644 REPORT— 1886. 



7. On, the Geysers of the Botorua District, North Island of New Zealand. 



By E. W. BucKE. 



The author of this paper has recently returned from the Lake district of New 

 Zealand, where he spent eighteen months, and had exceptional opportunities for 

 making ohservations upon the volcanic phenomena of the district. The largest 

 geyser in New Zealand, that of the White Terrace of Eotomahana, is now de- 

 stroyed ; the three next in size are those of Pehutu, Waikiti, and Wairoa, all of 

 which are situated close together at the hack of the native village named 

 Whakarewarewa, about three miles to the south of the Rotorua township, and these 

 are particularly described in the present communication. The author was able to 

 determine by soundings the depth of the tubes of several geysers of this district, 

 and in the ease of an extinct one, that of Te Waro, he Avas let down the tube. 

 He found that this tube, at a depth of 13 feet from the surface, opened into a 

 chamber 15 feet long, 8 feet broad, and 9 feet high, and that from one end of this 

 chamber another tube led downwards to an undetermined depth. 



Living entirely among the natives fur many months, and speaking their 

 language, the author was able to test the power claimed by the natives of being 

 able to predict the outbursts of the geysers. He is convinced that by constant 

 observations on the direction of the wind and the condition of the atmosphere the 

 natives have learnt to prognosticate the movements in all these hot springs with 

 wonderful accuracy. He was also able to prove that during the whole time of 

 his residence in the district certain of the geysers were only in eruption when the 

 wind blew from a particular quarter. 



8. Note accompanying a Series of PhotograpJis prepared by Josiah Martin 

 Esq., F.G.S., to illustrate the Scene of the recent Volcanic Eniption in, 

 New Zealand. By Professor J. W. Jijdd, F.B.S., Fres.G.S. 



Owing to the great enterprise and energy shown by the managers of the local 

 newspaper-press in New Zealand, very full and graphic accounts of the volcanic 

 outburst of June 10 have already reached this country, and have been copied into 

 the English papers. On the day of the eruption Dr. James Hector, C.M.G., F.R.S., 

 Director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand, started for the locality, and 

 his preliminary report, accompanied by maps and plans, has been published. 

 Dr. Hector concludes that the eruption was a purely hydrothermal phenomenon on 

 a gigantic scale, and that it was unaccompanied by any ejection of freshly molten 

 lava either in the form of fragmental matter or of lava-streams. I have been 

 favoured by Mr. J. E. Clark, E.G. S., with specimens of the material ejected during 

 the eruption, and the microscopic examination of these seems to support Dr. 

 Hector's conclusions. 



It is a most unfortunate circumstance that the beautiful sinter-terraces of 

 Rotomahana appear either to be blown to fragments or covered up under the 

 enormous masses of mud thrown out in that localitj^ It luckily happens that a 

 number of most excellent photographs, which illustrate very beautifully the 

 characters of the wonderful sinter-formations, have been obtained. Mr. Josiah 

 Martin, F.G.S., has especially devoted himself to the study of the district, and 

 the series of photographs now exhibited constitute an invaluable record of the 

 characters of the district destroyed by the eruption. These photographs show the 

 points at which the volcanic cones were formed upon Tarawera, and the beautiful 

 characters of the White Terrace (Te Terata), and of the Pink Terrace (Otukapua- 

 ran"-i), and the other wonders which surround the now destroyed lake of 

 Rotomahana. 



Now that the European settlement has been formed at Rotorua, a great service 

 would be rendered to science if a meteorological station could be established there, 

 and by simultaneous observations of the atmospheric conditions and of the state 

 of activity of the numerous hot springs, the question of the exact relations between 

 these two sets of phenomena clearly established. When we remember that a fall 



