PEEPS AT ROTORUA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1687, 1 March 1913, Page 11

PEEPS AT ROTORUA.

'WAY AT'VWHAKA."

GRIM GEYSERS: GLIB GUIDES,

[Br "Mf.iik Herb,"] NO. VI. And could you tell mo whore tho Grand Hotol ie, pleasof" inquired a' dapper little man of mo one afternoon. Oil, yes, but'you're taking n directly contrary course. Right-about-face." "But, dash my buttons, tho lake ia down in that direction ? , I was hero fifteen years ago and. then -—, "Well, they must have shifted it since, now " northern end of tlio town

Ho again "dashed his buttons," and said that during tho lew days ho had'lx?on 111 Rotorua, once out of/sight of his hotel, north apparently at onco became south: and east crossed oyer with* tlio west: JIo scorned my suggestion advocating the paying of a retaining feo to 0110 of tlio Maori guides.' Ho was a ynehtsman and could beat up round Palliser. any dark jught, and to-foecoiuo a drifting derelict .in broad daylight! Would I- spare my gibes, and instead of a guido ho would wire for his watch-chain—the one with tho compass attached. Many visitors find themselves in this plight, the bump of locality deserts them, due perhaps- to tlio lac.t that tho town; is, laid out 'ion' the all-squaro principle which gives .a perplcxing sameness. Tho cautious man earrjeswith him a Tourist Department plan of,.the town and its surroundings. A. knowledge of .a decado previous ..is no good for the present-day Rotorua;, • ' * - My fresh-found acquaintance was a person with an, adaptability to. gather up an encyclopaedic knowledgo of things in gerif ra ki should by no means miss, said no, the Maori concerts—the excellent performance liven by the Ohinemutu Natives was, in his opinion, a feature to bo witnessed by everyone—and a real credit to the abilities of the Rev. p. Bennett who, in his explanatory remarks ,on tho items, proved an ideal showman. By tlio way, he rattled, on, he, had just been talking to-a man who-had visited the Waitomo Cavcs-^woiiderf u ny. enthusiastic he was about the trip. The cave cathedral of stalactites, the wondrous echoing effects when son? was indulM in—but l.was not destined to near further just then 011 this jewel among New Zealand wonders from my Baedeker-like friend, as Ire was thrown into a state of great, activity b.v a passer-by who, ■• with that away-from-home instinct which makes all men kin. hurled the question : "Heard the news? "No, what's that?" • "Pohutu's playingj'the flag's flyinsr at tho lourist office."

Such an announcement is tho masterpiece which tho tourist eagerlv awaits, and I was being rushed away to securo ?vi m P tor-car to make tho trip when'a ■Whako coach opportunely caino along, as if enchanted by some fairy's wand. Hopes were expressed as we Warded it that we would be in time as geyser Pohutu s playing moods are fitful. Ths Guide. t. " Do /n | r l ""ant a guide, sir?" A lissome type or Maori girl sitting in a corner-seat was tho questioner. les, wo were going to WlmkarowareV'n >- , a , Kd .after inspecting her neatlyprmted business card we placed ourselves under, her chaperonago. The girl proved an entertaining conversationalist, epeak•ing beautiful English, a fact upon .which, a passenger: complimented'her. .'My, father," said the guide, "was a white inftn —and her eyes glistonodwith prido of. race, as she mollifluously added, . tho'same as your father." Tho coach'rumbled on, carrying with it a pumice-laden dust,, about which', tho guido was '■ sympathetic—she was no stranger to it.,Rotorua,was famous for its geysers, but its dusty, roadways alsoVavo visitors oauso for a very clinging remembrance.

My Lady Nicotine. ■ "Will you have a 'yellow* f" she asked me, and opening a email satchel she produced a goldou-coloured. packet of cigarettes. j I pleaded to be excused, on tho ground that tho pipo was quite satisfying enough ior.ine, but returned''tho 'compliment by obliging with' a match, $ho deftly "waxtipped _ her, cigarette, and was soon in. ■?. q ! l , lct of "looping tho loop" with . tho blue smoke-rings. • 'Whaka, ahoy!" and other guides were storming the coach-steps. Our particular mentor, however; kept guard over us like a ;hen' over it 3 clutch of chickens, safely piloting us to Pohutu's homo in time to see tlie finish of what had been a magniiioent display. There wero many discussions os to tho height of tho "shots"; hn is a lesser majesty than ' Wairoa, . though, whoso jets go to such a height that tho falling spray is so cool on descending, says tho gtude, that "you can sit under it and have your photo taken." Following upon Pohutu came tho Pi'inco of Wales's Feathers, spraying in all their glory, while down an adjacent volcanic face a brilliant cascade of water was playing. . , ' Tho eruptions from a mud lake nqar by wo. most peculiar, as in their flight in tie air tho loam changed into eat's-oye-like shapes, really uncanny to gaze upon. Tho Devil's Reception, a furious mud-boiler, is indeed aptly named enough, and even to those of tho dullest imagination, the mud churning and seething there with'bowitching weirdness. gives play to thoughts of tho mysterious powers at work. 1 Away wound our journey along zigzagging pathways densely hedged ill by manuka scrub; sometimes oil one sido boiling mud cauldrons, and within a few feet pleasing patches of healthy potato plants. At other points' interest would be excited by the Paint Pots—cavities filled withisilver-srrey and ochre-coloured mud; other pockets full of' what tho Maoris call Earth. There is, however, a prohibition on visitors taking-away any. samples of tho curiosities of this Wonderland. ,

"Here," the guide is saying, "you see a cool stream in which ramtynr trout ore swimming. Alongside," she points out, "is a boiling pool. You can oateh your fish in the one and boil it in the' other, and have your lunch." And tho irony of it was to know that wo'weren't allowed to do so. :

"My Pakohal" ' Two wandering, tourists, were espied by our guide, and witlr an eye to business she promptly asked <them to Join, our parly. They woro straying, aud were pleased to do so, as they said the.y had lost tho run of their own guide and party and so wo wended on. They woro not J.ong to be of us, though, as shortly a voice came wafting across from a volcanii; eminenco from « Maori maiden, standing' under tho shelter of an umbrella (all guides cany umbrellas, it is, with their badge, seemingly an insignia of office). "Hi! Hi!" the voice was calling to our guide, "my pakeha!" Our guide recognised tho claim!to tho ownership of tho erring nnesi and calmly turning to them said: "Go back to your mother," and they obediently went.

it was a good day for sight-seeing. One gran old geyser was welling up steaming shoots with the regularity of a liydraulio ram, and many fumaroles were hilling tho atmosphere with sulphurous steam. It whs a day when ono needed no socond tolling ill order to pay respectful heed to i° übiquitous notico board: "Keep to tho Paths. "The Brain Pot." There are ninny volcanic outcrops and basins to which alio (ales of tho guides odd lustre as Uio years go on, and a favourite one of these.is the Brain Pot a basin scooped out of ono of tho sulphur'" enenwted knobs. And on this the guide attitudinising liko a platform lecturer swings into tho details of the legend Many yours ago "'slio chants, "in ono ot tho tribal conflicts a big chief escaped and for sovon year.<i, attended only bv a faithful slave, lio hid in a cave "All efforts to track him failed, till 0110 duv his'servant was noticed taking food lb lipii,. and was followed. The chief was then captured and his head cut off. His brains wore boiloil iu (his pot, and his raptors sat round and, partook of tho feast hoping that they might become as wiso as he;" As a condonation'of tho gruesomoness of the details of this episode the guide added: "Kven fifty years ago tho Maoris round theso'-parts were, some of thorn, cannibals," and that was the climax to a pleasant two hours' meanderiugs. At th© eatowny of tho Reserve our guide, while indulging in a summer drink ot tho stall, in irresistible accents, naked': "Buy somo uioturo postcards ('if your old guide," and we did, if only for the sake of tho friendship of tho passing d*y,