620 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



dents in the vicinity of Taupo Lake witnessed, about 11 o'clock, 

 and again at noon, the spectacle of a grand and magnificent 

 explosion of steam on Mount Euapehu." So runs a telegram 

 from Tapuaeharuru of that date ; and it appears that the 

 Whangaehu was in high flood, and rose 3ft. or 4ft. in the short 

 space of a few minutes. At the date of my visit there was 

 ample evidence to show that a great geyser-like explosion had 

 taken place, for quantities of blue mud and many large boulders 

 were to be met with along the east and north-east portions of 

 the snowfield in the vicinity of the lake, and a kind of wave- 

 margin of coloured snow and blue mud could be traced on the 

 ice between the south and west peaks, and which had evidently 

 been deposited by an explosion of some kind. The wave-rim 

 could be traced over the entire icefield sloping towards the 

 lake, and the bluish-grey material upon it resembled what 

 was thrown out at Rotomahana during the time of the Tara- 

 wera eruption, and bore no likeness to any of the surface- 

 rocks on the mountain. 



In volume xix. of the Transactions there are two papers 

 relating to Euapehu. One of them is by Mr. Park, F.G.S. ; 

 the other by Mr. Cussen, of the District Survey Office, Auck- 

 land. Mr. Park ascended Euapehu on the 8th January, 1886, 

 from the south, and succeeded in reaching Paraetetaitouga, or 

 the south peak. Mr. Cussen appears to have reached the 

 same peak from the west on the 9th April of the same year. 

 Each waiter makes reference to the crater-lake, and it is ex- 

 ceedingly curious and interesting to find such a wide diver- 

 gence between two most careful observers in their description 

 of the crater, and who seemingly saw it from the same van- 

 tage-ground, and at an interval of only three months be- 

 tween them. 



Mr. Park, in his account, says, "Immediately below us 

 lay the great crater of Euapehu. The crater proper, or what 

 was probably the former vent, is situated not in the centre 

 of the basin, but appears to be nearer to Paraetetaitouga than 

 to the northern or western peaks. The vent, as far as could 

 be judged from our high position, is probably 10 chains across. 

 At this time it was occupied by a great sheet of ice of a bluish 

 colour, and there was no appearance of steam or water." 



Of the same crater Mr. Cussen writes, " Deep down in a 

 crateral hollow of basin-like shape, its steep sides covered with 

 perpetual snow and ice, is a pool of w^ater of a greyish-cream 

 or drab colour. . . . From its peculiar surroundings of 

 snow and ice it was difiicult to estimate with any degree of 

 accuracy the diameter of the lake. ... It appeared to 

 me to be of a nearly circular form, and oOOft. or more in 

 diameter. . . . When I got to the top of the peak I no- 

 ticed little clouds of steam rising from the surface of the 



