WHITE ISLAND.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1808, 8 May 1874, Page 3

WHITE ISLAND.

We are indebted to Captain Tovey for the following interesting notes of a trip to White 1 Island:—We left the wharf at Tauranga in the a.s.-' Southern Cross' at 8 o'clock p.m. on Monday last, and, with a smooth sea, proceeded outside the harbour on our way to the Island, with nothing of sufficient interest on the passage worth recording. Towards day. break it rained a little, but it soon cleared off, and daylight found iu abreast of the landing place, the island surrounded by murky clouds and covered, with a dense inass of vapour. Putting in-shore the vessel anohored within a stone's throw of a narrow bank of stones and boulders, forming the entfanoe to the large open space or valley in the centre of the island, which, : surrounded by precipitous hill sides made up of sulphur, mud, brimstone, and gypsum, enclose the crater and the, lake,, with, the seething, roaring abysses, which, from their cavernous recesses, with a ; ;noise like the roar of a tempest, send forth their clouds of dense sulphurous, vapour, which, rising,.high above the island and seen from afar, have given it the name of White Island. As soon as it was light enough the party from the steamer landed, armed with stout sticks to feel their way . over'the soft! ground, and' without which it is dangerous' to walk about. After crossings, flat of hot sand and mud, with'sulphur cropping out of it in every direction, and sending up fumes of .Vapour and steam, the party approaohed the margin of the lake, but, to their surprise, found it dried up, Descending the steep sides, at the foot of which a,mud geyser on a small soale was in active working;' they.crossed the bed' of the lake, feeling their way as they went, jets of steam and vapour issuing from the ground with a hisdug sound all round them; and at the further side of this lake came upon a solid wall of sulphur, mixed with mud, about 20 feet high, from which hundreds of tons could be .taken, and which was estimated to contain about 70 per cent, of Bulphur.; Beyoud the lake, to the right; at the'footV the.' encircling hills, a tremendous abyss yawned its immense mouth, from whioh, aooompanied by the noise of boiling and seething water violently agitated, issued, with a torcido

roar, a dense volume of steam and sulphureous vapour, which shot straight to the sky. Looking over the edge as near as it was safe to approaoh, nothing could be seen but the dense vapour obsouring everything below. A place, you might but never come up again 1 .alive — a place of fearful, threatening, direful, ominous aspect. Numerous fine specimens of crystallized sulphur were picked up and detached by blows of hammer and chisel. Proceeding on, a small stream of sulphureous acid, issuing from the farther end of the valley, was crossed, and beyond a magnificent spectacle presented itself to the astonished, gaze.of the, beholders: a huge conical mound of bright yellow sulphur sent out clouds and jets of steam and vapour with a furious hissing sound, which no one dared to approach; and by its Bide a tremendous opening, surrounded by a mound of .volcanic matter reoently ejected,'belched; forth with a noise above the roar of the loudest thunder,, a storm furious vapour and smoke obsouring the sky, Having with some difficulty reached a place a. view.of this, crater, and approached it as'far as safety would permit, the noise and .vapour suddenly increased to such an alarming' degree that we beat a precipitate retreat, and by the time, we got to a safe distance the whole of the upper end of the valley was covered with a' dense pall of vapour and .smoke. We were, somewhat concerned lest the water should suddenly'rise in the bed of the lake while crossing it. Fortunately, this did : not occur, or I should not have been able' to pen this account. Several of the party plunged, into deep mud, but in the bottom of the lake this ■ was cool, excepting in places where steam issued forth. Outside the lake the stuff below the surface was boiling. The party only remained'oh"th6 island two hours, and greatly enjoyed the trip. I trust this account may prove interesting to your readers.—Bay of Plenty Times.