Several native villlages engulphed, with over 100 natives reported destroyed.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2319, 12 June 1886, Page 2

Several native villlages engulphed, with over 100 natives reported destroyed.

•—. mg, rowing mass of water. —*— Steam several thou," sand feet MgL • • Digging for tho bodies. (Unitud Press Association.) The following information has since been received from the North—" News is just to hand that there is no hope for the Tapahoro, Te Ariki, and Morea native settlements. Seventy natives are known to be at the two latter placesI expect the death of the natives will exceed 100. I fear that Mr H, R. Burt who is supposed to have camped near the foot of Mount Taraweva that night, on his way to Galatea, has perished. His two horses have found their way home The craters on Ruawahia and its twin cone are emitting volumes of dense smoke,

Rotomahana is a seething roaring mass of water, the clouds of steam from which are several thousand feet high. A number of. willing hands are digging for the bodies at Wairoa to day. An attempt will, however, be made to examine the Native settlements I have mentioned.

Mcßae informs rue that heextin guished at least ten balls of fire which came crashing, through his roof during tho night, igniting everything they came in contact with.

The Tuhourangi tribe are quite destitute of clothing, food and wham I will telegraph again this evening,— Telegraphist, Rotorua."

The Lake District, the scene of this appalling cotaatrophe, is situated in in the southern portion of the Auckland province, and extends into Wellington and Hawke's Bay respectively. It may roughly be taken to cover nn area of 120 miles north and south, mid twenty miles east and west, tho whole of which contains the varied character, istics of volcanic systems, volcanos, cones, boiling springs, fumeroles, and sulphur deposits. There are also found lakes to the depth of 4000 feet, and the Te Kopiha. geyser, one of the grandest of its kind, is situated in this district. From the treacherous nature of the soil, it is very difficult of access. Streams of hot watei, one of the dimensions of a small river-the Otumakokori—flow from the Paeroa range of mountains. The land at its foot, and many of the slopes of the hills, are soft boiling mud. It has long been foreseen that in time, probably in the near future, the disintegration going on at the foot of the ranges, would lead to a thorough collapse, when the result of these gigantio masses being thrown, in a boiling pulp, over the adjacent country, would be disastrous in the extreme. The effect of a collapse of Paeroa would be to hurl a flood of liquid mud, by way of the Kotoraka valley and between the hills between the Turnini and Moerangi, on to the village of Wairoa, and would thus account for the ten feet of "mud- which now covers" that village, A description of the lurid scene presented at Rotorua will be found following i—There is a loud and continued roar, as of a furnace, yet culminating in a terrific volcanio outbreak in the region of Rotomahana which was something grand and awful to behold, striking tarror into all the inhabitants, many of whom fled from the houses in what they stood up in. The natives clustered in groups, frightened to death, and held religions sorvices all over the place. Even in this region it presented a magnificent spectacle, a lurid glare of lightning, and the flashing of various colored fires, with the volcano belching smoke and flaaie from the cone, of the gigantio pyrotechnic display, formed a picture of surpassing grandeur. This stats of things .continued till daylight, the phenomenon being accompanied by a heavy thunderstorm,

The following brief but interesting extract from a description of Tara wera is from Hochatetter'a " New Zealand":-" The scenery ot Tarawera Lakesurpasses in wildness andgrandeur that ot any of the lakes in the Lake District; 'The word signifies burnt cliffs. Its general form, exclusive of its deep side-cones, is that of a rhombus, with its main diagonal running from west to east. In this direction it is Beven miles long, having a breadth of about five miles, . , Its shores are mostly rugged, rocky bluffs, shaded by pohutukawa trees. The ohief ornament of' the adjoining landscape is Tarawera mountain,.with itsorowna of rocks, divided into three peaks by deep ravines. It rises out of the southeastern side of ihe lake to a height of at least 2000 ft above the level of the sea. It is an imposing table mountain, consisting of obsidian and rhyolitic rooks, and it is not to be wondored at that its dark ravines and vei'tiole sides have given rise to many an quM story in vogue among the Maoris. Among others, a huge monster 24ft long, resembling a crocodile, is said to haunt the clefts of the rock, devouring overyone who dares to scale the mountain.

A Wairoa telegram says, " Nearly every house is levelled to the ground, and the oountry is spread over for wiled with fully two feet of mud boulders and sand. The lovely Tiki-

tapu busb is likp« dense waste; trees! are stripped of i'lieir foliage with the weight of the miii). many of the gigantic ones being Ul, led to the ground. Families and tourists are fast clearing out to places of safety, and the utmost consternation at present exists. At half-paat six day dawned, but only for about thirty minutes, and darkness again came over the face of the land till a quarter to nine A.m. I never experienced anything so dark, The dust is still falling, The whole country is covered with dust from one to six inches thick, flattie and hprses have come aronn'i the house for food. They will be starved unless heavy rains come to wash away the dirt and mud. Shocks of earthquake are still being felt as I write, We have heard that the mountain known as .Ruawahi, which is situated near Turawera Lake branches off to Rotomabaiia, is in eruption. A private wire informs us that the Lake houses are all right. The country is in a desolate state. The terraces are all gone, The Ariki natives are reported to be all lost. Twelve bodies have been recovered at Wairoa, The first shock of the eruption occurred at two o'clock, when a tremondous explosion broke out right in the middle of the township. The people all rushed out of their houses, and the guests living in the hotels ran out into the roadway in their night-dresßes. There was an immediate stampede for horses, every vehicle at once being put into reqnistion. The people made all haste to. clear out to Tauranga and Cambridge,

Another telegram says: There have been no eruptions for some time. The atmosphere is clearing, and the excitemeut has subsided. The eruption is confined to Lake Tarawera and Wairoa. Tauranga is smothered with falling dust, and at times is in total darkness. Five active craters are at play.