A VISIT TO WAIMANGU.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 832, 30 July 1910, Page 15

A VISIT TO WAIMANGU.

.-.-.■ THE RISKS HUN. • • "ALL WILL GO SOME DAT." v'("l'-iyisited. Waimangu a little over ■three' mouths ago,"'writes H. P., "for •the first time and was rather amazed to ■nofc'the'risk'that visitors often tako. After 'coming, 'up the valley' from Lake Rotomahnna, round-trippers are conduct-' ed across'a mud-caked country, often walking "oh' a ridge/ between, two deep crevices, up and up the whole party 1 stands on the edge of the high cliff whicn overlooks- tho crater of the greatest geyser . the. world has-over known. I found myself holding my wife back, fearing that she. might, at any moment become giddy through looking.down frouisuch a height on so uncanny a scene. Having taken in the. weird prospect, the visitors are led along the edge of the cliff and down, J on-, tp Prying Pan Flat, which sizzles- arid; bubbles ominously over an area of ten' or twelve' acres, a "story" above. the' level of quiescent Waimangu. ;The ' thermal ' action - is so . great over jthis flat.that-the rubber, soles of the ; shoes worn by one of our.: party melted slightly. along thu edges.... It would be a 'dangerous experiment to stick a finger into the,sulphurous, earth in parts, and a -favourite- little experiment of tho guides.is.to scrape together a.tiny heap of earth and put a. hole in the centre, when, a- miniature., geyser, sending out steam and little bits of . earth, 4 result,, showing tho: forces that exist in the .super-heated earth of the fiats, aud a' little way above -what must be a thermal inferno. No one who does the round trip 'can refrain from saying: 'All this will go some day!' In fact it becomes somewhat wearisome, as. someone seems to bo always saying it throughout tho day. From the telegrams it would appear that the flats were cracking up at last, and it will not be surprising if. a geyser even greater than Waimangu; arises from the spot, _ where so many people have risked their lives and damaged their boots." ' Waimangu House, it should be ex T plained is situated not one minute's walk from the flats, as stated in yesterday's message, but on the top of a hill, a stiff ■ climb'which takes about 20 minutes. The journey-down could, of course,-be done in half the time.-