94 SPORT AND TRAVEL 



It was but a few months before this mishap that, 

 while staying at Rotorua in the hot spring district, 

 my friend B. and I visited Waimungu. In those 

 days the only warning of the risk of near approach 

 was a small sign-board affixed to a post beside the 

 path leading to the crater, which said simply, " Dan- 

 ger Limit." All questions as to the magnitude of 

 the risk and the advisability of approaching nearer 

 were left to the visitor himself. What could be more 

 innocent - looking than this little pond set deep 

 down in the rocky basin between the hills ? What 

 more unlikely than that it should choose the very 

 moment when one was leaning over its brink, to 

 explode? So people argued and so visitors like our- 

 selves continued to come and approach near to its 

 edge, little knowing that within a few short months 

 Waimungu, like the dragon of old, was to rise with- 

 out warning and levy a toll of three human lives 

 for the privilege of beholding it breathe forth its 

 smoke and steam. If I had fully realized at the time 

 the extent of the danger, I doubt if I should have 

 taken a photograph on the very edge of the crater, 

 or have paused for some time to watch the steam 

 and bubbles rising from the pool's surface. But 

 Waimungu was propitious, for although it had 

 worked the night before and we had been told that 

 we could venture into its basin with impunity, it 



