i ioo A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



chasm, six hundred feet wide, and extending almost from base to summit, had been 

 blown out of the end of the Mountain. 



The indolent villagers of Ohinemutu escaped the severity of the eruption ; a 

 light deposit of volcanic mud, the outbreak of several new thermal springs, and an 

 increase in volume and temperature of the old ones, being the only perceptible evidences 

 of the dread visitation. If Rotomahana and its far-famed Terraces have disappeared 

 there is still plenty to command wonder in the terrace formation at Whakarewarewa, 

 with its chauldrons, fumaroles, sulphur pools and active geysers ; in the marvels of the 

 Paeroa Range, and Kakaramea with its hot river ; in the terraces, caves and springs 

 of Orakeikorako, the great geyser of the " Crow's Nest," the natural prodigies of Wairakei, 

 and the numerous hot springs and falls of Taupo. Allusion to Whakarewarewa reminds 

 the tourist of its pretentions to rank as one of the "lions" of the district. 



It is an easy three-mile walk from Ohinemutu, and occupies the side of a hill 

 which forms the right bank of the Puaranga Creek, presenting very much the appear- 

 ance of an abandoned quarry, with muddy water filling up its various hollows. On the 

 farther side of the narrow foot-bridge which affords access to the settlement, a native 

 youth collects the toll levied by his chief, and this payment confers the freedom of the 

 place. Threading the sulphur baths to the eminence on which stands the native village, 

 there suddenly comes into view a boiling spring of clear blue water of great depth, 

 which forms the village oven, and also the village lavatory, as the dusky and tattooed 

 visages gleaming above its steaming surface sufficiently attest. If the shy and inter- 

 mittent geyser of Waikiti is in full action, we may watch with delight the play of the 

 lofty column of ebullient water, accompanied with a dull rumbling sound, betokening the 

 activity of the forces which furnish the display. It is the centre of a series of mounds 

 of sulphur and silica incrustations, and hard by it lie siliceous deposits in process of 

 terrace formation, mud cones, sulphur wells, boiling springs and fumaroles. In fact the 

 soil is seamed and thickly punctured by igneous action, and the odour of sulphur 

 heavily impregnates the air. 



The sanatorium at Sulphur Point will naturally form the head-quarters of the invalid, 

 and possesses the greatest importance for him. According to Ur. Macgregor, Colonial 

 Inspector of Hospitals, ' the marvellous resources of this place, if only they were 

 properly advertised, and access by rail provided, would cause sufferers to congregate 

 from all parts of the world in such numbers as would astonish the most sanguine 

 believers in its future. I believe there is nothing in the world to compare with this as 

 a city of refuge for peisons who suffer from rheumatism, which has not gone to the 

 length of organic changes in the joints ; from neuralgias ; from chronic congestions of 

 such viscera as the uterus, liver and kidneys ; from functional paralyses generally, and 

 from skin diseases of all kinds." The most famous baths are " The Priest's Bath," with 

 its acidic and aluminous waters ; " Madame Rachel's Bath," with its exquisitely soft 

 saline waters, the silicates in which impart a lovely gloss to the skin ; " The Blue Bath," 

 a large reservoir provided with hot and cold water douches and showers ; " The 

 Laughing-gas Bath," with its fumes of sulphuretted hydrogen ; and " The Pain-killer 

 Bath," this last being one of the most valuable sulphurous springs which are to be 

 found within the reserve. 



