St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1886-10-02
island, about twelve feet high. decked

l Isiduu, ABOUT 6WeIVe IecL HIpN, O0Ck0C
with manuka, MOSES, lycopodium ano
fern. Itmay be visited without danger
and from it the curious traveller has .
fair and full view into the blue boiling
and steaming caldron. Such was the
famous Te Tarata. 1t is now feared
that nearly all these beautiful wonder,
have been destroyed. The terraces are
buried in lava, and the villages of the
Maoris have been swept away.
As regards Auckland the first intima-
ton received of the terrible catastrophe
was the sound of loud explosions as oi
heavy guns, and from elevated positions
in the city the flash as of artillery was
distinctly visible. The impression on
the minds of those who witnessed these
phenomena was that . vessel was
ashore at the Manukau heads and was
firing signals of distress. and as there
appeared to be more than one fired at
time it was thought to be a Russian
man-of-war which was known to be on
| the coast.
News was flashed from Rotoma that
dreadful night had been passed.
Every man. woman and child thought
his end had come. The sensation
was fearful and indescribable. 1t COM
menced about one o'clock in the morn
ing by several severe shocks of earth
quake. TIE vibrations were strong
and frequent. the windows in the
houses ratified violently. the feeling be-
ing similar to that on board of vessel
in a storm. People were running about
frantically, when all 1T once = great
roar was heard, which was accepted at
first as that of an earthquake, and .
great glare appeared upon the horizon.
The scene was grand, but awful toward
Rotomahana. The flames were distinct,
with huge volumes of smoke, with
sparks of electricity Illuminating the
whole sky. and it appeared as if hun
dreds of bright stars were chasing one
another. When this was at first seen
by those who were outside they rushed
about calling people up. Males and
females of all ages left their homes and
a general rush was made for Ngatata
mountain for safety. Many left their
homes in their night-dresses with
shawls around them, mothers car
rying babies or young children
with but one arm, to flee from the
devouring element which was expected
at every moment to engulf the entire
community. SO great was the terror OF
the people. This was about two o clock
a. IN. On the approach of daylight tho
vibrations lessened. but they by no
means ceased. About four o. clock there
was shower of ashes similar to sand,
supposed to be lava
Mr.. McRae, the hotel keeper at
Wairoa, gave your correspondent the
following account of the destruction of
his hotel: .'About 1890 p. m. the place
began to shake and shook continuously
for an hour before the eruption broke
out. When this was first seen. it was
just like a small cloud on the mountain,
with flashes of lightning of great bril-
liancy. All were got out of bed and
went up to the old mission station to
ascertain the cause of the occurrence.
We saw a sight that no man who saw
it can ever forget Apparently the
mountain had three craters, and the
flames were shooting up fully . thou
sand feet high. There appeared to be
a continuous shower of balls of fire for
miles around. As storm appeared to
be coming on. we returned to the hotel,
and shortly afterward what seemed to
be heavy hailstones came pouring on
the roof, which continued about every
quarter of an hour. This was sue
ceeded BY heavy fall of stones, fire.
balls and mud. the lava falling after
the manner of rain. The weight of
these substances upon the roof soon
began to tell upon it. The first por-
ton that gave way was the detached |
kitchen and pantry, and then we all col |
lected in the smoking-room. The roof |
Of the hotel gave way at about half
past four a. m. with a loud smash, and |
the whole of the upper story collapsed.
the debris falling into the rooms below.
We left the smoking-room and went
nto the drawing-room, which, IS it
was the newest part of the house. We
thought would stand the longest; but
i was with the greatest difficulty that
We got there. going through fallen
Itones and mud which impeded US.
The back part of the house, in which
vas the dining-room, gave way next,
md all of a sudden we heard fearful
rash and roar as if thousands of tons
# stuff were falling, and we heard the
,alcony come down. At this we agreed
hat we should make an effort to save
and with this object We de-
ermined to leave the hotel. At $50
vent up to the residence of the Hazard
amily. The house was in ruins and in
ames. l then could see no signs Of
ir. and Mrs. Hazard and their chill
rem. As soon as q glimpse of daylight
anne we commenced to dig for the
odies of the Hazards, and to our great
discovered Mrs Hazard
live. Her two children we're found
cad beside her, but she was not greatly
INJURED. We continued operations un-
d we were quite exhausted, but found
20 more bodies"
Between one and two o'clock in the
morning the inhabitants of Tauranga
1ere startled by repeated and vivid
ashes of lightning, shooting at inter-
ais of . few minutes from . dense
lass of black cloud, extending along
he southern sky. The electrical dis
LAY continued through the night, and
bout four O'Clock in the morning .
cries of severe earthquake shocks were
distinctly felt. The flashes of electric
tv continued to increase in brilliancy
$ the morning wore on. and from the
anne direction came continued rumb-
ings. which appeared to extend along
he line from Rotorua to White Island.
Toward seven O'Clock leaden-colored
loud slowly advanced from the direc-
ion of the hill behind Mr.. Jonathan
Browns property until reaching Mata-
,ihi. 1t appeared to hang for a short