Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-18

The government owns $500 miles Of rail-
ways. There are only 1i3 miles Of privately
owned railways IN the dominion. New
Zealand has produced about ts5o.OOOOOo Of
gold In a little over forty years. II has
one Of tho largest gold mines in the world.
ono that pays an annual dividend OF 80 per
cent.
VIsit 20 Picturesque R~otorua.
This great feature Of the Dominion VOL
come was the visit TO the famous Rotorua
thermal springs and a peep into the revser
country. The government owns Rotorpa
and the special occasion OF the visit was
the opening Of a splendid new government
bathhouse. The real object Of the trim was
to exhibit the real Maoris and 20 bestow
upon the Americans a native welcome
such as has not been given since the duke
ana duchess OF York visited this country
nearly ten years ago.
II was on tho Rotorua trin that A.
Americans got some idea OF what the an
Client Maorls must have been as a race
and as warriors. One could I'll columns
with the details OF their welcome. II was
the most thrilling and savage exhibition
any OF the party had ever witnessed. and
at the same time It was the heartiest greet
ing or good will that they received.
Moreover, II had a peculiar interest for
the Americans because II revealed the DOS
sible origin of the ubiquitous college veil
that nowadays afflicts America. especially
In the fall of the year. Those youngsters
with hishevelled hair and ~magaphones and
clenched fists and strained faces who stand
out In front Of grandstands and call for
three long ones or something of that
kind do not know what real yelling is or
how to secure it-they are mere children
at the game
The main party arrived at Rotorua late
at night. 1t is almost in the heart of North
Island. The sulphur fumes filled the air,
and in the bright light of the full moon
one could see the clouds of steam pouring
from the earth in great banks all over
the district. In the morning the visitors
went to the Maori village, walked among
the boiling mud pools, saw the natives
doing their cooking in them, put one hand
in a stream Of cold water and, only a foot
away, held their fingers over a boiling
pool.
The earth crust seemed too frail to step
upon. on all sides Jets of steam spurted
into faces. You could paw away the sand
in places and at a depth of from three
to four inches It would become too hot to
handle. 1t was a gruesome, uncanny place
in which to live. and Maggie and Bella
Papakura, the we'll known guides, with the
dozen girls they had to assist them, made
merry and also charmed all hands with
their legends and pretty stories.
SpOutinE Geysers.
The admiral threw a bar of soap into the
forbidding hole of Wairoa geyser, where
the waters were growing and rumbling.
In a few minutes an upheaval began.
It Jumped itself above the surface once
or twice and then IT shot clear up with
a series of spouts 100 feet high, and the
wind caught the spray and made rainbows
almost arching over the party
fine omens for the visitors. The rest OF the
day was given up to bathing in the Won
derful health-giving waters of the baths, In
visiting Maggie's house or Pa, in talking
with the natives and exploring about the
dangerous pools of bubbling mud and
watching the steam clouds pouring for
acres and acres from the ground.
And this was only a glimpse into Geyser-
land. For miles and miles around 1t con-
tinues and there is a picture OF one OF the
geysers-there are scores of ~them-spout-
ing no less than 1900 feet in the air IalK
about the Yellowstone after that!
Then there were the great pink and white
terraces. acres of them. that were over
whelmed by an eruption about twenty years
ago. an eruption that sent an entire lake
of water high in the air and left 1t seventy
feet higher than 1t was before. on Gey-
serland is full Of wonderful things; would
! there was room here to tell OF them!
One can not be neglected, just a mere
mention: 1t Is the hot lake of Rotoma-
hama. only twenty miles from Rotorua. At
the lower end Of the lake the water Is
quite cold. Going toward the upper end
the water gradually gets warmer and
warmer until when within a short distance
to the shore it becomes actually boiling and
the shore Is shrouded with steam CLOUDS
that are almost impenetrable to the eye
This is only one of the many strange
phenomena in this strange, strange land.
beautiful Native MaOris.
Interesting as was the Maori welcome,
the visitors found the natives themselves
much more interesting. The beauty of the
women astonished them. They are choco-
late in color and the younger ones are
1.-THE.
Their features are almost typically
Grecian. Their eyes are wonderfully bright
and they carry themselves with the all
of nobility.
The men have long given up the practice
Of tattooing their faces. 1t was marvellous
how they worked out those patterns.
some of the women still tattoo their lips
and chins 1t now indicates a marriage
mark, but 1t mars the beauty OF thei
faces voefully. They are gradually giving
nm the custom and are beginning 10 SEE
that they are more beautiful II they Ioree'
this painful operation Of staining men
snirs with a shell and the indelible I'M
they make from a root
The writer went to Rotorua In d ca
.,bera there was a young Maori matrol
Of high rank. Like hundreds OF TN
women. she was a graduate of the Maor
college. She had as regular features a
, any Grecian maiden of old. but her Gnu
was stained. You forgot it when sh
; smiled and her face lighted up with merri
ment.
4 She was the life OF the car. When sh
smoke it was with as soft a voice as wa
ever given to one Of her sex. Her Englls'
was delightful in its pronunciation ana III
diction was absolutely free from slang
She wore a Paris hat and 1t was tie
down with an automobile veil she ma
some OF the native embroidery on ne
gown and she wore diamonds on her I'm