TWENTIETH ANNUAL MEETING. 29 



tourists from all countries, who came there to see the terraces and other volcanic 

 phenomena of the district. 



On the evening of June 10 of the present year (1887), a volcanic eruption con- 

 sisting of lava and thick mud destroyed the Pink and White Terraces and the native 

 village where the school-house, the temperance hall and the hotels were situated. 

 Besides nearly one hundred natives who lost their lives in this overflow, there were 

 six Europeans who also perished, including three of the Haggard family — the father 

 and two children. The following account of the eruption, written by Miss Clara 

 Haggard, will no doubt be interesting in this connection. She says: 



"We were all in bed by eleven o'clock. At 1:15 I was awakened by a rumbling 

 noise, and father asked me if I felt the earthquake. I said yes; and it kept on a 

 long time. Mr. Blythe was also awakened, and father said, 'It is the most wonderful 

 sight I have ever seen,' and we all went out on the veranda to see it. There was a 

 large, inky-black cloud hovering over the truncated cone of Tarawera, with lightning 

 and balls of fire shooting out of it. Mr. Blythe said it was a cloud charged with elec- 

 tricity. We all dressed and went into the sitting-room, thinking it was the safest 

 part of the building, as it was constructed of corrugated iron. We lighted a tire in 

 the stove, and mother sat down in the middle of the room with all the children arovind 

 her. Looking out of the window, it was like a great sheet of fire. I sat down at the 

 organ and played and sang hymns. 



."At 3 o'clock we heard a rattling as if stones were falling on the roof of the house. 

 The noise was so great that we could not hear each other speak. We afterward found 

 it to be caused by falling lava. When that came on, father went out into the middle 

 of the room, leaning on mother's chair. Mr. Lundius picked up a piece of lava, 

 when we all came to the conclusion that Tarawera had broken out in an eruption. 

 The volcanic shower continued to pour on the house for about an hour. 



"A tremendous gale of wind arose, and then came down the chimney with such 

 force that we were nearly suffocated with the smoke, and had to cover the stove with 

 a mat, and pour all the water we could get on it. At about 4 o'clock, we were all, 

 except Messrs. Blythe and Lundins, assembled in the middle of the room, believing 

 that to be the safest place, as the walls were bulging and threatening to come in. I 

 walked over to the door (seeing it bulging), to lean against. I found Blythe and 

 Lundins standing at the same place, when suddenly there came a tremendous crash, 

 and all was dark — the roof falling on top of us. I put out my hands and grasped, 

 instinctively, Mr. Blythe's hand on one side, and Mr. Lundins' on the other, for pro- 

 tection. Mr. Lundins jumped up and smashed the window, cutting his hand very 

 much. Finding he could not do as well with his hand, he used his foot, and got out. 

 He then said, 'I'm out — come out, Miss Haggard;' and he pulled me out. Mr. Blythe 

 followed, but on getting into the open air, we were struck about the head and body 

 by lumps of lava. We shut the door, but finding the roof bulging down, and being 

 unable to get into some of the rooms, we opened the door and stood in the doorway, 

 so as to be ready to escape. I was perishing with cold, and Mr. Blythe got some 

 blankets to protect me from the cold. 



"Just then, the house appeared to be struck with lightning and burning lava, and 

 it took fire. We all rushed out into the garden to find shelter, and got into the pad- 

 docks, after stumbling over some uprooted trees in the darkness. Seeing by the 

 light of the burning apartment that the hen-house was still standing, we went there 

 for shelter, and remained there till daylight watching the principal buildings burn- 

 ing. We waited there in great anxiety, being under the apprehension that all the 

 house was on fire, but we found afterward that the corrugated-iron building remained 

 untouched, owing to the quantity of volcanic mud around and above it. 



"When daylight arrived, Mr. MacRae and the two Birds, his brothers-in-law, came 



