HOT SPRINGS, ROTOMAHANA, IN THE NORTH ISLAND

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 10, 11 January 1873, Page 4

HOT SPRINGS, ROTOMAHANA, IN THE NORTH ISLAND

We abstract the following front a small . pamphlet just published, entitled "A Guide to the Hot Lakes," reprinted from a communication to the Bay of Plenty Times : How shall I attempt to describe Rotomahana? If photography cannot do it justice, which it does not, how can the effete tracings of my,pen soar, to the conception of the most remarkable and most beautiful phenomena of nature that I bave ever aa yet seen before the world. Niagara, with all its grandeur, is after all but -a gigantic Waterfall, and the Yosemite Valley is nothing more than a deep gorge unequalled, but incomparable. However, I suppose that I may set fat 1 above the numberless and various wonders with which, the whole surroundiug country teems,. the two formations called respectively the' white and pink terraces; These are situated on opposite sides of the lake, and have beenfprmedV.asi was told by ~a gentleman who had studied, the subject, by the deposit of sulphur and ailicia from boiling springs - on the top of the hill, which, pouring down the sides thereof, have crushed down the tea-tree and others shrubs growing there, and formed an incrustation thereon. This t theory sppears to be borne out by the fact thattotmy of the b^ what looka like petrified fera or tea-tree

and I do Dot douht it to be the correct one. The white terrace is the larger of the two, but the delicate coloring of the pink terrace gave to it the pre-eminence for beauty in the opinion of our whole party, and we unanimously agreed that the reality had not only equalled our somewhat. extravagant hopes, but had surpassed them. We were fortunate enough on our first arrival to find the great geyser at the summit of tbe white terrace in action, and watched with wonder the boiling water thrown up 20ft or 30ft above the basin; but on the next morning it was comparatively quiescent, and we could have walked where yesterday had been boiling water, but it is not very safe to trust it. The bathing in the various pools, which differ considerably in temperature as they are nearer or farther off the geyser itself, ia very delicious, but also relaxing;' although we partly neutralised that effect hy running down for a plunge into a coo) pool after coming out of ond of the hot ones. During the 28 hours or so that I was there I bathefd three times, remaining, in for folly an hour at a time, hut I should not like to do that for a week. Besides these two wondrous terraces, there are pools of boiling mud, endless pools of boiling water, steam vents, and natural curiosities of all kinds, each of which would be a marvel if removed from its more marvellous neighbors. .... About ten miles before we reached Ohinemutu, upon the left hand side of tho road, we passed the old mission station of the Ngae, where is now Bituated the telegraph office of Rotorua. The place shows the remains of care and cultivation, us also does, in a far greater degree, the mission station at Tarawera, of which I shall have occasion to speak subsequently; but both, alas ! are now rapidly falling into decay. . . ." We slept that night at the old mission house, where nearly thirty years ago an American clergyman and his wife settled down thus far from civilisation to the selfdenying labor of Christianising the natives. An old Maori woman, for long a servant in the family, received us very kindly, and did all she could for us in the way of beds, and we passed a very comfortable night. A book is kept there for visitors to write their names in, and sundry entries hinted at the occasional passing of -specimens of the British tourist par excellence, whom I did not expect to find so far from home.