SOPHIA THE GUIDE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 137, 5 December 1911, Page 5

SOPHIA THE GUIDE.

DIES AT ROTORUA. EVENTFUL EXPERIENCES. By Telegraph—Press Association. Rotorua, Last Night. The well known guide, Sophia, died at Whakarewarcwa warily this morning. She was a daughter of a British officer named Grey, her mother being of the Ngatiruanui tribe, Taranaki, and was born either in Taranaki or the Bay of Islands, about 85 years ago. She went through an awful experience at the time of the Taravera eruption on June 10, 1888, her whare at the .buried village of Wairoa aflortling shelter to some forty natives. Sophia guided the last party, which included the ill-fated Bainbridge, who was buried in the famous Pink and White Terraces, and she saw the phantom canoe that the natives regarded as a warning of the disaster. Sophia, who was educated at the Mission school in the Bay of Islands, was a fluent talker, and her description of the wonders of the thermal regions and of the eruptions was ft source of delight and interest to tourists. Among notabilities Sophia conducted 'over the terraces was the Duke of Edinburgh, and on the occasion of the King's visit to Rotorua she conducted the Duchess of York round Whakarewarcwa.