HOT SPRINGS OF TONGARIRO.
Departure from Ngatokorua--Okahakura Plains--Tongariro from the
north--Source of the Whanganui--The hot springs--A marvellous
sanatorium--Crater of Ketetahi--Te Perore--A strategic
position--Kuwharua--Maori cakes--A grand region--Site for a public
park.
We left Ngatokorua with a pressing invitation to return again, and
took an easterly course across the Waimarino Plains, in the direction
of Tongariro, with the view of tracing up the source of the Whanganui
River, which, we had learned from the natives, rose somewhere in the
northern side of the volcano, and after that I had determined to
examine the tapued springs and the crater of Ketetahi, which were
situated a short distance further to the east on the same mountain.
The whole country we passed through to reach Tongariro consisted of a
series of magnificent plains, richly grassed, surrounded for the most
part by forest, and dotted here and there with patches of bush that
grew in the centre of the plains and bordered many of the streams. We
crossed the Mangahuia and Whakapapa rivers, both swift streams, flowing
in a north-westerly direction to join the Upper Whanganui. Beyond the
Waimarino Plains was an equally attractive stretch of country of the
same description, known as Okahakura, and through the centre of which
wound the Mangatepopo River, likewise a tributary of the Whanganui.
When we ascended the hills and rugged spurs which surrounded the great
volcano of Tongariro on the north, we found them to be composed mostly
of scoria and trachytic rock, but covered for a long distance up their
sides with a thick vegetation of native grasses and dwarf shrubs. The
tops of the larger spurs were, however, very rugged and barren, while
the depression round the lip of the crater, which we had observed when
at the summit of the great cone, was distinctly visible, and naturally
made the mountain appear less elevated on this than on its southern
side. The splendid cone was, however, now covered with a white canopy
of snow almost to its base, while the summit here and there was tinged
of a bright yellow with deposits of sulphur crystals, and as its white
coil of steam floated over its gracefully pointed top the effect was
beautiful in the extreme.
On one of the principal spurs to the north-west of the great cone we
found the source of the Whanganui bursting out through a narrow rocky
gorge at an altitude of 3700 feet above the level of the sea, the water
evidently arising from mountain springs, and at certain times from the
melting of the snows. The river from this point runs rapidly down the
winding gorges of the mountains, and, after receiving in its course the
waters of numerous other streams, winds across the Okahakura Plains,
and afterwards enters the dense forests of the Tuhua, and then taking
a bold sweep to the north-west receives the waters of the Ongaruhe and
numerous other streams, as it flows in its long course to join the sea
in the south. The Whanganui, which, after the Waikato, forms the most
important river of the North Island, receives the whole of the western
watershed of the great central table-land, besides that of other
divisions of the country.
Leaving the source of the Whanganui, we took an easterly direction,
and, after a long climb through the thick shrubs and boulder-strewn
sides of the mountain, arrived at the great _solfatara_, the steam
from which, constantly arising in the form of a dense white cloud,
forms a conspicuous feature when looking towards Tongariro from the
north. We ascended to an altitude of 5600 feet on to the spur where the
renowned chief Te Heuheu is said to be buried, and on the summit of
which were the small blue lakes we had seen from the top of the great
cone, and which were now surrounded by their winter mantle of snow.
Lower down on the same spur, at an altitude of 4900 feet, we found the
hot springs roaring beneath us, deep down in a semicircular gorge,
which was strewn about in every direction with huge boulders, as if a
great flood of water had recently passed through it. We got with some
difficulty down the rugged sides of this strange chasm, and soon stood
in the centre of a region where boiling springs burst from the earth,
where jets of steam shrieked and hissed from innumerable fissures,
where enormous boiling mud-holes bubbled like heated cauldrons, and
where the hot, steaming soil, covered in every direction with yellow
crystals of sulphur, and glistening silicious deposits, quaked beneath
our feet, as if anxious to swallow us up, so that we had to pick our
way cautiously amid clouds of steam and sulphurous fumes for fear of
coming to an untimely and unpleasant end. In many places fountains of
hot water shot high into the air. Some of the warm springs were of a
dark coffee-colour, caused apparently by the admixture of iron; others
were yellow with excess of sulphur; others white with alum; while not
a few were of the purest blue. Taken altogether, this weird place had
an unpleasant, pandemonium-like air about it, while the noise of the
hissing steam-jets was so great, as they burst with terrific force from
their rocky vents, that it was impossible to hear oneself speak when
near to them. Indeed, a dozen or so of railway engines letting off
steam and blowing their whistles at the same time would only serve to
convey a slight idea of the tremendous din.
These springs, as the Maoris afterwards informed us, possessed
wonderful curative properties in all cases of chronic rheumatism and
cutaneous disorders, and many natives suffering from ailments of that
kind come long distances to avail themselves of the thermal waters,
which it would appear never fail to effect a cure. This portion of
Tongariro, like all other parts, is strictly tapued against Europeans,
and the natives of Rotoaira and the surrounding district guard this
marvellous sanatorium with a jealous eye; but as we attacked it from
the rear, they were none the wiser for our visit.
A short distance beyond the springs, and near to the end of the great
spur, we found the small crater known to the natives as Ketetahi, which
was formed of a circular aperture emitting vast volumes of steam. We
obtained a splendid view of the country towards the north from our
elevated position, the rugged ranges of Te Tuhua being crowned by
Hikurangi, a beautiful pyramidal-shaped mountain, with a flat top,
while to the westward of it could be distinctly traced the winding
course of the Ongaruhe River.
We crossed the Mangatepopo River, flowing from Tongariro, and then the
Whanganui, the winding course of which we had to traverse three times.
Near to the second crossing-place a picturesque headland jutted out
from the dense forest that bordered the plain, and upon its summit
could be plainly traced the outline of rude earthworks, which were
as solid as if they had been but recently erected. This was all that
remained of Te Perore, which during the war formed one of Te Kooti's
most formidable strongholds, and it was here that the memorable battle
was fought in which Captain St. George lost his life. The Maoris are
said to have suffered severely during the engagement, Te Kooti himself
being wounded in the left hand by a rifle-ball.
When examining this decaying remnant of the great struggle between
the white and the dark race, I could not but admire the judgment
which had been displayed by the Maoris in choosing this point as
a strategic position. It was about 100 feet above the plain, the
Whanganui River wound round it to the east, while the formation of
the surrounding country was such that the enemy would be open to the
fire of the besieged from every side of the _pa_ save at the rear,
where the latter, if beaten, would have a splendid retreat open in the
dense forests of the Tuhua, which backed the fortification at that
point. Nature appeared to have done her utmost to efface all traces
of the struggle, and upon the rude earthworks, once alive with the
forms of tattooed warriors, now shrubs and trees waved their heads to
the passing breeze. Never was there a more beautiful spot chosen for
a battle, and it must have been a truly impressive sight to see the
valiant Maori warriors fighting for their country under the very shadow
of their sacred mountains, driving back the _pakeha_, and erecting a
barrier of isolation around the grand region whose wonders we were now
exploring.
As we were riding on our way along the plain near to the edge of the
forest we noticed that on the small elevations on our left, which
fringed the bush, several _whares_ were dotted about in the most
picturesque situations. When we were passing one of these rustic
homesteads some natives hailed us, to know where we were going. At this
we rode up the steep elevation upon which their _whare_ was placed, to
have a _korero_, and to gain what information we could with regard to
our future course. An old woman with a goitre upon her neck hailed us
with the usual cry of welcome, while her tattooed lord, who was engaged
making a trap to catch pigeons, invited us to put up our horses and
rest. We were willing enough to do this, especially as there was a
smell of cooking about, and our cool ride across the plains had given
us our usual wolfish appetite. We were soon invited to partake of a
repast of pork and potatoes, together with some cakes, made evidently
of flour and water, but so hard that it was impossible to bite them,
and so heavy that Turner, with every show of reason, remarked that if
we happened to get unhorsed when crossing a river, we should never rise
to the surface with one of those cakes in our insides.
We did not take our meal in the smoky _whare_, but sat with the Maoris
outside in the sun. The day was one of the finest we had experienced,
and all nature appeared as if wrapped in a mantle of eternal spring.
The small _kainga_ where we now were was known to the natives as
Kuwharua, and stood at an elevation of 2420 feet above the level of the
sea. The view from this place when looking towards the south was the
finest we had beheld during our journey, if I except the marvellous
panoramas beheld from the top of the Ruapehu and Tongariro. For the
variety of the scenery to be obtained within the radius of ten miles
from where we were, no view in the world could equal it. Beneath us
was the Te Pakaru Plain, with an area of some twenty square miles,
covered with a green growth of native grass, and intersected by winding
mountain streams. In the south-east were the blue waters of Lake
Rotoaira, backed by the cone-shaped summits of the Kakaramea Ranges,
clothed with dense forests of tall trees; while beyond, stretching like
a grand barrier across the country to the south, were the serrated
peaks of the Kaimanawa Mountains, at whose base rolled the broad open
downs of the Rangipo Table-land. Rising right in the centre of this
grand picture were the wonderful mountains of Tongariro, heaped and
piled about in the most fantastic and curious way, and from the midst
of which shot up the white, glittering cone of the volcano crowned
with its perpetual cloud of steam, while, to complete the attractive
scene, the stupendous form of Ruapehu towered to the skies, peak
rising above peak beneath its deep mantle of winter snow. Here was
a view which, taken in as it was at one glance, exceeded in grandeur
and sublimity even the most glowing creations of fairyland. Here were
park-like plains of vivid green stretching from the borders of an
inland sea to the shores of a romantic-looking lake, where the waters
were of the deepest blue; around were steaming craters and thermal
springs, colossal cone-shaped mountains towering to the regions of
eternal snow, and lesser heights rising from amidst primeval forests of
the grandest description, glowing and palpitating as it were, in all
their beauty beneath the sunlight; and yet, singular to relate, this
marvellous country, this wonder-land, as we gazed upon it, was to all
intents and purposes a _terra incognita_. Here was in reality a model
Switzerland under a semi-tropical sky--a region designed, as it were,
by the artistic hand of nature for a national recreation-ground, where
countless generations of men might assemble to marvel at some of the
grandest works of the creation.
With the Te Pakaru Plain proclaimed as a public domain, New Zealand
would possess the finest and most unique park in the world. For
healthfulness of climate, variety of scenery, and volcanic and thermal
wonders, there would be no place to equal it in the northern or
southern hemisphere, no spot where within so small a radius could be
seen natural phenomena so varied and so remarkable. It would embrace
within its boundaries the hot springs of Tongariro and those of Tokanu,
and would stretch from the waters of Lake Taupo to the shores of
Rotoaira. The surrounding table-land, with its millions of acres of
open plains covered with rich volcanic soil, should eventually become
the granary of the North Island; while the Kaimanawa Mountains and the
Tuhua should give forth their mineral treasures on either side.