184 
WHAKAREWAREWA 
CHAP. 
“ The Geyser,” about two miles from Ohinemutu and in 
the midst of the boiling springs, is at Whakarewarewa 
and the native village of that name is behind us. 
The Government sanatorium is close to the lake and 
about a mile to the east of the township. There there 
are other springs, but each has its peculiar and different 
mineral water, and they are world-renowned for their 
great medicinal qualities. Our first night at Whakare- 
warewa was a very disturbed one. We had been 
rather congratulating ourselves that in such a sulphurous 
atmosphere there could be no insect life, but oh ! the 
mosquitoes ! Next morning, scrambling down the cliff, 
we heard a rumbling noise, and came suddenly upon a 
recently-sunken hole of boiling mud. The earth kept 
falling in as we came near it, and we thought it better to 
retreat. Crossing the river and passing through the 
little Maori village, we made our way up among the 
boiling springs. What a sight it all was ! Close 
beside a deep hole of unfathomable water of the purest 
blue is one of boiling, foul-looking black mud. Then 
between a wide cleft in the rock we peered down into 
a surging mass of white foam, tossing backwards 
and forwards in mad fury, with a spitting, hissing sound 
most uncomfortable to listen to. On the top of a 
small white terraced hill we looked for a moment into the 
depths of its crater, when there suddenly came a 
rumbling as of distant thunder, and, quick as quick 
could be, we darted back, for a jet of boiling water was 
thrown up about sixty feet into the air, and in a 
moment we were enveloped and half smothered by the 
hot steam. The water fell and rose again for a few minutes, 
and then was still. The surface of the hollow-sounding 
ground here seemed a mere shell, and the heat coming 
up through the cracks was almost unbearable, and our 
feet felt burning as we hopped by no means slowly 
