HOT SPRINGS OF NEW ZEALAND 99 



As the traveller approaches Rotorua, a strange, 

 unearthly smell of sulphur fills the air ; white puffs 

 of steam rise for no apparent reason from green hills 

 and valleys, huge mud-holes by the roadside seethe 

 and bubble like porridge in a cauldron ; hot lakes of 

 extraordinary colors, yellow, blue, pink, green, - 

 and brilliantly colored strata along the mountain- 

 sides, make one stare and rub one's eyes to be sure 

 that such apparent unrealities exist. Your nearest 

 conception of a Methodist's hell will be truly real- 

 ized when you enter the Valley of Tikitere, some ten 

 miles from Rotorua. The earth is hot beneath your 

 feet, the country gapes with steaming cracks, and if 

 a cane be thrust a few inches into the soil, a jet of 

 steam or a spout of boiling water reminds you that 

 just beneath the very bowels of the earth are seeth- 

 ing toward the surface. You are surrounded by a 

 perfect inferno of boiling mud-holes, bubbling lakes 

 of hideous colors, and blasts of steam issuing from 

 hillsides with the regular exhaust of powerful en- 

 gines. Follow the guide closely, for a single wrong 

 step may land you in some loathsome abyss, and 

 there are pleasanter ways of reaching eternity. 

 Here you are pointed out the "Heavenly Twins," 

 two horrid bubbling mud-holes side by side, one of 

 which boils the thickest of brews while its twin con- 

 tains the thinnest. On one side "The Devil's For- 



