380 Transactions. — Geology. 



floods in the Wangaeliu, Waikato, and Wanganui Kivers, 

 probably attended with serious consequences to the town of 

 Wanganui. The great boulders in the Whakapa and Wanga- 

 nui Rivers, some of them weighing over 50 tons, would seem 

 to have been carried down by such floods in the past. That the 

 atmospheric conditions affect the state of the thermal springs 

 and fumaroles in the Tongariro group appears very evident. I 

 had not sufficient opportunity of noting the state and conditions 

 of the steam-vents, under various atmospheric conditions, to 

 make any definite statement on the subject, but I noticed that 

 the discharge of steam was greater m the early morning with 

 southerly winds and frosts ; and the Natives always look for 

 bad weather when the steam hangs low on Ngaurulioe in the 

 morning. 



Art. XL VII. — Phenomena connected unth the Tarawera Eruption 

 of 10th June, 1886, as observed at Gishorne. 



By Archdeacon W. L. Williams. 



\B,ead before the Auckland Institute, 26t/j July, 1886.] 



About 2h. 30m. a.m. on the morning of the 10th June, 1886, 

 most of the inhabitants of Gisborne were roused from their 

 slumbers by the rumble of distant explosions, following one 

 another in quick succession, accompanied by an extraordinary 

 agitation in the atmosphere, (there being no wind to speak of,) 

 which kept the doors and windows rattling in their fi'ames, as 

 though from the effect of a discharge of heavy artillery in the 

 neighbourhood. The first probable cause that suggested itself 

 was thunder ; but, on looking out, it was seen that the sky was 

 perfectly clear and the stars shining most brilliantly. Then, if 

 it was not thunder, might it be the forewarning of a violent 

 earthquake ? But the atmospheric disturbance showed that it 

 could not be a mere earth-rumble ; and so the conclusion was 

 forced upon one that it must be a distant volcanic eruption, 

 probably from Tongariro. 



A further survey of the horizon, however, showed a cloud 

 low down in a W.N.W. direction, in or near which there was 

 something unusual going on ; flashes of light illuminating the 

 whole cloud ; then linear flashes darting in various directions, 

 or round balls of light. As the view of the cloud was somewhat 

 obstructed by trees, we could only see the upper part ; and 

 concluded that, wherever the eruption might be, there was a 

 thunderstorm of an unusual character raging in that direction 

 in the far distance. Other people, who had an unobstructed 



