Traces of the Pink Terraces

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 161, 17 July 1886, Page 6

Traces of the Pink Terraces

WARBRICI-I NAEROWLY ESCAPES. Afew feet tiom the '-tick Wai biick pointed out a -helf-like seiies ol mud-bunko, which he dt'cl.iiecl to be <he slime co\eiing a portion of the Pink Ten ace The mud was many iccl doop, and it -\\a-< impossible to ascertain ton ceitainr.y if lii~> suimise was coirect. AN m biick had ju-t crowed the channel when an immense avalanche of slushy mud came in shiny down. A second oi two later would ha\e probably terminated his cmeer. This narrow escape, and the increase of from the fumaioles made us hasten to ascend tlie eha^m, and an arduous hund-ovei-hruid climb saw u^ at the top, inu< h to the delight of Toko, who had been holding the rope to*givo it greater stiength. Eying con«ideiably "baked" -with our climb, we [ascended slowly through the hea\y mud to the level of the top of the made giound The terrace of the volcanic mud luh soft, and to walk a mile thiough it is more exhausting than a twenty - mile "v\nlk on a good road. In some place-, one sinks knee-deep at every step for a couple of hundied yaids and in some place? that we passed it was nece^sar}' to go on hands and kees to make any headway at all. Our boots, socks, and tiou^eis became so clogged that locomotion was soon almo-t impossible — and Hist boots, then 1 -, and subsequently th^ legs of our tiou.-ers had to be parted with. A.-* the recalcitrant Maoiios had the most of our dimkable^ \\ o teared that we would be in a bad w iy for want ol something to quench our thii.-it. Fortunately ye came across some pools filled with muddy water, which had apparently been caused bj the melting of the fro/en dew. We drank gioedil\, and found the water suHicienily palatable for thirsty men, notwithstanding that it. had a stiong bitumenous 4 flavour. A few minutes later, the Maori who had t unked the search" of the Pink Terrace hove in sight. He informed us ,that the gre it crater at the foot oi the hill Ivid been emitting gieatly increased quan titles of steam in our absence. On ap proaching the ciater, despite the warning, we went within a few yards of the made giound sni rounding the lake. "Warbnck was proposing a descent tj the cratei when we expeiienced a heavy eaithquake ohock, and in a minute we were enslnouded in dense volumes of steam. "He heu,' cried the Maoiies, and sure enough they were right. The BIG CRATER WAS IN ERUPTION. [ Columns of jet black smoke, mingled with the steam and hundreds of stones, some appaiently much larger than a man's head, were thrown hundrccLs of feet in the air Several peppered the mud around us, and Warbnck'.s iaco showed that he feared we wore in a mess. The- wind A\hich, though pulTy, blew tow aids the cratei 1 or the chasm, oi* the record of the expedition would never have been wiitten. "We made tracks with all expedition light into the wind's, eye, but progress was veiy slow owing to the increased softening of the wind through the condensed steam falling on the giouiid, a\ ith all the mt( nte coi diale of a properly equipped winter .shower. j After plodding laboriously lor a quarter of ! a mile during the course of the outburst, our clothes became wet through. The guide observed that the windwas blowing steadily tow aids the crater, and that there was now no gicat danger. We lay down in the mud, thoroughly exhausted, and watched the volcano for half an hour or more The smoke ascended a great height, and quite ob^cuied the sun, and out of the crater showeis of mud and atones were thrown incessantly, accompanied by hoarse sputtering roavs. Presently a little ray of sunlight penetrated the cloud above us. Then old sol shone out in full light, producing a magnificent rainbow exactly above the crater. After this rest we pushed our journey anothei mile, and leached the site ot the covered Kaiwaka creek, up which, before the eruption, tourists were rowed from Lake Taiaweiato liotomahana. Her* lunch was partaken of, and being completely knocked up we all declared that

We Could go no Further, and, as Warbriek pointed out, any further attempt to reach the bed of the lake during the eiuption would be utter madness. The guide went in a mile further and placed a nag made from a flour-bag in which we had carried our lunch, on a high peak of new ground. Warbriek states there is fully 600 feet of made ground at this spot, and it evidently comes from a ' volcanic pit which is fully 1500 feet deep.