The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1876-03-16
NEW ZEALAND:
Description of the Grtm Gc,ser
Found There.

~ v Ff'' "" NV NhHh' y
Found There.
The state of New York has its world
wide wonder in Niagara Falls; the state
Of California has It's equally marvellous
and renowned Yosemite Valley and the
province of New Zealand can boast Of al.
most ~ great a natural wonder in its
%ItotOmahaua, or mighty geysor. This
lies inland from Tauranga-which may
be reached by steamer from Auckland
about sixty.hvc miles. At Wairoa, the
headquarters Of the Arawa contingency,
and the rcsiderce Of Capt. Mair, is the
old mission-hOIise, kept by y Frenchman,
and surrounded by familiar trees, on 4
lovely tie overlooking Lake Tarewcra,
There is plenty Of fruit here, especially
cherries. In the mis,iOn.houSeOn one pleas
antly reposcs till four O'Clock in the
morning, when he is aroused for break
fast, after which he enters = log canoe,
thirty or forty feet in lcugth, propelled
by four Maori men, and starts for a nine
mile row up the pretty Tarawcra lake,
The time occupied to he mouth Of the
little river is two hours and n half Here
the water is found to be Iukcwarm, being
supplied from the hot springs, The cur
rent of this stream is very swift, and it
requires hard work to force the canoe up
against, it, but by padding and pole
pushing, and sometimes jumping out
into the stream and pulling, the Maoris
manage to reach "the haven Of our de-
Sircs and the elimination of our hopes"
The hills all around the gcyser TEEN with
hot springs and hot mud in II liquid
state, and constantly bubbling up and
emitting II horrible %SuIphuric smell
which is almost sitting. The ground ap-
pears to be but Il mere crust over boiling
springs, and often 50 yields to the step
that one feels as if he were about to de
sccnd Immediately into the earth.
The great gcyscr itself is up in the
top of Il lofty hill, which appears to
have been the extinct crater OF Il voIca-
no, now filed with light blue boiling
water of an unknown depth. The wa
ter il forever sccthing and boiling, as
if all the fires Of perdition were aiIamc
beneath it. II is constantly shooting
up in columns from six to thirty feet
in height, which sometimes looks very
beautiful when the sun converts the
falling globules into showers Of pearls
and silver. The great gcyscr is ap-
preached from below by Il series of CrCs-
ccnt-shapcd terraces, bowed outward, Il
few feet in height each, and perhaps
100 yards in width, all overlooking till
,rn,t ,,,1np ia thn iNyl nrInIIpuI tor
races, the top one Of which is always
boiling Ovcr into those beneath it. The
steam is almost binding and sufl0cat-
ing when the wind is blowing toward
you. In many Of the pools there are
pleasant bathing places. The water is
hot on the surface but cool beneath,
the boiling water from the great gcy-
ser above not seeming to penetrate far
below the surface of the more distant
terraces, which it ovcrtlOws. Thcrcarc
two sets of terraces, the first of which
are called the White Terraces, The rim
around the boiling caldron is formed
Of II white substance, like the most del
icatc flagrcc work, almost resembling
lace work, such is its regularity and
beauty. This white rim, which projects
some distance over the boiling fountain,
shows to all the greater advantage be-
cause Of the intense blue OF the waters.
These beautiful terrace brims are formed
by deposits of sulphur and silica from
the boiling springs ON the top ofthc hill,
which pour down the sides and crush the
tca-scrub and other trees growing there,
and form the inc@rustation. For, strange
rs it may seem, there is green grass and
shrubbcry to the very verge Ofthc boiling
fountains. Many Of the basins appcarto
be made of pctriied tca-scruh or ferns.
These brim-fOrmations are very rough
and sharp edged, and very hard on boots
or barefoot, though the Maoris, whose
feet are hardened, trip over them with
out any serious Inconvenience. The wa
ter in all the terraces is beautifully clear
and blue.
Near the great gcyscr, there is Il spring
constantly boiling out of Il f~ssrrc in n
rock, and called the stcam-pipc spring.
The noise from this spring can be heard
n long way off, and it sounds Just like Il
vessel letting off steam; while the hot
water which shoots ont of it reminds
one of the manner in which II steamer,
when she is light, sends up the water
with her screw, and the action seems to
be accompanied with Il thud-li sound
of similar character. The ground is lit
orally hOncy-combcd with these boiling
steam springs.
From the white terraces one enters a
canoe and paddles over to the pink ter
races, but Il short distance from the
former. Their formation is the same as
the first, but they are smaller, and, in
stead of the pure white brim, they have
n pink-tintcd border, which is cxquis.
itcly beautiful, and it is questionable
whether they are not the prctticr of the
two. The effect is lovely and quite en-
chanting. Between the two sets of ter
races one may spend several hours very
pleasantly and proiitably. For this is GER
tainIy one of natures most wonderful
phenomena. And while it differs from
Niagara and Yosemite, and comparisons
may be odiOus, it certainly is, in its way,
quite II, marvellous as either of those two
great resorts Of tourists. As yet the
RotOmahaua is almost inaccessible to
travellers, owing to the roughncSS of
the route thithcr, and to the miserable
native accommodations on the way.
MORTGAGES NOT TAXABLE.-The su-
prcmc court of California has recently
made Il decision of the utmost import
ancc, if it is to be taken rs II precedent