Hill. — On the Eru^ption of Tongariro in 1892. 389 



welled from the shaft. This crater was quite extinct at the 

 time of my first visit. 



Having heard that explosions had taken place at Tongariro, 

 and being miable to obtain information as to its extent or 

 exact locality, I determined to visit the district again during 

 the Christmas vacation to see what had actually taken place, 

 and to note any facts that might appear worthy of being 

 recorded. The road to the mountains is now in such fair order 

 that it is possible to drive as far as Lake Eotoaira, which is 

 situated between the volcanic cones of Tongariro and Pihanga. 

 This plan of reaching the district was adopted, and on the last 

 day of 1892 a small party pitched tents on the south shore of 

 the lake, and made preparation for the ascent of Tongariro on 

 the morrow. The evidence of an eruption was very clear from 

 our camping-ground, and on portions of the road running 

 along the side of the lake the deposition of debris and a 

 peculiar sweet earthy odour that arose therefrom showed the 

 location of the spot, and in some measure the character of the 

 eruption that had taken place. I had purposed leading our 

 party up the mountain by way of Kehetahi, but the demands 

 of the old chief living at Otukou compelled me to forbear, and 

 it w^as decided to attempt an ascent of the mountain by way of 

 the rift, or gut, which had been made from Te Mari down the 

 mountain-side leading into Lake Eotoaira. Bounding the 

 northern end of the range between 4,000ft. and 5,000ft. is a 

 belt of bush and scrub. The eruption had cut a deep channel 

 through this bush, and up this it was arranged to climb. 



Our party, six in number, two of them being my own 

 children, started to make the ascent on New Year's morning. 

 A day's rations for each, with one to spare for contingencies, 

 w^as prepared, and at seven in the morning we were on the 

 march in the direction of the gut on the mountain-side. We 

 were not long in reaching this place, and we found to our great 

 delight that the travelling was comparatively easy ; so much 

 so, in fact, that ladies could ascend the mountain by this track 

 without much difficulty. The gut varies in width from 30ft. 

 to 60ft., according to the depth of the sides, and it continues 

 up the side of the mountain to a little beyond the limits of the 

 bush, and within 500fc. of the crater of Te Mari. There it ter- 

 minates in a great face of black basaltic rock, which is polished 

 and smoothed and pitted, and has the appearance of an old 

 waterfall, although at the time of our visit no water was 

 flowing down the gut from the mountain. It was curious to 

 note that all the exposed rocks in the waterway were finely 

 polished, although they appear to have been exposed since 

 the explosion on the mountain. The gut or channel had 

 evidently been washed out by the water, sand, mud, and 

 stones ejected from Te Mari, and which it seemed had not 



