884 Transactions. — Geology. 



" Having read in a late paper that Ruapeliu had been seen 

 smoking, I conchided that either that mountain or Tongariro 

 was in violent eruption. Moreover, the mild earthquake shakes, 

 and the fineness of the sand and dust, showed that the dis- 

 turbance must be a long way off. These reflections were 

 sufficient to prevent alarm. A pecuharity about some of the 

 earthquakes was that the house seemed to be afloat. I found 

 that a scissors suspended by a nail in the wall gave frequent 

 notice of shakes that would not otherwise have been apparent. 



" Up to 9.30 a.m. it was dark as pitch, but shortly after- 

 wards showed signs of clearing, and by 10.30 a.m. there was 

 twilight, which gradually brightened until the place where the 

 sun was could be distmguished. The sand and dust penetrated 

 the house, and covered everything. 



" From 10 a.m. there was a calm imtil 2 p.m., when the 

 wind blew lightly from the south ; and there was not much 

 more than twilight all day. 



" At 5 p.m. it cleared to the eastward, but a thick bank of 

 fog was visible in the west. The night was calm, and cool, and 

 fine, and slight earthquakes were felt occasionally. 



" The storm had rendered the telegraph wires useless, and 

 we had no communication with the outer world for about 24 

 hours. Very little alarm was felt generally, and there was no 

 panic. 



" Careful measurements of the depth of sand and dust show 

 that about 1| niches had fallen in town ; but it is reported to 

 be deeper on the table laud. 



" On the morning of the 11th, which was bright and clear, 

 an immense cloud of steam was seen in the west, and it was 

 rightly guessed that Rotomahana was the seat of the volcanic 

 disturbance. 



" The sand is nearly black, and lies mider the dust, which is 

 of a light mouse colour, and the layer of the former is twice as 

 thick as that of the latter. This sand is precisely the same 

 article that our forefathers, not so many generations back, used 

 for the purpose of drying letters, when blotting paper was not so 

 good or so common as it is now. And some years ago, when I 

 was an office boy in a mercantile house in Old Broad Street, 

 London, engaged in the Russian trade, several of our correspon- 

 dents in the interior of Russia dried their letters with the same 

 sort of sand. 



" Yours faithfully, 



" F. W. Henderson. 

 " E. P. Dumerque, Opotiki." 



