HOT SPRINGS OF NEW ZEALAND 93 



forth could boast the greatest and grandest geyser 

 in the world. 



It seems to have taken the people of Rotorua 

 some little time to realize that from the erratic 

 and wholly ungovernable character of Waimungu, 

 a near approach to its crater must at all times be 

 attended with the greatest personal risk; for al- 

 though the explosions were soon found to come at 

 average periods of thirty-six hours, irregular erup- 

 tions were of frequent occurrence, and took place 

 without warning when least expected. As is the law 

 with all new dangers, somebody had to be hurt 

 and sacrificed before steps were taken to prevent 

 the ignorant and foolhardy from venturing too near. 

 In the summer of 1903 two girls and a guide visited 

 the crater, and though previously warned of the 

 risk, they stood near the brink to secure a photo- 

 graph at close quarters. An eruption occurred, the 

 pond was thrown bodily into the air to a height of 

 some fifteen hundred feet, with enormous quantities 

 of mud, huge rocks, and steam, the unfortunate 

 visitors were caught by the backflow of the boiling 

 water and swept down into the crater, from which 

 the bodies were later recovered, terribly burned 

 and mutilated. From that day the geyser basin was 

 railed off in such a manner that nobody could ap- 

 proach near enough to incur the slightest danger. 



