nnd slid off as before. I soon found myself flying downwards with ever increasing velocity, till my brain began to whirl, and I began ti wonder how long this could continue without making me insensible. Once, also, I folt myself nearly rolling over, and had somo difficulty in regaining my balance. Had I onco rolled over, while I was going at this rate, thoso notes would never have been written. To my surprise and joy I found my pace bejiiuning to slacken. ] was coming now to a part of a gully, when instead of tho hard ice, there was snow, with black sand mingled with it. At last I succeeded in pulling myself up, and, strange to say, I found that I had just overtaken my hat. Ho was just about to congratulate himself on his fortunate escape, when — "As soon as I happened to look at my hands, I found that they were one mass of blood and cinders. During mj descent I had kept them pressed to tho ground at my sides, using them in fact as drogs. Though I felt no pain at the time, they were having the skin and flesh actually ground off them. I found some of the fingers about an eighth of an mcli shorter than they were before, a considerable portion of the nuils being worn away. It was now nearly four o'clock. Wo had no time to lose ij wo wished to bo homo before sundown. We made all haste to get to tho horses, which we found whero we had left them. I could not now get on my horse without assistance, nor could I hold the reim when I was there L had tc put me up, and I had to lot my pony stumble through tho rocks, without guidance from mo, . . . . . . Had my companions not been the kindest fellows in the world, I would have fared badly. It was all I could do to bring the food to my mouth after it was cut up for mo. Ac for undressing and dressing again, these were feats altogether impossible for mo to accomplish, Tho continual burning pain in my hands brought on a feeling oi fpvorishnoss ; at the same time I was attacked with cramp every few minutes during the night, fo I hat I was obligod to gob up and stretch myself, to got rid of the pain. Then I found it difficult, to cover myself again with the blankets, as I dared hardly touch them with my hands. Altogether, I never paescd a moro miserable night.