HOT SPRINGS OF TONGARIRO.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1152, 25 September 1883, Page 3

HOT SPRINGS OF TONGARIRO.

Leaving the source of the Wanganui (writes the special correspondent of the Auckland Herald), we took an easterly direction, and after a long climb through the thick shrubs and boulder-strewn sides of the mountain, arrived at the great solfatara, the steam from which, constantly arising in the form of a dense white cloud, forms a conspicuous feature when looking towards Tongariro from the north. We ascended to the altitude of 5600 ft on to the spur where the renowned chief Te Heubeu is said to be buried, and on the summit of which were the small blue lakes we had seen from the top of the great cone, and which were now surrounded by their winter mantle of snow. Lower down on the same spur, at an altitude of 4900 ft, we found the hot springs roaring beneath us, deep down in a semi-circular gorge, which was strewn in every direction with huge boulders, as if a great flood of water had recently passed through it, We got with some difficulty down the rugged sides of this strange chasm, and soon stood in the centre of a region where boiling springs burst from the earth, where jets of steam shrieked and hissed from innumerable fissures, where enormous boiling mud holes bubbled like heated cauldrons, and where the hot steaming soil, covered in every direction with yellow crystals of sulphur, and glistening silicious deposits quaked beneath our feet as if anxious to swallow us up, so that we had to pick our way cautiously amid clouds of steam and sulphurous fumes for fear of coming to an untimely and unpleasant end. In many places fountains of hot water shot high into the air. Some of the warm springs were of a dark coffee colour, caused apparently by the admixtures of iron ; other were yellow with excess of sulphur ; white with alum ; while not a few were of the purest blue. Taken altogether this weird place had an unpleasant Pandemonium-like air about it, while the noise of the hissing steam jets was so great, as they burst with terrific force from their rocky vents, that it was impossible to hear oneself speak when near to them. Indeed, a dozen or so railway engines letting off steam and blowing their whistles at the same time would only serve to convey a slight idea of the tremendous din. These springs, as the Maoris afterwards informed us, possessed wonderful curative properties in all cases of chronic rheumatism and cutaneous disorders, and many natives suffering from ailments, of that kind come long distances to avail themselves of the thermal waters, which it would appear never fail to effect a cure. This portion of Tongariro, like other parts, is strictly tapued against the Enropeans, and the natives of Rotoraira and surrounding districts guard this marvellous sanatorium with a jealous eye, but as we attacked it from the rear they were none the wiser for our visit. A short distance beyond the springs, and near to the end of the great spur, we found the small crater known to the natives as Katetahi, which was formed of a circular aperture emitting vast volumes of steam. We obtained a splendid view of the country towards the north from our elev&ted position, the rugged ranges of Te Tuhua being crowned by Hikurangi, a beautiful pyra-midal-shaped mountain with a flat top, vihile to the westward of it could be distinctly traced the course of the Ongaruhe river, its winding waters sh'ning brightly beneath the rays of the setting sun.