306 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
tioned above, but also the sites of the beautiful Pink and White 
Terraces, now far below the surface, and much of the former 
solfataric basin. Many hot springs and geysers issue beneath the 
lake near its northeast shore, and the whole side of the Rotomahana 
erater in this area is alive with roaring steam vents. The lake 
water has a greenish color and in places is too hot for the hand. 
The surface of Lake Rotomahana is 148 feet above that of Lake 
Tarawera, and the two are separated by a narrow strip of land. 
Our Maori guide, Patiti, suggested the possibility of draining the 
former into the latter at least to the extent that the sites of the 
terraces be exposed hoping thereby to uncover them by hydraul- 
icking, in case they were not destroyed by the original eruption. 
Moore and others, however, report that fragments of terrace sinter 
occur with the coarser ejectamenta of the vicinity. This Patiti 
strongly denies. In our opinion the removal of the water load 
from the solfataric area of the lake is frought with dangers from 
new explosions which might well be of disastrous extent. The bal- 
ance is delicate as will be seen later on. The eruption of Tara- 
wera lasted for several hours; in fact the general disturbance 
lasted for several days. Hector and Park who visited the scene 
on the 13th and, 14th mapped no less than seventeen points of 
active eruption along the fissure. A strong wind from the south- 
west scattered the finer debris over the country and out into the 
Bay of Plenty. It covered an area of some 6,000 square miles, 
one-fourth of which was damaged for agriculture. Moore esti- 
mates that from 520,000,000 to 620,000,000 cubic yards were 
thrown out. All inhabitants within four miles of the mountain 
were killed. In all some 130 persons were lost, most of whom 
were natives. Several villages were completely buried by the fine 
gray blanket which destroyed all life and covered the immediate 
region with upwards of fifty feet of ash and scoria. This depth 
rapidly grew less away from the foci of eruption until at a dis- 
tance of a few miles, vegetation was able to re-establish itself 
promptly; but in the nearby area it was some years before trees 
and ferns gained a foothold, and even now there are large barren 
tracts in spite of the abundant rainfall. The layers of ash mask 
the original surface on which they rest. In places rain has eroded 
these into deep sharp-sided gullies and ridges, revealing here and 
there the old soil and charred wood below. Much of the debris 
has been washed to lower levels and into the lakes. We were told 
