Page:Transactions NZ Institute Volume 4.djvu/31

Rh Hochstetter, and by other writers raore competent than myself. Let it suffice on the present occasion to say that all the authorities agree that the solfataras, geysers, and fumaroles alike owe their origin to water sinking through natural fissures into the caverns of the earth, where it becomes heated by ever-burning volcanic fires. High-pressure steam is thus generated, which, accompanied by volcanic gases, forces its way up towards the cooler surface, and is there condensed into hot water. It has been further remarked that even the legends of the Maoris correctly ascribe the origin of the hot lakes and springs to the combined agency of fire and water, in connection with the still active craters of Whakari and of Tongariro. The traditions of the Arawas relate that among the chiefs who led their ancestors from Hawaiki to New Zealand was Ngatiroirangi, whose name, being interpreted, signifies "the messenger of Heaven." He landed at Maketu, whence he set forth with his slave Ngauruhoe to explore the new found land. As they journeyed onward they at length beheld, towards the South, the lofty snow-clad mountain of Tongariro (literally "towards the south"). Climbing to the highest peak to gain a wider view of the surrounding country, they were benumbed with the cold, when the chief shouted to his sisters, who had remained upon Whakari, to send him fire. The sisters heard his call, and sent him the sacred fire brought from Hawaiki. It was borne in the hands of two taniwhas or water-spirits, dwelling in the caverns of the earth and ocean, from Whakari, through a subterranean passage, to the top of Tongariro. The fire arrived just in time to save the life of the chief, but the slave was already dead. And so the crater of Tongariro is called, to this day, by the name of Ngauruhoe; and the sacred fire still blazes throughout the underground zone along which it was carried by the taniwhas. It burns under the lakes of Rotoiti, Rotorua, and Rotomahana—under the thousand hot springs which burst forth between Whakari and Tongariro. Dr. Hochstetter ("New Zealand," chap. 18) remarks that "this legend affords a remarkable instance of the accurate observation of the natives, who have thus indicated the true line of the chief volcanic action in the North Island."

I now proceed to give a short sketch of my visit during the months of February and March, in the present year, to the magnificent, but hitherto little known, Sounds on the south-west coast of the Middle Island, whither Commodore Stirling conveyed me in H.M.S. 'Clio.' Dr. Hector accompanied