29 



The chief points of interest near Rotorua are the Sanatorium 

 grounds, with several boiling springs and artificial geysers ; 

 Hamurana, a large cold-water spring ; Tikitere, with immense pools 

 of fiercely boiling mud ; and Whakarewarewa, where one may see 

 every phase of solfataric action. Here are mud volcanoes, sinter 

 deposits, steam-vents, numerous boiling springs, and geysers, the 

 largest of which are known as Pohutu and Wairoa. 



About fifteen miles south-east of Rotorua is Mount Tarawera 

 (3, 770 ft.), which in the early morning of the loth June, 1886, 

 suddenly burst into eruption. As a result 130 lives were lost, and 

 the surrounding country buried by the ejected debris. A great rift 

 or, rather, series of explosion cavities nine miles in length, was 

 formed. The bottom of a small lake, Rotomahana, was blown out, 



FIG. 14. Map of Tarawera volcanic rift after the eruption of 1886. 



and the adjoining Pink and White Terraces destroyed. Since the 

 eruption a new Lake Rotomahana, much larger than the old lake, 

 has been formed. The Tarawera rift, the major axis of Lake Roto- 

 mahana, and Waimangu, greatest of geysers, lie on an approximately 

 straight line. As a geyser Waimangu was in regular operation only 

 during the years 1900-4, but in later years there have been several 

 spasmodic outbursts. 



About the end of May, 1922, a long series of earthquakes began 

 in the district at the north end of Lake Taupo, and at the time of 

 writing had not entirely ceased. During June there wert days on 

 which at least a hundred shakes were perceptible to the senses. The 

 shocks were nearly all mild, but a few were sufficiently strong to shake 

 articles off shelves, and slightly to damage chimneys. 



P. G. MORGAN. 



