The Warm Lake of New Zealand.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 138, 2 July 1872, Page 7

The Warm Lake of New Zealand.

ffhe following description of the region of 0 t Spring ß in the North Island was confuted to the London Spectator by a corres-

undent ■:-*- I have just returned from a visit to dtoniahana, the warm Lake of New ZeaWL I fear I cannot so describe it as to ive any adequate idea of the grandeur and eauty of the scenery, but I may succeed in ttracting a few travellers, who will feel as I 0 that recollections which are never likely 3 'fade are cheaply purchased by a visit to he antipodes. prom Tauranga, on the east coast of the jorthern Island, a good bridle road of from jfty to sixty miles takes the traveller to )hinemutu, on the banks of the Lake Roorua. He is here in the midst of geysers. jot springs bubble out in every direction, nd hot streams run into the lake. There is ome little danger in living at Ohinemutu. from time to time some one who imprudently loes out at night wanders out of the small 'afe track, and sinks through a thin crust of arth into an abyss of boiling water or scald-

L mud. The soil is being gradually undermined. Middle-aged men remember when that is now many feet into the lake was firm Ld; and a " pa" was swallowed some years U, with all its inhabitants, by a sudden landslip. The Maoris, however, are still numerous in Ohinemutu, and use the hot springs [or baths and cooking. An English speculator is about to build an hotel. From Ohinemutu to Lake Tarawera the

road passes through a volcanic district. At 3iie point the track lies between two pools, Hiji a petrifying alum spring, the other a wiling and sulphurous geyser. Turn a few rirds off the path, and you come upon an apen crater from which steam is always issuing and which has a miniature eruption every lix months. The hill-side round is covered irith deep layers of silica that has been poured out molten. As these thicken the crater is j likely, I believe, to close up, and the whole region will then be exposed to violent earth-1 quakes. At present the shocks are insignificant. A few miles further we come to Tonne, the head of Lake Tarawera. It was once a missionary station, and a church and an excellent mission house are still standing. But the church is closed, the mission-house deserted, and its beautiful garden left to ruin. The Maoris who used to worship have abandoned their Christianity and quitted the settlement. Three miles further we come to Kariki, where the Maoris have put up an ac-commodation-house for tourists. It was first raised in honour of Prince Alfred. From j this point the road to Rotomahana is by : water, across the splendid sheet of Lake Tara- j vera, till we come to the stream Kaiwaka. Here fairy-land begins. I dip my hands into the water, and tind it a temperature of from 70° to 80°. For a distance of more than two miles this heat scarcely seems to vary, though here and there we passa boiling spring, which a bather would do well to avoid. In one part there are rapids, over which it is difficult to force the canoe. The vegetation of the bank is luxuriant, but sombre. Gradually we work up to Rotomahana. It is very like a Highland tarn bosomed amid grey hills, and is of no great size. Here and there are broad rushes, in which myriads of waterfowl are breeding, protected by Maori law. They know their safety, and scarcely stir at j our approach. But our concern is not with I the lake, but with the geysers and marble benches on its banks. The first we land at is known as Te Tarota. Imagine a succession of white marble terraces, fronded with stalactites at the sides, holding here and there basins of indescribably blue water, now two feet, now eight feet deep, and ascending gradually from a semicircular crater, above which a cloud of steam broods, and from which a fountain of hot water is constantly welling forth. I should guess the height to which I i fountain flows to be some sixty feet above the lake, but this is simply conjecture. What I know is that the whole is on so large a scale as to astonish by its magnificence, and to put human emulation out of the question. -is well reproduce Niagara in an English park as the terraces of Rotomahana at Aranjuez or Versailles. On the opposite side is another similar formation. Hokoteratera, which rises higher, with more regular terraces, with pink instead of white marble, and if possible, with blue water in its cavities. The steps are as easily climbed as a palace staircase, let us say as the Giant's staircase at Venice ; and even close to the summit the water is not too hot to admit of bathing. Our party all plunged into the pools, but picturesque as the brown Maoris looked, one had a feeling that Haroun Alraschid's ladies were the proper tenants of the spot. There are of course a host of minor marvels, such as a large mud geyser, on the banks of Rotomahana. But it is difficult to find eyes for what is merely curious and may be seen elsewhere. I was not specially fortunate on the day of my visit. The sky was clouded over, and the weather was so evidently breaking up that I was unable to linger as I could have wished. To see the terraces or to shoot the rapid by moonlight are experiences which 1 can well believe" add a charm even to the glories of Rotomahana. Travellers in coming years are likely to be spared much of the discomfort which at present attends travelling in the New Zealand t>i.sh and sleeping in Maori inns. But under all disadvantages, I saw with unabated sense of delight what I think I shall never forget, never cease to look back upon as perhaps the greatest natural wonder I have known. The Warm Lake lies in the midst of romantic scenery. Some day, when Australasia is fully Peopled, this district will be the Switzerland of the Southern Hemisphere.