ON HORSEBACK to Hut LAKES [BY ONE OF A PARTY.] VI.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1698, 24 May 1883, Page 3

ON HORSEBACK to Hut LAKES [BY ONE OF A PARTY.] VI.

current is rapid, and the stream winds about like a corkscrew, so that it taxed the skill of our crow to the utmost to keep us off the banks. Along the side arc hundreds of hot springs, and here and there are miniature terraces, which, in a few thousand years, will doubtless rival their big neighbours. In an astonishingly brief space of time we were landed onco more at Te Ariki, where our boatmen were already awaiting us. (To bo continued.)

OVER THE HILLS. Just ns the boat rounded the point into To Ariki, the arm in which the landing place is situate, Kate pointed out a ledge of rock at the water's edge, which she said belonged to " Taipo." Our guide is not devoid of the superstitions of her mother's people, but the yarn about the devil's stone is a little more than she can digest. She told us that the natives were in the habit of getting tourists to put money on the rock, with a view to propitiating the old gentleman, and transferring the same to their pockets on a subsequent visit. Kate had no desire in the world to shake the Maori belief in the magic.il power of the stone, but she objected to " her visitors' 1 being sw hulled, and forbade our investing a single copper in the business. Fearful of her displeasure, we reluctantly kept our money in our pockets. lam afraid Kate's prohibition robbed the trip of half its enjoyment. A few more strokes of the oars grounded the boat, and wo landed on a atrip of greensward which bordered the quiet little bay. A number of natives gathered about us, and seveial others were scattered about, some at the doors of their whaies (there is a small settlement here) while others were enjoying their morning bath some distance away. There are one or two hot springs on the fliores of Te Ariki, and Kniwhaka, the outlet of tepid Eotomahann, also emeiges just here, so that the water even in the autumnal season must be pleasant enough to shake the resolution of the most conseivdtive enemy of the bath. About the first thing we did on lauding was to visit the tourist's boat and take possession cf that poition of our property which they bail unlawfully retained. This done, we gilded up our loins, or rather, I should say, we tucked up our nether garments, slung our coats over our backs, and followed the impatient Kate along the narrow path which leads to the "great wonder spot of the globe." It is not easy travelling along, and yet the weariest visitor would not exchange the toilsome tramp for a ride in the most comfortable tramcar which is ever likely •xtojjuva^p this solitude. Shut in between Jhtow hills, no bice/e visiting us, we uii pleasantly warm, and we looked upon our first climb over the sandy lulls as a relief. After travelling for nearly a mile, with nothing to attiact our attention except the. slowly [rising clouds of steam ahead, we a&cendcd the la&t hill, from which Kate told us we should r.ee the White Terraces. Gaining the summit hurriedly, we paused and looked down. There close to us lay the famed llotomaliana, and there on its left shoro the gieat Tc Tarata stood confessed.

ROTO M AH AN A. It is, I believe, the correct thing to say that the first view of tho White Terrace is disappointing. I lia\c no doubt it is, or rather was until people fell to wiiting and talking about it so much. We were not in the least distressed about it. We were prepared to undergo a thorough disillusionising process at the outset, because we knew, on the most unimpeachable authority, that we should get ro-illusionised immediately afterwards. The piospcct fiom this hill is not, however, so unlovely as we expected to find it. Rotomahana is neither very big nor very beautiful, but what beauty it has is enhanced by distance. The water is in colour a dingy green, but as the shores are de.-ply fringed with sedge and rushes tho effect is by no means the reverse of pleasing. The daik hills around, and Hie ever-rising volumes of steam lead a weiid charm to the whole scene that is not easy to shake off. Descending the lull, we ciosted Kaiwliaka, and so on to tho foot of the V\ hitc Ten ace. I resist the human tendency to describe this gloiious piece of Natme's handiwotk. I feel how utterly e\crybody who has attempted it has failed in the task ; how none have succeeded in painting it as it is, and I am determined not to add another tu the list of failures. It is well enough to talk about poicelain and opal blue, about coial and sapphitc, but the tmnscendent glory of the ten ace is indescribable. As mc were approaching it ono of the tomists lcmatked that he would like to walk barefoot to save his boots, but on his companion assuiing him that the " corruseations" would wound his feet, he thought better of it, and spoiled his boots. Kate ran us round for an hour 01 two, repeating tho stories current about this boiling pool and tint steam hole, dilating on the medicinal properties of the contents of the "pomdge pot," gesticulating when we could not hear her amid the hoirible noise from the " Devil's Hole" and its ncighbouis, and gencially mixing up in our weaiy biai'is countless Mcioii panics too long to par ticularise. It must be a hard task, poor woman, thus to walk, day after day, over the same giound, lcpcatmg the same information, and answeiing the intcimin able string of questions which touiists (with guide books) are in the habit of putting. Having no such imaluablc aid to knowledge, I am afraid our party missed many of the sights which we wero legitimately entitled, according to the terms of our contiact, to sec. At this distance of time, however, it is somewhat difficult to remember what we did and what we did not behold, so that tho reflection that Kate robbed our tour of its fair proportions does not plunge us into giicf. Indeed, I for one wa& not tony when we fetched up at the inaigin of the lake and commenced our preparations for the midday meal. Our natives opened up the kits, brought us a supply of cold water (a scarce article in this place), and cooked our crayfish in one of the many steam holes close by. In the middle of the meal one of the natives produced two or throe bottles of benr. We felt .sure they had not beenhoncstly come by, but we consumed their contents h'ist, and then subjected the culpnt to a most seaiching examination. On cxtoiting a confession from him, the chairman of the couit administered a severe lecture on the sin of lniccny. The wretched native had stolen the beer from tho "tourists." By and bye we got into a canoe, and were paddled over to the opposite shore of the lake, crushing now and then through the bulrushes growing in the shallows and half the time in a mild vapour bath. The temperature of the water varies greatly in places caused by boiling springs at the bottom. In parts the lake is two warm for bathing, while nowhere is it cool. The Pink Terrace is not visible until we are^jS^upon it; a point of land jutting out Jbn^ the view. As it bursts upoir the ej J e it presents a magnificieut picture. Opinion is divided about the relative merits of the White and Pink Terraces. It seems to me that they do not enter into comparison one with another. They are so different, yet both so superbly beautiful, that the question, Which is the grander ? is too paltry for consideration. After duly admiring the skill and good taste displayed l»y the thousands of tourists who have written their names on the steps of the terraces, a species of ornamentation which nothing but the accumulation of silicia can efface, we enjoyed the unspeakable luxury of a bath in the exquisite basin, near the top. Wo plunged about for the greater part of an hour, and dressed in the cool shade of the ti-tree, Most reluctantly did we bid adieu to the Pink Terrace, but the afternoon was wearing, and we had to go. Getting aboard our canoe we steered for the outlet, Kaiwhaka. The walk back was dispensed with. The strong current in the creek does not admit of getting up with expedition, but is very easy to descend. As we passed the White Terrace, Kate started up in the canoe and said the cauldron was empty. Wo looked again, and sure enough the Terraces were dry. We at once 1-inded and made our way up the coral steps, and beheld a great white cavernous pit. It had not oeen empty before for about a yo^r, The run down Jiaiwhaka. wa,g full of excitement, The