Evening star., 1913-02-15


Frederick p. Hyde. an enthusiastic anna
teur manipulation of the camera. who was
especially desirous of getting some motion
pictures of Pohotu in eruption. He had ms
"a mera placed in position on the mound
on which the office Of the superintendent
of the geyser reservation was located and
trained it on Rohotu. 1t was reported
that Pohotu had erupted both in the
morning and the afternoon of the day on
which / arrived at Rotorua. but for two
weeks thereafter it utterly refused to
erupt.
Mr.. Hyde was disappointed in respect
to his motion film and ! was deprived or
the plea sure of compa ring PohOtus erup-
ton with those of YeliowstOnes geysers.
But the sour grapes pr1nciple we
have concluded that we did not lose SO
very much any way in missing Pohotu s
eruption, for at it's best it is not so high
or in SO great volume or so attractive
even as Old Faithful. which does its duty
every hour without fail. The only thor
oughly reliable geysers in New Zealand
are the small artificial geysers in Rotorua
Park They work continually and their
construction robs the :seyser of its mys-
terry The causes Of geyser eruption are
clearly demonstrated. The Rotorua gey-
sers excel in fickleness il in nothing else.
The most interesting geyser display in
Taupo. which is the Upper Geyser basin
Of RotOrua. The Upper Geyser basin or
the Yellowstone is about four square
miles in area. containing ABOUT forty
geysers and many beautiful hot springs.
including the largest geysers after Elk
ceisior and the finest i'll the park. Ola
Faithful plays at intervals of about an
hour and throws a stream to tle height
of 125 to 1JO feet. The Bee Hive is credit
ed with an eruption to the height of 150
he 1.NI feet Grand
200 feet, the Giant, the grandest Seyser in
the basin, $50 feet. Its eruption lasts for
one and one-half hours. Then there are
geysers like the Castle and GrOtto, with
impressive or beautiful craters. A greater
variety of the terrible, the beautiful, the
wonderful and the curious never
elsewhere crowded into so small space.
Wairakei Geyser Valley.
The seyser valley OF the Wairai1ei. a
hot stream. fed by boiling springs and
geysers has abrupt sides from Cd to 100
feet in height Unlike the bare and desc
late banks Of F'irehole river in the Ye!-
lowstone. ghostly and ghastly in their Pc
culiar whiteness. Wairakei valley is well
wooded and green-carpeted in fern and
moss Steam jets and columns Of vapor
and water in geyser eruption rise among
the trees and ferns. In exploring the
valley both sides of the Wairakei are
visited and revisited. Here one hears the
heavy reverberation. the periodical thud,
causing the earth to trem5le. OF the Steam
Hammer Here is Champagne pool
(Tuhuatuhi), an enormous boiling caldrOn.
about fifty feet in diameter. in perpetual
ebullition, erupting' now bright clear
bubbles, like those of champagne, now
sending masses of water eight feet in
air. it's surface constantly and violently
convulsed. It's waters flow in part over
terraces to the stream below. depositing
patches and streaks OF color here and
there-white and cream, dark red and
brown. Here is the Great Wairakei, a
fine little geyser. picturesquely located,
which plays every eight minutes, sending
a great volume of water to varying
Here are the Eagles Nest and the Heron's S
Nest. curious geySer cones of incruSted
sticks. The Twin Geysers and the
Prince of Wales Feathers, with its beau
teresting AMI attractive. The Dragons
Mouth geyser has a curiOusy shaped
crater. justifyinS its name 1t is ener-
getic, boiling, sputtering and throwing up
feathefy fountains. and has colored the
adjacent soil and terraces with bright red
brown, gray and white. There are hot
springs everywhere: mud volcanoes. the
Donkey Engine thudding away with it's
pulsating throb; the Black Geyser, the Pet
rifying Geyser. with it's incrustations re-
sembling red coral.
Then in the vicinity is the beautiful
Blue lake. with steep, precipitous banks,
and not far away the Wairoa valley. with
it's bewildering multitude Of many-colored
springs, natural paintpots producing
curious and wonderful color effects.
There is a resemblance between the
great geysers. both now extinct or in
active of Excelsior in the Yellowstone
and Waimungu in Rotorua. Excelsior
was credited. when it played. with being
the largest in the world. Except for a
short interval IN 1880. 1t has not worked
since 1888. when it threw a huge mass Of
water to height of 300 to 300 feet. Its
crater is nearly 300 feet long and 2D0 feet
wide. and it's walls rise fifteen to twenty
feet above the level of the boiling water
within. The view of it is appalling. and
amply justifies it's title of Helrs Half
Acre.
Waimungu Once King of Geysers.
Waimungu geyser basin is 134 Yards
long and thirty yards wide 1t has
not erupted for many years, but
when it did. for height of erup-
ton as well as volume and force, it
was the king among geysers. Its erup-
ton, as described by L. I. Massey, began
with low rumbling sound, then hid
eous roar. steadily increasing, till with
rending crash a vast black column of
mud stones and boiling water hurled
itself upward, and, tearing the surface of
the peaceful lake. shot 500 or 6O0 feet