VOLCANIC ACTIVITY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 453, 11 March 1909, Page 6

VOLCANIC ACTIVITY.

ASCENT OF NGAURUHOE. A SOUND LIKE A HUGE WATERFALL. BIG ERUPTION IN PROGRESS. Tho following is a copy of a telegram sent yesterday from tho postmaster at Raurimu, to the Secretary of tho General Post Office, .Wollington, containing tho following report compiled, for him'by Mr. G. Wilson, Public Works engineer, who returned from Ngauruhoo on Sunday:— "I ascended "Ngauruhoo on tho north sido from the base. 'There appeared to'be no unusual sign of activity beyond occasional puffs of vapour emanating from tho crater. On reaching ' the top, however, it was clearly soon' that a fair amount of activity was in progress. Tho crater is fully twenty-five chains across, and it "is divided, roughly speaking, into threo compartments. On tho south sido is a very deep hole fully five chains across, 100 feet deep, with porpendicular sides. Tho bottom was easily visible, and from it wero coming strong jets of steam, ; making a sound tho same as a huge water- ; fall. Tho sides wero also steaming and emit- ( ting strong sulphurous gases, which affected i tho throat very preceptibly. Adjacent on the t north sido is a smaller crater about fifty feet ; deep, through which I walked. Strong \ fumes wero issuing, from cracks in the ; ground, and the bottom was quite hot. ' "I did not think there was anything unusually dangerous in walking' about tho | crater, biit it subsequently proved that it ( was not by any means safe. To tho castward is a flat, open space on a much higher elevation than tho other • division, and ] covered, generally speaking, with fallen rock , and debris. Vapour was being emitted here, ' also through small fissures; in fact, broadly speaking,-the general crater appears to be j alive everywhere. After viewing everything, ( I climbed out of the crater on the west side,' J and sat on the edgo totako some refresh- . ment prior to descending. -Whilst here, a , peal'of confused muttering and "rumbling j took place deep down in the volcano. To ' this 1 attached flo importance, as Ngauruhoo is occasionally noisy. I'descended on tho • west side, leaving' the top about half-past ( threo on Sunday afternoon. " "On Monday ovciiing (March 8)-abo'ut five \ o'clock, residents ill* tho vicinity of Waimariho were startled' ( by a loud noiso'similar . to ompty water tank's.being drawn over a rough road. This continued for about twenty j minutes. Ngauruhoo Was' invisible at tho time, being enveloped V/y smoko caused by bush fires.. In . a very j short tinlo dense , columns of dark-looking vapour were seen Tising in her direction,' ajul'..then it was plain to all what had occasioned the noise, as a big eruption was in progress. As tho prevailing wind was coming from the northwestj the deposit of ashes was thickest on tho ' south and cast of the cone, anVl.also on the saddle between her and Rnapehii; Tho smoke appeared to bo going in the direction of Waiouru. The mountain continued 1 to play vigorously for some time, hut as flight fell everything became obscured. '__ " On Tuesday morning, however, 'activity commenced with renewed vigour, arid' continued throughout the day. The hot s'prings at Katetahi on Tongariro, and also the lake { in the crater of Ruapehu, were vory much ' disturbed, whilst geysers and steam jets were seen playing on the saddle between Ruapohu , 4nd Ngauruhoo. and well up the flank of the former mountain. By nightfall everything; : was again obscured, and on Wednesday morn-. , ing nothing was visible. Towards midday,''. ■ however, tho mountain was still smoking, \, but was very much quieter." j Reports were received by the Secretary cf the General Post Office at noon yesterday to the effect that, although there was no I diminution of the volcanic energy', no ashes " had fallen at Waiouru yesterday. Tho mail eoach from Tokaranui reported that no dam- u ige had been done. • ( A RAIN OF DUST. , - —— , •• 1 STRONG SMELL OF SULPHUR,'. ! (BY TELEGRAPH—SPECIAL COBRESPONDENT.) r Palmerston North, March 10. i The effects of tho eruption were severely j /elt in tho upper portion of the Pohangina | Valley yesterday and to-day, but more par- ( ticularly yesterday, when a rain of thick < pumice-like dust descended on the valley. In, < a comparatively short lime the ground was \ completely covered with, it, while it also ( pentrated into the houses. There, was a layer ( about a. quarter of an inch' thick on Mrs. ] Fraser's (Koraako) verandah, aiid higher up ( ] tho valley it was thicker still. There was ( also a strong smell of sulphur, that was \ decidedly "unpleasant, and when combined j with the penetrating dust if made breathing < almost impossible. To-day the atmosphere i was a little clearer, though still thick and t hazy, and looking up tho valley it appeared j as though a big bush fire was raging. The j dust is described as being particularly fine, \ and closely'resembling pumice; , ASHES AND ROCKS. EXCITING TIME AT WAIMARINO. ] Wanganui, March 10. i The "Herald" correspondent at Waiouru 1 telegraphs: —"Ngauruhoo was in violent i eruption yesterday, throwing ashes and • rocks to a considerable height, the stones 1 rolling in numbers down tho mountain sido. ' The eruption was not quite so severe to-day. i The Tokaanu coach got through yesterday.'.' ; The "Herald's" correspondent at Ranga- ' taua, on the Main Trunk line , between ' Ohakune and Karioi, telegraphs that vol- ' canic dust continues to fall, and has be- : come heavier. Ngauruhoo is smoking furiously. Waimarino residents had an exciting time on Monday night, tho rumbling being very pronounced. There aro. no earth t tremors, and apparently there is no need for alarm, as Ngauruhoo is evidently acting as a safety valve. The country is enveloped in smoke. A message from Kaetihi states. that that place is not affected. 'AWE-INSPIRING'SIGHT.;'-' IBi TJsLECItAI'II—I'SKSS ASSOCIATION.) 10. The. "Star's" Taupo correspondent telegraphs that the eruption of Ngauruhqe crater was witnessed from a distance of five miles by the overland coach passengers with great interest, and not a-little fear. About 11 a.m. a huge black column of mixed steam and ashes shot skywards, rolling over and over, till it reached a height of about 8000 feet, abovo tho crater. Soon the already smoky sky -was blackened with falling ash. Now and again another huge outburst took place, with an audible \roar, scattering the hovering clouds into most fantastic shapes, and drifting to the southeast, as the, light northerly wind was blowing, leaving a black train of ashes falling like, rain from the high elevation of the volcanic cloud, and till it obscured tho wholo southern sky with one black pall. Some tourists who had' seen Stromboli and Vesuvius in action said Ngaiiruhoe was superior in its effect. They were greatly pleased by the majestic- grandeur of the eruption. Tho falling ash turned the pure white snow of Ruapehu a dingy dark colour. About 4 o'clock on Tuesday morning the occupants of Halfway House wero. awakened by heavy rumblings, and explosions. At eleven, when the upheaval occurred, the western side of the crater seemed blown clean away. Old residents say that the outburst is the finest they havo seen for years, including tho outbreak of 1869, when lava streams poured down the western side.

PREVIOUS ERUPTIONS.

SENSATIONAL EXPERIENCE. The first ascent of Ngauruhoe by a white man was made by Mr. J. C. Bidwill in tho jarly half of last century, while tho mountain was in eruption. The explorer and.a party of Maoris spent a wholo day in.climbin" the mount, and passed the night not far below the base of the cone. Next morning he started for the summit with two Natives, who, especially as they declared the mountain liad been making a noiso in 'the night, could not be persuaded to go within mile of the base of- the cone: ' 'As I -was toiling up

a very steep hill," Mr. Bidwill wrote, - "I heard a noiso which •caused me to look up, and saw that tho mountain was in a state of eruption. A thick column of black smoke roso up for some distance and'then spread out like a mushroom. As I was directly to windward I could sco nothing • more, and could not toll whether anything dropped from the cloud as it paßSed away. The noise, which was very loud and not unlike that of tho safety-valve of a steam-engine, lasted about half an hour and then ceased, after two or three sudden interruptions; the smoke continued to ascend for some time afterwards, but was less dense. 1 could see no fire, nor do I bolievo thcro was any, or that the eruption was anything more than hot water and steam; although from the groat density of the latter it looked like black smoke." Mr. Bidwill continued tho ascent, and found ho had not been climbing the main mountain, but merely a cliff, over which he dropped on to a lava stream below, of which ho says, "I had no idea of tho meaning of a sea of rocks until I crossed them. The edges of tho stony billows were so sharp that it was very difficult to pass among them without cutting one's clothes into shreds." Arriving finally at the true base of the cone, he had, as is now also the case, great difficulty on account of the loose volcanic cinders. "Had it not been for tho idea of standing where no man ever stood before, I should "certainly have given up tho undertaking." "A few patches of a most beautiful snow-w.hito veronica, which I at first took for snow, wero growing among tho stones, but' they ceased before I had ascended a third part of tho iway. A small grass reached a little higher, but both were so scarce that I do not think I saw a dozen plants of each in the whole ascent." Mr. Bidwill then got on,:to-that lava-flow which comes from tho summit of the mountain, thus escaping the looso dust and ashes. He continues: "It was lucky for mo another eruption did not take place while Iwas on it, or I should have-been infallibly boiled to death, as I afterwards found it led to the lowest part of tho crater, and, from 'indubitable proofs, that a stream of hot mud and water had been running' there during the time I saw tho smoke from tho top. The crater was the most terrific abyss I ever looked into or imagined. The rocks overhung it on all sides; and it was nokpossiblo to sec above ■ten yards into it from the quantity of steam which it was continually discharging. . .

As I did not wish to sec an eruption near chough to be either boiled or steamed to death, I made the best of my way down. I got back to the tent about seven in the evening. Tho Natives said they had heard the eruption which took place as I was returning, and that the ground shook very much at the time; but I did not feel it, perhans because I was too much occupied with the difficulties of my path." ,

Dr. P. Marshall, of Dunedin, has ascended Ngauruhoe eie;ht times, and was'also on the mountain'during an eruption.