The Topeka state journal., 1899-11-22
New Zealand Has a vesuvius.

TFrom the Windsor Magazine.l
The Svhite terraces of ROtomahana
rose up in a series of twenty platforms
in the form of a gigantic stairway.
Each terrace was perfectly horizontal
and of dazzling whiteness. The top step
was vertically eighty feet above the
base and sat 300 feet back. From ev-
cry platform bubbles copious clouds
of steam A stream of boiling water
continually flowed from the geysers,
and as it fell slowly from tier to tier
the silicates with which the water was
heavily charged became deposited, on
it's exposure to the air, in WOnderful
lace-WOrk designs of INFINITE variety
and a dazzling whiteness and purity
Not far from the white terrace was an
other termed the pink terrace, where,
owing to some cOloring substance IN
the SiliciOuS waters falling from the
geysers, the deposits were of delicate
pink hue, from which was derived the
name pink terrace
Unfortunately, New Zealand no long
er possesses this unique spectacle, Tor
the terraces are no more. The various
agencies of nature which originally
built up such curious forms served IN
turn to destroy them. Mr.. Falconer
gives a graphic description of the event
He was residing at that time about
forty miles distant from Tarawera- In
1886, on June 10, the night was clear
and calm. Heavy rumbling sounds nke
rolls of distant thunder filled the arr
but there was no very great alarm. The
(
About 7:30 o'clock the morning grew
darker and light gray ash very me
began to fall says that, although
they surmised an eruption was taking
place in the Hot lake district, there We're
no definite tidings to that erect, so
that he could only wait to see what
would happen. BY the aid of lantern
| he succeeded in cropping his way to the
| telegraph office, and there he learned
! that a serious disturbance was taxing
| place at Tarawera and ROtomahaha-
aIr Hoa a RI q.
! All round the ground was covered with
a thin, filmy pail of fine ash to the
depth of half an inch, and 1t was attef-
| ward found that the intense oaThneSS
| was caused by a. thick cloud of dust
| blown out by the volcano to helght
| so tremendous that it passed above
| Tauranga and dispersed over lhe couA-
! try some miles away.
The manifestation was accompanied bY
i inoeEsS eeUaas SU of frost This is explained
! bV the fact that the columns OIL stream
/ eTDanded as they ascended and absorbed
| their own heat, which became Iatent, 50
| thing near. A day or two later the gov
| ernment geolOgist arrived at Iaurangat
| the disaster were pushed rapidly forward
/ on the fourth day after the eruption the
] party arrived at WairOa, the Maori VII
s ts1s 1dI+ ~ he seen The whole village
| had been crushed beneath volcanic lava
fTo ~ littIe L-iIiage Church and other build
| ings protruded above the surface OF the
| deposit, which at first measured four 1eet
| in thickness but afterward settled down
| to half that depth. One young English
| man was killed, as well as the Maor1S
! who lived in the district and eXacIed
! tolls from visitors to the Hot lakes The
/ scene was the widest inc ginable- The
| air rushed over the land with cyclonlc
fury uprOOting. tearing and brea king
trees that had survived the hail Of rocks,
leaving here and there a gnarIed and ]aS-
! ged trunk, denuded of branches and strip
! ped of its bark
| The next day the party set off for F2o-
/ tomahana- As they approached the not
/ lakes huge cracks, extending hundred OF
| yards in length and about q. foot in width
! were seen in all directions Ihe scene
4 was one of the strange grandeur OF abSO-
| lutte desolation. The upheaval Of nature
| had blown the wonderful terraces to
atoms: steam was rising in dense clouds
| distance of about nine miles. ROtOmahana
| lake was a yawning caldron from which
| rose a majestic column of steam The
ground was completely stripped or NeSe-
tatiOn and covered with lava from the
| mountain The lava was reduced 70 the
! consistency of flour. so that the explorers
sank in it nearly to their knees: Thus in
the space of time was North Island sud
denly shOrn of its most peculiar natural
features. In six hours the whole aspect
of the country was changed and what was
one of the most beautiful spots in the
world was transformed into a barren
country. carpeted in lava and covered
with debris The geySers, however, st1Il
abound in profusiOn and it is possible in
time other terraces may be formed