140 



MISS HILDA BOORD, ON 



dry crater not named on the map, and sitting down on the 

 summit, we lit our pipes and obtained a good view of Lakes 

 Rotomahana and Tarawera, of Mt. Tarawera, and of the 

 steaming rocks in our immediate neighbourhood, all on the line 

 of the fissure which was blown out in 1886. 



" Having enjoyed half-an-hour's rest, we felt the hill shake 

 heavily beneath us, and away we went as fast as we could down 

 to the foot of the hill near by the geyser, sitting down in such 

 a position that we could watch the Inferno Crater Lake on our 

 right hand, the boiling creek on our left, and the geyser in 

 front. Mr. Graham had scarcely erected his camera when the 

 hill was again severely shaken, and the subaqueous geyser 

 (Torpedo) in the Inferno Crater began to crack like volleys of 

 musketry. The water in the geyser basin began to spring, 

 keeping perfect time with the Inferno Lake which was doing 

 likewise. Twenty-eight seconds after the Torpedo exploded, 

 and the geyser gave the first shot, and play commenced. It 

 threw a vast body of water and black sand about 10 feet. 

 Nine minutes after another shot 20 feet ; 9 minutes later 80 

 feet, always increasing in height, until in perhaps three- 

 quarters of an hour she appeared to obtain her greatest height, 

 200 feet or a little over, and kej)t this up every 9 minutes for 

 at least half an hour, when it subsided to what I can best 

 describe as a 20-feet boil. When the geyser obtained its 

 maximum height it was discharging a great torrent of water 

 at a temperature of 180 degrees Fahr., having risen 40 degrees 

 since we crossed it before play. The temperature of the 

 Inferno Lake was 110 degrees Fahr., and the pool was 

 springing at least 10 inches. As the water line shows, it has 

 been springing 4 feet or 5 feet, it is evident that it must have 

 been throwing its load far beyond 1,000 feet high sometimes. 

 So correctly did the play follow the amount of spring in the 

 Inferno Lake, that any of us watching that, could safely say 

 what the geyser shot would be 28 seconds later. I must say 

 that it is by far the grandest geyser I have ever heard of, much 

 less seen ; a sight no man or woman will ever forget. I was 

 delighted to find that it answers correctly to the pulsations of 

 the earth recorded pretty well all over the world ; at any rate, 

 by seismograph in Japan, White Island, and Yellowstone Park, 

 and felt repeatedly almost every day by myself on the pul- 

 sating cliff in the Wairakei Valley at intervals of four, five, 

 and nine minutes. This is owing to the fact that the geyser is 

 situated near the point of intersection of three fissures of the 

 first, second, and third magnitude, and which are part of the 



