EXPEDITION TO THE TERRACES. MAJESTIC AND TERRIBLE SCENES. FUTURE EFFECTS OF THE ERUPTION ON THE LAKE DISTRICT.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 157, 19 June 1886, Page 3

EXPEDITION TO THE TE RRACE S. MAJESTIC AND TERRIBLE SCENES. FUTURE EFFECTS OF THE ERUPTION ON THE LAKE DISTRICT.

Mr Stewarts Expedition to the Terraces. ! Rotohua, June 13. Leaving Ohinemutu about nine o'clock on Saturday morning in a buggy with foui horses, the party went on until reaching Rotomahana. We set out by the Wairoa road. The deposits of volcanic mud which cover the whole of this road and adjacent country for miles commences about two miles out from Ohinemufcu, and averages four inches thick to its extreme boundary on this side. The traffic on the Wairoa Road has ploughed it up into adhesive clay, which makes Wairoa a very hard road to travel. Leaving the trap at Rotokaha bridge, where tlie Kaitoreria track breaks round the hillside, we placed our tent and heavy baggage on the back of a horse, and the guide proceeded to guess hi= -way along the hillside. This was ticklish work, the track being completely obliterated with mud, several Inches deep, and as the hill descends Abruptly to the lake, a slip would have sent the horpr* and its burden headlong into the lake one huiid* cd feet below. AYe followed in single Sle along this ticklish way, stepping into tracks made by tho horse, and leaning up towards the hillside to preserve our balance while drawing each foot out of 3uction hole. Too miles of this sort of travel brought us to Kaikcreria, a native settlement, where the fall had boon much lighter, and the track became comparatively easy as we noare'd the vicinity of the lakes, and mud gave way to dry pebbles the size of marbles of the pamo material as the mud, and intermingled with ground ash. Several deep earthquake cracks also crossed our path. As Lake Okara canie in sight between the hills a wonderful scene broke iipon our view. Where befoie has been green fern, now roso hill upon hill of glistening white beneath tho netting sun. Soon the track entered into this region of dust, and with every footstep we over I our boot-tops. It being now too dark to proceed fuither, it was decided to camp on the margin ot a little patch of bush. Here tents were pitched and a roaring fire was lit and we made oius-elvos as comfortable as possible. Night pissed with no fuithei excitement than three slight earthquake shocks and the disturbing tounds of dif-tant concussions, the rattling of musketry, and the roar of escaping steam. To di-scovei whence these wciul noises proceeded was to be our mission on the morrow. We were up with the sun, and after a hasty breakfast we bet out upon our Uncertain and Adventurous Expedition It was at once seen that Lako Okaro and Kakaramea Mountain at its head weie in a normal condition, and the steam jeto oi Paeroa further south towards Taupo show cd no increased activity. The white line which marked the duet deposit also stopped halfway up Kakaramea Mountain. The fern was green beyond. From that mountain to Rotomahana and Taia vera is an unbroken line of whito hills. Jets of steam and black smoke marked a number of points of eruption between Okare and Rotomahana. We were soon plunging across the hills of grey dust, which in ap pearance and texture resembled hydraulic lime. At every step our boots went ankk deep, and sometimes we sank to the knees. The depth of the deposit varied from a fool to unknown depths. After travelling for two miles over hill and gully we came in view of a prominent cone^ in the crater fully 400 yards long in active explosion, throwing up showers oi scoria, which fell back into the crater or down the hill side. The character of the hill deposits also changed — showers of atones covered with dust deposits, and in some parts the deposit was pure ash. It now became apparent that along the bed of the creek carrj'ing the overflow of Okaro Lake into Rotomahana four new craters, similar in character to the one first noticed, had broken into eruption. The country befbio had been covered with fern and, tussock. The largest of these volcanoes displayed great energy. Its side was torn out, and irom several points of activity within the crater and its side explosions ocourred every few minutes, driving stones high into the air with the rattling noise already described. Heavy Masses of Steam and black smoke directed the way unmistakottbly to the high hill overlooking Rotomahann, and pushing forward, we soon surmounted the last peak, and stood looking down upon the most extraordinary spectacle imagination can conceive. Where the lake existed there was nothing now visible but a series of craters in full activity, and belching out stones every few minutes. I counted

eleven of these craters on the side of the lake immediately below our feet. Heavy masses of smoke and steam hindered further vision of the lake, but there is no doubt that other craters were m x. ?l a X .| urther towards the centre, and that if the water was not entirely driven out of the lake it had become a great boiling cauldron Where the beautiful pink terrace stook on« of the largest of these craters was m full play, but the fate of the terrace itself could only be conjectured from the forces at work within and around it. The nature of that fate can hardly be in doub, The wonder of the world and the delight of i-ourists has beyond all reasouabfe doubi been driven into dust and fine ashes.

THE WHITE TEJRRACE tre could not see, but so battered was it on every side that, its fate cannot be different to that ot its beautiful si.ster. After watching with feelings of sorrow this spectacle of destruction and the forces engaged in sendt inginto fragments the arti-tic work builup in Nature's laboratory operating throueh centuries, we turned our faces once more towards the camp. The prospect obtained from this hill was most extensive and varied. Far away beyond Taupo was seen the snowclad cone of Raupehu, and her sister Tongariro with a light column of steam issuing from Ngaruahoe, the active point of Tongariro. Nearer were the steam jets amid the green fern hills around Paeroa ; then Kakaramea and Okaro lake. Immediately beneath oar feet so that a slip on the hill side might >01l us into one of the roaring craters, the violent turmoil of Rotomahana, and along the bed of the old creek the other four active craters already _ described. All away towards the Wairoa were hills glistening in mud. Beneath them Tarawera Lake, calm and peaceful, with the dark outline of the great mountain itself visible through the steam and smoke. The dividing line between the mud eruption and the showers of dry dust was singularly marked. From Rotomahana towards Lake Okaro and back to Lake Ririwakaiti, the hills of dust and ashes were visible in unbi-oken continuity, covering an area of not less than Seven Square Miles. In the other direction towards the illfated Wairoa village was the deposit of wet mud which was undoubtedly projected out of the bed of Lake Rotomahana. This mud deposit cover a larger area than the dust, or more properly speaking, white earth. From Rotomahana to Wairoa is at least seven miles in a direct line, and the limit of mud deposit towards Ohinemutu is at least fourteen. Its line extonds also over to Kaiteria, and also in the opposite direction along the shores of Rotorua Lake to Ta-Keho. The extent of country thus overlaid being fifteen or twenty miles in length, with an average breadth of ten or twelve, The depth varies with the proximity to the point of eruption and the drift of wind, but it must represent a tonnage which one hesitates to place in figures. The mud is very heavy, and to its great weight the catastrophes of Wairoa and Te Ariki, native villages, are attributable. Whether the wide area of land will be made a desert by the eruption, or whether the wind will carry vegetation is a question for the future to decide, but meanwhile it is rendered totally incapable of sustaining animal life, and the dead bodies of rats which are seen everywhere on its surface show that even the rodent finds it impossible to gain a subsistence in the vast wilderness which has been created in a single night.

TKE HISTORY OF THE ERUPTION AS GIVEN BY ITS EFFECTS. ROTORL'A, June 13. The discoveries made by the expedition to Rotomahaaa and its south sides enables us for the first time to constiuct a connected account of the eruption, and the extent and character of its influence. As to the phenomena as connected with the first outbreak, there is, naturally, some discrepancy, in statements owing to the excitement under ■which observations wore made, but a careful comparison of the descriptions given by the most competent and careful obser vcrs, shows that the first outbreak undoubtedly began in the peak of Tarawera mountain, known as Ruawhia. Not improbably some shifting of the earth crust beneath the mountain or a change within it producing the generation of great heat caused the prolonged earthquake and rumbling? which were heard between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning, foi ming the first of the series of phenomena which attended the eruption. Soon after two o'clock Ruawhia was observed to be in flames. Above it hung a canopy of black smoke, producing on the mountain the appearance of a large mushroom, and ligtmng played with such brilliancy around the peak "that the glare from the volcanic fires was hardly distinguishable. There is no doubt, however, that the mountain did emit flames, attended with a belching forth of red hot stones, which coiild be distinctly seen ag they were ejected into the air and rolled down the mountain sides. This continued for about an hour before the vomiting of the great mud cloud out of Lake lio'omahana, which fell so disastrously on the village of Wairoa. This cloud was observed by those watching the eruption of Tarawera to come up some miles south of the great mountain, and its apparent location gave rise to the belief, ! now proved erroneous, that Mount Kakaramea and the adjacent Lake Okaro were in eruption. ! Theory of the Eruption of Rotomahans i The disturbances in Tarawera and violent ! earthquakes must, it may well be believed, have produced great fissures in the tender i earth - crust beneath Lake Rotomahana, letting the waters of the lake in large volumes down upon the central fires. The rapid generation of steam thus produced would be sufficient to account for the ajectment of the vast body of mud, driven by the force of the cyclone which the violent atmospheric disturbances thus produced travelled across the Soutii shores oj Lake Tarawera in a track that is distinctly marked. This \iud was deposited with marvellous rapidity. Survivors of the Haszard family state that the first shower which fell made an uproarious rattle on the iron roof. Within half-an-hour from the commencement of the mud shower such an enormous quantity was deposited that the roof, without any warding fell straight in. A similar expei'ience occurred with the other houses fit Wairoa. The sharp angle of the roof of .jupijia'a house, which caused the weight of mud deposited on it to rest on the ground, alone saving it Why the dry dust and earthy matter produced by the rupture of the earth mounds at Tarawera and around Rotomahana settled in vast quantities in a direction opposite to that taken by the mud thowers, the proximity can only be attributed to the initial impulse and local air currents The mud cloud was borne upon a current that was subject to local disturbances. Thie inference is fully borne out by the deposit of dust in Ohinemutu, the direction taken by mud shower being considerably smaller than ab Tauranga, 40 miles distant. Persons who saw it from Ohinemutu speak of the mud cloud aa working up against the general direction of the prevailing wind. The heavy stones fell within the radius o* 4, bout one mile-

from the point of eruption. We found no stones of" more tho- lialf-a-pound weight. Further away pieces c «*r na of two or ttn*ee ounces are picked up be3'c:tt Wairoa, nine miles from the nearest crater, uncl arc plcnful along the Kaitereria track. Showers of light ash aro also reported as far" as Galatea, 10 miles ay ay. The largest of the craters now in activity throws no stones beyond the side of the hill, while a spectator, if the ground is not treacheio_up, might stand safely on the brink of the smaller craters — the stones projected falling back almost entirely within the crater. With regard to the area of Itamls Permanently Desolated by the eruption, if we assume the debris totally devoid of fertilising properties, I estimate the ruin by the shower? of dry earth, sand, and scoria will not exceed beyond a circuit of four miles, having Rotouiahana as its centre. This was previously fern and tussock land of poor quality. By referring to the map, the boundary may be traced along the shoro of Lake Riri-Wa-Kaiti round to a line passing half way up Kaharamea Mounram, and embracing tho whole Df the shores of Lake Okaro. Beyond that dust deposits are not heavier than might bo ploughed in. The ruin by mud is more extensive, and embraces tho whole strip of country between the =liore of Lake Rotorua nearest to Tarawera and as far as Tahake at the one and about three miles beyond Wairoa at the other end. All the bush within this ai - ea has been shipped of foliage and may die, bnt the under <riowth will probably bieak out into leaf again and become as luxuriant as ever. Tho Loss fiota tJift Destruction of the Terraces Incalculable. The loss from the destruction of tho t':rtaces, as we cannot but fear they are gone. is simply incalculable. A marvel which was without parallel on the earth has bern swept away ; and even if ever ripacedby the same agencies working in the ?iliciou? stsatn, and this i.« improbable i long geological period would be nef -^ary for their lepioduction. The ?iu priori* now in pi ogress are attended by tiequent eaithquakes. Three were felt i\ Idle Mere in c:imp and two during 1 the four hours s.psnt on the dust hills around Rotomahana. One was of =mch violence that the swaying of the hill we were standing on -Has visible to the eye. Ii thete craters keep in ict ion they will form as great in attraction to tourists as the terraces, but when an escape has been found for the torces recently set into motion, they may subside into quiescence or become intermittent. The Ilotorua district, however, must ilv-H -5 be a very wonderful one, which iou\' -S through New Zealand will never ivil'. ,lyleu\3out of their routes. As an vet' ' 'ion now the disti'ict offers novelties i\hicu snrp;>-s everything here before. It, furnishes the extraordinary example of j now geo'o^ical changes in tho earth's I strata ai-e effected in the coiu-se Df a few hours. The half-buried houses and w hares at Wairoa are perfectly unique, and the village ought to be lelt standing just as it i?, except so far as excavations are necessary to recover bodies or property. Uotomahana, as an exhibition of Nature's forces, is infinitely more marvellous than ever it was before. To see this large basin torn and lashed with a fury that bailies description — roaring, canpnading, screeching, driving into the * air at Dne spot columns of steavn such as might be generated in the boilers of « leviathan steam ship, and from anothei orifice in the same crater send out black volumes of smoke and showej'S of stones, is a spectacle that can only lose in magnificence by an 3' attempt to convey an expression of it in w ords. I feel that I dare not attempt to do it justice. Fortunately irora tho conittnuation of the g.oun'l ;t full \ lev, may be obtained of an aica etubiac.ny ut le^t *

FIFTEEN ACTIVE VOLCANOES. Fiom tho hicAi of the lull i -..muLuvly aljovuthe lake the situation look^ litrtit down into peveval eiaier-'. and the ••poi ia*ov may ccc the whole ot the ?uvrouiifUn<x v ountry And ub in at tho s.utue time n yo t y .'me \ i<:>\v cr l'u i' lm and Co' yanro. In wet wc.ithnr thw j-p would be difficult of .-ifj'_o^-, and t,30 apt. .»ach by tho of Lake* 1" uaweia hvs yet to bo tried. In anyone, hpAn-j; ilj.l, and nofc pacing ne'irthe be=;t uthni'd -.it tlie-=c volcanic mountain?, it, will, in my opinion, no% T er be tho favouxete route. A ij; «od horee track passing by \Yhiknro\vp.ro%\a now exists, and will doubtless be inuuovcr!. Now that thera is a call foi itvmyhtil'j expenditure would widen it into rv xoad for vehicles. Some people here, on learning of the probable destruction ot Ihe Terraces, were inclined to take a despondent view of the future of the district as a resort ior tourists, but I am convinced that when the wondera that have replaced those which are gone become known, such a stream will set in from all parts of the world ag iB without precedent in the history of this favourite cruising ground of the globe trotters. The idea that the danger has increased may be scouted at once. The opening of the new vent 9 for the gasses generated by the subterranean fires acting as safety valves for any overplus of that tremendous energy which was always the predominating feature of this district.