Pond and Smith. — On the Eruption of Mt. Tarawera. 855 



sombre, sileut, and unruffled. Away in the front rises an ever 

 rolling, slow-changing, towering mass of steam, interspersed in 

 the lower portions with sudden bursts of darker material, wliii-h 

 prove to be stones, sand, mud, and water, flung up to tlie luiglit 

 of 400 or 500 feet above the lip of the crater. At time-^, the 

 bright sun glancing over this wondrous column gives a vivid 

 brightness to it ; and again, so brilliantly reflected is the sun- 

 light from the more distant portions of the mantled earth, as to 

 bring vividly to the mind of the onlooker the semblance of a 

 vast field of snow. 



On entering this sombre plain, the ashen covering proves 

 to be a fine, dry, powdered material, having throughout small 

 fragments of scoria. Occasionally spherical or ovoid nodules 

 are found, which easily crush between the fingers, and some- 

 times contain a nucleus in the shape of a rounded fragment of 

 scoria. 



Ailvancing through this material —which closely respmhles 

 in colour and appearance Portland cement — the dep 'sit becomes 

 deeper, so that walking was very fatiguing. In many parts each 

 step was knee-deep, while, by leaving the ridges, the soft ash 

 was found to be so deep as to be dangerous, and the effects of 

 the wind stirring the surface made breathing laboured. 



Travelling somewhat to the north of Okaro Lake for the dis- 

 tance of about a mile and a half, brought us to the most southern 

 part of the fissure, which has extended from the Kotomakariri 

 Lake in the direction of the Okaro Lake, partly through 

 the Haumi Stream. On the line of the fissure in this direc- 

 tion are five distinct craters, the most northerly of which was 

 decidedly the most active, while the southerly one was nearly 

 dormant. 



On reaching the edge of this one, which was ovoid in shape, 

 the bottom was found to be covered with muddy water, evidently 

 hot and probably deep. In the northern part of the crater an 

 occasional uprush of water would take place, rising about 20 

 feet in height, and slowly falling back into the pool. This would 

 cause a wave to gradually extend, which, reaching the sides, 

 would wash in some of the steep sloping earth, followed occa- 

 sionally by heavy slips extending to the surface. (Since our 

 visit, Mr. Boscaweu and Mr. Main have seen these craters, and 

 have each witnessed the most southern crater, which we have 

 stated as dormant, sudienly, and without warnnig, send ma ses 

 of water, mud, and stoiiL^s hvjh. into the air al)0ve the e:i,<ze of 

 the crater, after which, Mr. Main asserts, the activity v^ould be 

 followed by each of the others in succession to the northwards.) 

 At the lip of the crater, and for a considerable distance back 

 from the edge, cracks had formed following the contour of the 

 lip, and from 2 to 6 or 7 feet apart. These cracks made 

 travelling dangerous in the near vicinity of the craters, as the 



