Evening star., 1913-02-15
A NEW HELL'S HALF ACRE
Rotorua's Boiling Springs, Cold
Lakes and Mud Volcanoes.
PINK AND WHITE TERRACES
Waimungu, Once King of All Gey-
sers, Erupting Over 1,5OO Feet,
Now Inactive.
II.
BY THEODORE w. MOVES.

II.
BY THEODORE w. MOVES.
| Editorial Correspondence of Tho Star.
New Zealand has in the North Island a
Yellowstone Park and in the South Island
the fords of Norway and the snow noun
tains and lakes OF Switzerland I visit ed
the South Island in icy August. so l saw
/ the snow mountains only at a distance
and the famous west coast fiords not at
| all. But New Zealand's geyser and hot
| springs region is In the North Island.
nearer the equator. and can be visited
with comfort at any season of the year
In fact. l was favored with the finest of
fine weather during the whole Of two
weeks visit to Rotorua, Wairakei and the
Lake Taupo region. The trip included
! three days of motoring and other days of
| Goa ching and of steaming in launches on
the lakes.
The points of greatest interest are Ro-
| torua. with it's hot springs and its gey-
! Sers at Whakarewarewa; the Waimungu
geyser region. the Tarawera and Lake
Rotomahana region. including the site of
! the famous pink and white terraces and
of the volcanic eruptiOns which destroyed
| them: T1kitere. with its Suffocating va
| pors and its other signs of intense Their
NAL activity: the geyser valley at Waira
| kei, the lakes from ROtorua and Roto-Iti
| to Tarawera and Rotomahana and to Tau
po. with it's fringe of snow mountains,
including the smoking volcano of Ngauru-
hoe.
Yellowstone Park of the Antipodes.
Theogeyser region of New Zealand is
the Yellowstone Park of the antpodes
| 10 the American visitor Yellowstone Park
is repeatedly and vividly suggested. The
| two sections of volcanic and thermal ac-
tlVity are of approximately the same area.
| of the same geological formation, with
| the same chemical constituents in earth
| and water to produce in comoina ton heat
| and vivid colors. Hence they show the
| same indications of intense volcanic ac-
| tivity in the past. and they possess in the
! present the same water volcanoes or
geysers. the same steam volcanoes or
! blowhOleS, the same mud volcanoes,
| Seeth1nS, thrObbing and mildly erupting
the same boiling. steaming springs and
! lakes. the deposits from whose trickling
waters paint in natures most brilliant
| colors terraces or craters or the sides of
! great canyons and in connection with the
curious and striking in crater form suppy
| the element of the beautiful to counter
! balance the terrifying and repuiSive: the
| same lovely cold lakes. with fine noun
| tain environment; the same vast sulphur
| the earths crust. thin and treacherous
and barely separating the visitor from
| the worlds internal fires. the traditional
| home of his Internal majesty. trembles
| and Shvers under the foot in terrifying
| fashion and where the nose is assaiied
| by the same suiphurous. suffocating
smells and the ear is startled by the same
| rumblinS, grinding. roaring. shriekinS
| and other internal noises. And with the
same diabOlical conditions AID character
! isticS is the same satanic nomenclature
under which both display cOnspicuously
| the Devils Thumb; and the Gate OF Hades.
| the Inferno and the Devils Frying Pan in
/ New Zealand correspond to the Devils
! Slide. the DEVILS Kitchen and Hell's Half
| Acre in the Yellowstone.
The Yellowstone Park and New Zealand
| vOlcanO-geyser regions unciudfng in the
| New Zealand calculation the recognized
volcanic belt from White Island to Mount
| Ruapehu are of approximately the same
area, little over 5000 square miles
| From the most famous hot springs To the
scene of greatest geyser activity, that is
| from ROtorua to Wairakei in New Zea-
| land and from Mammoth Hot Springs to
the Upper Geyser Basin in the Yellow
! stone is drive of forty-nine miles in
both cases.
Wherein Rotorua Excels.
% The New Zealand geyser region Tor
| Rotorua as it may be designated for con-
venience, though that name belongs prop
| erly only to a single town and lake of the
| region) is at it's most remote point de-
grees nearer to the equator than the most
northern point of Yellowstone Park.
| While Rotorua is only 10 degrees from
| the equator at it's most distant point, the
Yellowstone extends nearly to 45 degrees
from the equator. The average altitude
of Rotorua is nearly 1850 feet less than
that of the Yellowstone. Rotorua aver
ages 1,2C0 feet; Yellowstone Park. 5000
! feet) On account of this advantage in
| latitude and altitude Rotorua is accessi-
| BILE as a pleasure or health resort at all
seasons. of the year, while the Yellow
| stone can be visited with comfort only in
| the summer.
| (2) Rotorua has an advantage over the
/. Yellowstone in the greater utilization of
its waters for health-restoring domestic
and other practical purposes 1t is the
Arkansas Hot Springs we'll as the Ye!-
! lowStone of the antipodes. The health
| giving waters are extensively utilized in
ROtorua: in the Yellowstone not at all.
| In the village of RotOrua. which corre-
| spends to Mammoth Hot Springs in the
Yellowstone. the New Zealand govern
ment has built a new. attractive and eX-
pensive bathhouse, utilizing the old and
| famous springs Rachel, Priest, etc. and
equipped with all the luxurious devices
| that the ingenuity of man has conceived.
| The old bathhouses and swimming pools
| remain, as well as the government sani-
| tarium. All are situated in extensive
and attractive park on the shore of Lake
Rotorua, owned and developed by the
| New Zealand government This park has
| extensive forest growth. small zoo,
bowling greens and tennis courts. In ad-
| dition to the multitudes who flock to Ro-
| torua village are the thousands who battle
in the hot swimming pools or spout baths
| or some other bathing utilization of the
| hot water which all the little hotels scat
| tered through the geyser region boast.
| In the Maori villages of this region like
! Ohinemutu and Whakarewarewa the hot
| springs enter usefully and extensively into
various domestic operations. as cooking,
| bathing, washing clothes and supplying d
surface sewerage system.
| (3) The lower altitude of Rotorua also
causes it's mountains to stand out more
] impressively than those of the Yellow
| stone From the level of Lake TaupO
| Ruapehu. the highest mountain in the
North Island. rises 1900 feet in air: from
| the level of Yellowstone lake Mount Elec-
| tric the highest in the Yellowstone. rises
only H.4CO feet above the lake level Ro-
| torua's mountains and the mountain en-
| vironment of Lake TaupO. including Rua-
pehu and the smoking volcano of Ngauru-
hoe are more impressive and seemingly
much higher than those of the Yellow
| stone and the mountain environment of
| Yellowstone lake. (The highest noun
| tain in the Yellowstone Is the Electric,
| H. 15J feet. In RotOrua the highest is
| Ruapehu. S.S1S feet but Rotorua averages