3.02 
NATURE 
[Fuly 29, 1886 
occurred early on the morning of June 10. At Ohinemutu, on 
Lake Rotorua, the earth began to tremble at midnight. At ten 
minutes past 2 a.m. there was a heavy quake and a loud roaring 
noise which startled the inhabitants and caused them to flee 
from their houses. From this pointit could be seen that Mount 
Tarawera, about fourteen miles distant, had suddenly become 
an active volcano, belching out fire and lava to a great height. 
At 4.a.m. a dense mass of ashes poured down, accompanied by 
suffocating smells. A large black cloud, which extended in a 
line from Mount Tarawera to the Pairoa Mountains, was filled 
with flame and electricity. The thunder-like roar from the 
crater, the sulphurous smells and constant quaking of the earth, 
caused many of the inhabitants to leave their homes and proceed 
to Tauranga, a distant township on the east coast. At 8a.m. 
the aspect of affairs was as bad as it was all night, and hundreds 
of boiling springs had broken out around Lake Rotorua. At 11 
a.m. the eruptions were going on continuously, and all the country 
down to Tauranga was in total darkness, with thick clouds of 
dust and sulphurous fumes in the air, At one o’clock the dark- 
ness had all cleared away and the principal centres of eruption 
had subsided. 
At Lake Taupo, about forty miles to the south of Tarawera, 
the spectacle presented was most extraordinary. At 2 a.m. the 
outbreak was heralded by terrific reports, which resembled the 
roar of artillery, while a pillar of flame shooting hundreds of 
feet into the air was observed in the locality of the eruption. <A 
great black cloud hung over this pillar, whilst flashes of elec- 
tricity shot out from the cloud in every direction, shedding an 
unearthly bluish light. I.oud reports, accompanied by heavy 
shocks of earthquake, followed in quick succession, and kept on 
until six o’clock, when the daylight and clouds of ashes rendered 
the sight invisible. 
At Tauranga, forty-seven miles distant to the north-east, loud 
reports of heavy earthquakes began at 2.15a.m., and very severe 
shocks were experienced at 3 a.m., while in the direction of the 
outbreak the country was illuminated for hours with flames and 
lightning. In the neighbourhood of Maketu, fifty miles to the 
east of the principal centre of eruption, atmospheric disturbances 
caused darkness till ro a.m., and the shocks of earthquake 
were accompanied with strong lightning and earth currents, 
while at Hamilton, eighty miles to the west, the volcanic dis- 
charges are said to have resembled the firing of great guns 
at sea. 
The devastation caused by the eruption is very widespread, 
and it is believed that all the natives round Rotomahana and 
Tarawera Lakes must have died. About a hundred Maoris are 
known to have perished. Mr. Haszard, the schoolmaster at 
Wairoa, and his four children and niece, and-an English tourist 
named Bambridge are the only Europeans known to be killed. 
The country for fifty miles around the vicinity of the disturbance 
has been covered by the discharge of stones and ashes, and large 
craters have risen up. Mount Tarawera is elevated 300 [eet 
higher than before. Lake Rotomahana has subsided, and has 
been transformed into an expanse of seething mud, and the 
renowned terraces are reported to be destroyed. Large areas 
are covered with volcanic dust and mud. During the disturb- 
ance the wind blew from the east, heavy snow fell on the ranges, 
and there was intense cold. 
The wide area forming the scene of the eruption has been the 
chief centre of volcanic activity in New Zealand since the country 
has been known to Europeans, and in fact since the earliest 
period of Maori tradition. The region forms of itself a distinct 
volcanic zone remarkable for its picturesque hot lakes, boiling 
geysers, and numerous thermal springs. | For many years it has 
been the resort of tourists from all parts of the world, and who 
reached it by way of Tauranga, a picturesque town on the east 
coast of the North Island, with a fine harbour opening into the 
Bay of Plenty. It is in this bay, about 30 miles from the main- 
land, that the first indication of volcanic activity presents itself 
in the form of Whakari, or White Island, a cone-shaped moun- 
tain which rises abruptly from the sea to an altitude of 860 feet. 
The crater, about 14 miles in circumference, is in a condition of 
a very active so/fatara, whose numerous geysers and boiling 
springs evolve at all times dense volumes of steam and sulphu- 
rous gases. 
From Tauranga the traveller proceeds in a southerly direction 
through a fern-clad country interspersed with broad belts of 
primeval forest presenting the most luxuriant and varied vegeta- 
tion. Ina distance little short of 4o miles the land rises gradu- 
ally to an altitude of 800 feet, when the great table-land of the 
Lake Region is reached. Here, in a depression which appears 
to have formed at some remote period the area of an immense 
lake-basin, is situated the township of Ohinemutu, where there 
are several good hotels and a small white population. Just 
beneath the township the blue surface of Lake Rotorua, with 
the picturesque Island of Mokoia in its centre, spreads itself out 
in a circle of nearly 25 miles. The area in the immediate 
vicinity of the lake, where the action of the thermal springs is 
most active, extends from Whakarewrewa on the one side to 
Te Koutu on the other, and inland to Tikitere and Ariki Kapa, 
celebrated for its big holes of black boiling mud. Hot springs 
occur on its southern shore, while still further to the east of it 
again are the warm lakes known as Rotorua and Rotoehu. 
The native settlement is situated on a long peninsula stretch- 
ing out into the waters of Lake Rotorua. Every part of 
this strip of land is dotted and riddled with thermal springs, 
some of which shoot out of the ground from small apertures, 
while others assume the forms of large steaming pools. They 
are of all degrees of temperature from tepid heat to boiling- 
point. Here the wharves or huts of the natives are clustered 
promiscuously about the springs, and in situations where a few 
inches below the surface the soil is sufficiently hot to cook an 
egg in a few minutes. : 
It is this region which may be said to contribute the first link 
in the chain of active thermal action, extending from Whakari 
in the Bay of Plenty, through the Lake Country, to the active 
volcano of Tongariro, in the centre of the island, a distance in a 
direct line of about 130 miles. 
At a distance of about nine miles still southerly from Lake 
Rotorua, lies Lake Tarawera, with its cluster of minor lakes, 
which constitute the second and most important connection in 
the volcanic belt. It was here the recent volcanic disturbance 
first declared itself in the sudden activity of Mount Tarawera, an 
extinct volcanic cone which had remained quiescent since time 
immemorial. 
No place in the world could boast of scenery so unique and 
thermal phenomena so marvellous as could Tarawera and its sur- 
roundings. It was reached from Tarawera by a delightful route 
fringed by fern-clad mountains, and through the Sikitapu Forest 
one of the grandest gardens of primeval vegetation in New 
Zealand, but which is now uprooted by the force of the subter- 
ranean devastation. At the southern exit of the forest the tra- 
veller was charmed by Sikitapu, the Blue Lake, and Rotokakahi, 
the Green Lake, whose calm picturesque beauty formed one of 
the grandest sights of this singularly gifted region. A few yards 
from this point nestled the native settlement of Wairoa, now 
covered with 10 feet of ashes. Here were two hotels for the 
accommodation of tourists, who came from places far and wide 
to visit the wonders of the Terraces. From time out of mind 
it had been one of the principal homes of the great Arara tribe, 
who claim to be the pioneers of the race in New Zealand. 
Down a wild gorge from Waira Lake Tarawera lies 
embosomed in a circle of tall forest-clad mountains, whose 
pointed peaks and serrated ridges betoken at once their Plutonic 
origin, while on the southern shore of the Lake rises Mount 
Tarawera, in the form of a colossal truncated cone, with pointed 
peaks like a spiked crown. It was out of this giant mountain 
tapu, and sacred in Maori song and legend, that the recent sub- 
terranean fires first shot forth, enveloping the whole mountain in 
a sheet of flame. 
A glance at this mountain and the surrounding region was 
sufficient to show that at some remote period it must have been 
—as now—the chief centre of a widely-extended volcanic action. 
The mountain itself formed one of the principal volcanic cones 
to be found dotted over the country. A range of volcanic hills 
sloped down on its western side to Lake Rotomahana, which 
was connected with Lake Tarawera by a small warm stream 
known as Te Ariki. Before the eruption occurred the shores of 
the former lake formed the principal point of thermal activity 
in the district, and there can be little doubt that beneath its sur- 
face the forces which culminated in the outbreak of Mount 
‘Tarawera were evolved. 
Lake Rotomahana, now said to be nothing more than a hole 
of seething mud and vaporous gases, formed in reality the 
wonderland of the region. Like Lake Tarawera, it was situated 
at an elevation of a little over 1000 feet above the Jevel of the 
sea. 
about a mile long by a quarter of a mile wide. It was, how- 
ever, grandly picturesque, not only by reason of its unequalled 
features presented by the terraces, but likewise on account of 
It was one of the smallest of the group of lakes, being — 
