MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 March 1940, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

NGAWHA (BOILING SPRINGS). (Recorded by J.H.S. for the "Times-Age.”, l Rotoiti (little lake) and Tikitere' (bring quickly) are famed for the size, number and variety of their springs and geysers. A constant spring is known to the Maoris as ngawha. hot spring and geyser as puia, and a bathing pool as waiariki. All have their own distinctive colours and qualities, some a crystal blue, others green, and some yellow, according to the mineral contents —sulphur and silica predominate, muriatic acid and carbonic acid gas are common. Many springs have their special healing qualities, and all have beneficial effects. At Sulphur Point the most famous spring is Whangapipiro (changing smells), a large pool almost boiling, perfectly blue, transparent, and like crystal with pure white silica deposits. As they were in 1881, but 50 years later, and after the Tarawera outburst considerably modified, the geysers still are among the wonders of the world. Among these are a number quaintly named by visitors, “The Coffee Pot,” “Sulphur Cup,” “Cream Cup,” etc., thus losing the significant Maori names and their associations. At Whakarewarewa (shooting upward) were many hissing, bubbling, steaming blowholes, noisy as gunfire. The most striking of these was Wai Kite (seeing water), 100 feet in diameter, throwing up columns of boiling water 60 feet. In one warm spring lay a modest Maori maid clothed in the costume of Eve, perfectly indifferent to our gaze. The word “Maori” literally means “natural.”