Hector. — Presidential Address. 467 



cloud on its edge, and seemed to make it rear up on end, and 

 arrested its progress. That time agrees with the fall of mud at 

 Wairoa ; and no doubt the condensation of the steam, and 

 consequent collapse of the edge, led to the deposit of mud in a 

 moist condition, but as far as known quite cold, upon the 

 unfortunate inhabitants of Wairoa and the surrounding country. 

 After this deposit of mud, a cloud of higher stratum appeared 

 to reach all over the country. The heavier and more damaging 

 kind of dust was driven towards the N.E., the edge being con- 

 densed so as to throw down the dust in the form of mud, from 

 Wairoa to Te Puke, in a narrow strip. Away to the east the 

 cou.utry was covered in dust, causing darkness from Gisborne to 

 Tauranga until 11 a.m. Above that there was a higher cloud, 

 unaffected by the wind, that appears to have spread out to a 

 distance of 120 miles, depositing a light thin grey dust known 

 as the Tauranga dust. Other kinds of dust were deposited at 

 Opotiki, Hicks Bay, and the East Cape, the latter containing 

 organic matter ; and a grey dust also fell inland fi-om Poverty 

 Bay. A very distinct form of the ejected material is the 

 black vesicular mud-stones resembling scoria, thrown out by 

 Mount Hazard, and the great sandy deposit that completely 

 covered the country in the neighbourhood of the focus of 

 eruption. 



He then described how, on Sunday, the third day after the 

 eruption, he got to Eotorua, and, immediately on emerging 

 from the bush from Tauranga, came in full view of the erup- 

 tions. He was able to count seven distinct points of eruption, 

 while every now and then from three more marked points 

 great outbursts of a reddish-brown character took place. 

 During two clear nights he carefully watched these eruptions 

 from Eotorua with a powerful glass, and never saw any evi- 

 dence of a reflected glare, or sign of cracks or fissures in the 

 mountain through which molten lava could be seen. The 

 detritus had almost completely smothered the outline of the 

 range, and had nearly filled up the valley between Kuawahia 

 and Wahanga. He obtained a subsequent observation of the 

 range from the opposite side from the Kaingaroa Plains on 

 the seventh day after the eruption. On the top of Euawahia 

 the cone had greatly increased, with the addition of an 

 outer ring. The most curious thing was that right along 

 the back of the mountain could be seen with the glass a large 

 crack or fissure, running obliquely to a great height on the 

 southern end of the mountain. All along this line little wreaths 

 of steam were escaping. In front of that crack could be seen 

 an enormous terrace of a clear white colour, all the rest being 

 of a mouse-grey colour, except at the extreme top which was 

 brown. No doubt the terrace consisted of pumice sand, that 

 was thrown up and fell perfectly dry and hot. 



