The Ideal Weather Station. Mount Egmont, Taranaki.

Progress, Volume V, Issue 5, 1 March 1910, Page 155

The Ideal Weather Station. Mount Egmont, Taranaki.

(E. Barton, Brisbane.)

Mount Egmont presents p irticular facilities to the traveller of mature years who is in search of something accessible and yet capable of giving him opportunities of observation beyond the ordinary. Standing isolated, as it does, on the edge of the sea and separated from any great mountain range, its whole height is available for such purposes. Few mountains in the world present this particular feature, the peak of Teneriffe and the volcano $>f Fushiyama being the other notable instances. The mountain climber who seeks a vantage point for scenery or meteorological purposes on a great peak such as Mt. Cook or Mt. Blanc usually meets disappointment as he climbs range after range, only to find, on reaching the summit, that he is surrounded by other peaks of almost the same height which limit the view. The meteorologist finds that the movements of the atmosphere and the cloud phenomena are seriously interfered with by the general upward movement of the lower strata from the adjacent plains, and do not give him the desired information concerning the temperature, humidity and movements of the upper air strata Thus it comes that the observatories on Pike's Peak and on Mount Kosciusko have been abandoned, it having been found that the characteristics of the upper air are sea reel v more pronounced there than on the Eiffel Tower, which, owing to its isolation, permits the layers of air to circulate past without being seriously disturbed or deflected upwards.

moderate, and the accommodation, although primitive, is very good. The trustees have erected several buildings, in which the visitor may hire a separate room, or may have a bed in a large general room. He may cater for himself or may have his meals at the caretaker's house. The "Mountain Houses" are frequented to an extraordinary degree, 4000 or 5000 visitors, chiefly drawn from the neighbourhood, being a common average during a summer. What is the most beautiful feature presented by Mt. Egmont? Its shape. As will be seen on examining the map, as well as a picture of the mountain (see Figs. 1 and 2) it consists of a cone which has been built up of successive layers of lava and of volcanic ashes. The slope of the upper portion was. fixed by the angle of repose (39deg.) of the loose scoria, but the rest of the mountain slopes gracefully down to the sea level with a varying inclination which is determined by water denudation, which itself varies with the slope as the commanding factor in the velocity of the

Mount Bgmont stands in a reserve of 72,000 acres, which extends in a twelve mile circle around the mountain enclosing some absolutely virgin forest, where the native flora and. fauna are most carefully preserved. The reserve is vested in trustees, who raise funds by a small toll on every visitor and on each vehicle entering the gates. This revenue is spent on roadmaldng and maintenance of accommodation houses, known locally as "Mountain Houses." The chief of these are the "Falls House" and the "Egmont House," each of which presents its own advantages, and I am very glad that I was persuaded to visit both. The "Falls House" is the more interesting in its immediate surroundings, which include some rushing torrents and beautiful waterfalls, but the Bgmont House has the advantage of better access by road, besides leading to the easier ascent of the mountain. The charges at the "Houses" are

streams of water. The slope (or tangent to the curve ~ varying with the height) causes the outline of the mountain to be shaped as a hyperboloid. As a standard wherewith to compare Mount Egmont, it is well to take such a well-known mountain as Vesuvius, and I have drawn the outline sketches of the two--'' mountains to s^ale for this purpose. It is interesting to notice that the highest angle at which the slopes of Vesuvius stand does not exceed 24 degrees, whereas, in the case of Mount Egmont, they attain an angle of 40 degrees. The height of Vesuvius is 3800. while the height of Mount Egmont is 8270. ; The influence of water erosion in shaping the mountain is well illustrated by the innumerable ravines and water courses which radiate like spikes of a wheel, from the summit to every point of the compass. The existence of the successive layers of

scoria and hard lava rock is well illustrated by the appearance of an extraordinary pinnacle known as Humphrey's Castle situated on the north-east side at an altitude of about 5,000 feet. It consists of a central tower of lava standing like an ancient, keep on a little sloping mound of grass covered scoria, which in its turn rests upon a long block of lava presenting steep walls as of a fortified castle all round. At the foot of these walls another slope of grass covered scoria leads down to a lower bed of lava. Thus are exposed to view the remnants of the latest overlying lava-bed in the tower, while an earlier lava-bed forms the body of the castle and the third forms part of tbe solid mountain which has, so fpr, not been subjected to erosion. The lightest portion of the volcanic ashes and dust was blown to great distances and, owing to the great strength of the South-west winds, a ridge of this material was formed between Stratford and New Plymouth, making a dividing range between the short rivers which flow into the

sea on the New Plymouth side and the longei' rivers such as the Wanganui, the Patea, the Waingongoro, which flow into the sea between Parihaka and Foxton. This ridge is so high as to receive no alluvial deposit of weathered volcanic lava from the mountain, and is therefore less fertile than the lower lands around Ilawera and Manaia. The strength of the south-west winds has no doubt also caused the greater thickness of the scoria which separates the layers of lava on the northeastern side, and therefore has, indirectly, led to the dearth of running streams on that ssde, by offering a subterranean path to the waters from the melting "While on Mount Egmonfc I was struck 'with the frequent occurrence of local earth, tremors and rumbling sounds caused 1 by faUs of rock at various parts of the mountain. They are generally t;he result of frost, which, curious to .relate, is more active on the sunny side of the mountain than on the colder side, owing to the greater range of temperature experienced. The rapid cooling of the lava after its. original eruption, produced innumerable fine cracks on the surface and these gradually extend downwards through the swelling action of the ice particles, as moisture freezes in the fine fissures. - >; To be continued.