Notes and Gleanings; Being Leaves from the Diary of a Voyage to and from Australia and New Zealand, in 1893 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1894 edition. Excerpt: ...Within a few yards of this great geyser opening, hot springs and cold springs were pouring their waters into the almost boiling river below; and within another short distance, great openings were pouring out streams of boiling mud. The sounds and sights made us stand aghast; but close by, in pools of tepid water, Maori youths and children were enjoying their baths amid the terrible turmoil of nature; and old women were sitting outside their houses on flat stones warmed by the genial heat from the ground, smoking their pipes, and I presume discussing their local gossip. The smell of sulphur and other chemical substances thrown off by these springs was very disagreeable, and we were glad to get away from their neighbourhood; but we had not yet seen the most appalling of these wonders of nature. Next day we drove twelve miles to a place called Tikiteri, a valley about two miles by one, in which are centred all the peculiarities of the hot lake district. The bottom of the valley is over 1000 feet above sea-level, and it is surrounded by high hills. The first thing which arrested our attention when we entered the valley was a great opening in the side of the hill facing us, from which immense volumes of steaming hot water were being thrown, as if some gigantic pump were at work below the ground; and as the water fell back into the steaming orifice, it sounded as if it would suck into the regions below anything coming near it. Near the centre of the valley the scene around was simply indescribable. Sulphur fumes hung over the place like a fog, and the hissing noise made by jets of steam, the gurgling noises made by dozens of openings vomiting out boiling mud, streams of sulphurous liquid, of water permeated with alum and silicate, and of oily and...