[1] After writing this page I found that Mr. Percy Smith, formerly32 Surveyor-General, gives another version of the legend. He tells how the hero Ngatoro, landing on the shore of the Bay of Plenty, went inland, and, with a companion named Ngauruhoe, climbed Tongariro. Near the summit, Ngauruhoe died of cold, and Ngatoro, himself half-frozen, shouted to his sisters far away in the legendary33 island of Hawaiki to bring fire. His cry reached them far across the ocean, and they started to his rescue. Whenever they halted—as at White Island—and lit their camp fire, geysers spouted34 up from the ground. But when at length they reached Tongariro, it was only to find that Ngatoro, tired of waiting for them, had gone back to the coast.
A fourth version of the legend is contained in a paper by Mr. H. Hill in vol. xxiv. of the Transactions of the N.Z. Institute.
Needless to say, the scenes between Ruapehu and the sea-coast are not all as terrific as this. The main charm of the volcanic province is, indeed, its variety. Though in a sense its inhabitants live on the lid of a boiler36—a boiler, too, that is perforated with steam holes—still it is a lid between five thousand and six thousand square miles in size. This leaves ample room for broad tracts38 where peace reigns39 amid apparent solidity and security. Though it is commonly called the Hot Lakes District, none of its larger lakes are really hot, that is to say hot throughout; they are distinctly cold. Roto-mahana before it was blown up in the eruption of 1886 was in no part less than lukewarm; but in those days Roto-mahana only covered 185 acres. At Ohinemutu there is a pool the water of which is unmistakably hot throughout; but it is not more than about a hundred yards long. Usually the hot lagoons41 are patchy in temperature—boiling at one end, cool at the other. Perhaps the official title, Thermal42 Springs District, is more accurate. The hot water comes [119]in the form of springs, spouts43, and geysers. Boiling pools there are in numbers, veritable cauldrons. Boiling springs burst up on the beaches of the cold lakes, or bubble up through the chilly44 waters. The bather can lie floating, as the writer has, with his feet in hot and his head in cold water. Very agreeable the sensation is as the sunshine pours from a blue sky on to a lagoon40 fringed with ferns and green foliage45. There are places where the pedestrian fording a river may feel his legs chilled to the marrow46 by the swift current, and yet find the sandy bottom on which he is treading almost burn the soles of his feet. The first white traveller to describe the thermal springs noted47 a cold cascade48 falling on an orifice from which steam was puffing49 at intervals50. The resultant noise was as strange as the sight. So do hot and cold mingle51 and come into conflict in the thermal territory.
“THE DRAGON’S MOUTH”
The area of this hydro-thermal district, which Mr. Percy Smith, the best living authority on the subject, calls the Taupo volcanic zone, is roundly about six thousand square miles. As already said, part of it lies under the sea, above which only White Island, Mayor Island, and Whale Island rise to view. Its shape, if we could see the whole of it, would probably be a narrow oval, like an old-fashioned silver hand-mirror with a slender handle. In the handle two active volcanoes lift their heads—Ruapehu, and Tongariro with its three cones. At the other end of the mirror White Island stands up, incessantly52 at work. This exhausts the list of active volcanoes; but there are six or seven extinct [120]or quiescent53 volcanoes of first-class importance. Mayor Island, in the Bay of Plenty, is a dead crater rimmed54 by walls five miles round and nearly 1300 feet high, enclosing a terrible chasm55 lined with dark obsidian56. Mount Edgecombe, an admirably regular cone, easily seen from the coast, has two craters in its summit; and the most appalling57 explosion ever known in the country occurred in the tract37 covered by Mount Tarawera and the Roto-mahana Lake. How terrific were the forces displayed by these extinct volcanoes in ages past may be judged by the vast extent of country overlaid by the pumice and volcanic clay belched59 forth60 from their craters. Not only is the volcanic zone generally overspread with this, only sparse61 patches escaping, but pumice is found outside its limits. Within these, it is, loosely speaking, pumice, pumice everywhere, dry, gritty, and useless,—a thin scattering62 of pumice on the hill-tops and steep slopes,—deep strata63 of pumice where it has been washed down into valleys and river terraces. Mingled64 with good soil it is mischievous65, though two or three grasses, notably66 that called Chewing’s fescue, grow well in the mixture. Unmixed pumice is porous67 and barren. Fortunately the tracts of deep pumice are limited. They soak up the ample rainfall; grass grows, but soon withers68; in dry weather a sharp tug69 will drag a tussock from the roots in the loose, thirsty soil. The popular belief is that it only needs a long-continued process of stamping and rolling to make these pumice expanses hold water and become fertile. Those who think thus point out that around [121]certain lonely lagoons, where wild horses and cattle have been wont71 to camp and roll, rich green patches of grass are found. Less hopeful observers hold that the destiny of the pumice country is probably to grow trees, fruit-bearing and other, whose deep roots will reach far down to the water. Already the Government, acting72 on this belief, has taken the work of tree-planting in hand, and millions of young saplings are to be found in the Waiotapu valley and elsewhere in the pumice land. Prison-labour is used for the purpose; and though a camp of convicts, with movable prison-vans like the cages of a travelling menagerie, seems a strange foil to the wonders of Nature, the toil73 is healthy for the men as well as useful to the country. From the vast extent of the pumice and clay layers it would seem that, uneasy as the thermal territory now is, it has, for all its geysers, steaming cones, and innumerable springs, become but a fretful display of slowly dying forces. So say those who look upon the great catastrophe74 of 1886 as merely the flicker75 of a dying flame.
HUKA FALLS
As already said, the volcanic zone is a land of lakes, many and beautiful. Four of the most interesting—Roto-rua, Roto-iti, Roto-ehu, and Roto-ma—lie in a chain, like pieces of silver loosely strung together. South of these Tarawera sleeps in sight of its terrible mountain, and south again of Tarawera the hot springs of Roto-mahana still draw sight-seers, though its renowned76 terraces are no longer there. Lake Okataina is near, resting amid unspoiled forest: and there is Roto-kakahi, the green lake, and, hard by, Tikitapu, the blue lake, [122]beautiful by contrast. But, of course, among all the waters Taupo easily overpeers the rest. “The Sea” the Maori call it; and indeed it is so large, and its whole expanse so easily viewed at once from many heights, that it may well be taken to be greater than it is. It covers 242 square miles, but the first white travellers who saw it and wrote about it guessed it to be between three and five hundred. Hold a fair-sized map of the district with the eastern side uppermost and you will note that the shape of Taupo is that of an ass’s head with the ears laid back. This may seem an irreverent simile77 for the great crater lake, with its deep waters and frowning cliffs, held so sacred and mysterious by the Maori of old. Seldom is its surface flecked by any sail, and only one island of any size breaks the wide expanse. The glory of Taupo—apart from the noble view of the volcanoes southward of it—is a long rampart of cliffs that almost without a break hems78 in its western side mile after mile. At their highest they reach 1100 feet. So steep are they that in flood-time cascades79 will make a clean leap from their summits into the lake; and the sheer descent of the wall continues below the surface, for, within a boat’s length of the overhanging cliff, sounding-leads have gone down 400 feet. Many are the waterfalls which in the stormier months of the year seam the rocky faces with white thread-like courses. On a finer scale than the others are the falls called Mokau, which, dashing through a leafy cleft80, pour into the deep with a sounding plunge81, and, even from a distance, look [123]something broader and stronger than the usual white riband.
By contrast, on the eastern side of the lake wide strips of beach are not uncommon82, and the banks, plains, and terrace sides of whitish pumice, though not inconsiderable, are but tame when compared with the dark basaltic and trachytic heights overhanging the deep western waters. Many streams feed Taupo; only one river drains it. It is not astonishing, then, that the Maori believed that in the centre a terrible whirlpool circled round a great funnel83 down which water was sucked into the bowels84 of the earth. A variant85 of this legend was that a huge taniwha or saurian monster haunted the western depths, ready and willing to swallow canoes and canoemen together. The river issuing from Taupo is the Waikato, which cuts through the rocky lip of the crater-lake at its north-east corner. There it speeds away as though rejoicing to escape, with a strong clear current about two hundred yards wide. Then, pent suddenly between walls of hard rock, it is jammed into a deep rift87 not more than seventy feet across. Boiling and raging, the whole river shoots from the face of a steep tree-clothed cliff with something of the force of a horizontal geyser. Very beautiful is the blue and silver column as it falls, with outer edges dissolving into spray, into the broad and almost quiet expanse below. This waterfall, the Huka, though one of the famous sights of the island, does not by any means exhaust the beauties of the Upper Waikato. A little lower down the Ara-tia-tia Rapids furnish a [124]succession of spectacles almost as fine. There for hundreds of yards the river, a writhing88 serpent of blue and milk-white flecked with silver, tears and zig-zags, spins and foams89, among the dripping reefs and between high leafy rocks, “wild with the tumult91 of tumbling waters.”
Broadly speaking, the Taupo plateau is a region of long views. Cold nights are more often than not followed by sunny days. The clear and often brilliant air enables the eye to travel over the nearer plains and hills to where some far-off mountain chain almost always closes the prospect92. The mountains are often forest-clad, the plains and terraces usually open. Here will be seen sheets of stunted93 bracken; there, wide expanses of yellowish tussock-grass. The white pumice and reddish-brown volcanic clay help to give a character to the colouring very different to the black earth and vivid green foliage of other parts of the island. The smooth glacis-like sides of the terraces, and the sharply-cut ridges94 of the hills, seem a fit setting for the perpetual display of volcanic forces and an adjunct in impressing on the traveller that he is in a land that has been fashioned on a strange design. Nothing in England, and very little in Europe, remotely resembles it. Only sometimes on the dusty tableland of Central Spain, in Old or New Castile, may the New Zealander be reminded of the long views and strong sunlight, or the shining slopes leading up to blue mountain ranges cutting the sky with clean lines.
ARA-TIA-TIA RAPIDS
Some of the finest landscape views in the central [125]North Island are to be seen from points of vantage on the broken plateau to the westward95 of Ruapehu. On the one side the huge volcanic mass, a sloping rampart many miles long, closes the scene; on the other, the land, falling towards the coast, is first scantily96 clothed with coarse tussock-grass and then with open park-like forest. The timber grows heavier towards the coast, and in the river valleys where the curling Wanganui and the lesser98 streams Waitotara and Patea run between richly-draped cliffs to the sea. Far westward above the green expanse of foliage—soon to be hewn by the axe99 and blackened by fire—the white triangle of Egmont’s cone glimmers100 through faint haze101 against the pale horizon.
Between Taupo and the eastern branch of the Upper Wanganui ran a foot-track much used by Maori travellers in days of yore. At one point it wound beneath a steep hill on the side of which a projecting ledge102 of rock formed a wide shallow cave. Beneath this convenient shelf it is said that a gang of Maori highwaymen were once wont to lurk103 on the watch for wayfarers104, solitary105 or in small parties. At a signal they sprang out upon these, clubbed them to death, and dragged their bodies to the cave. There these cannibal bush-rangers gorged106 themselves on the flesh of their victims. I tell the story on the authority of the missionary107 Taylor, who says that he climbed to the cave, and standing10 therein saw the ovens used for the horrid108 meals and the scattered109 bones of the human victims. If he was not imposed upon, the story [126]supplies a curious exception to Maori customs. Their cannibalism110 was in the main practised at the expense of enemies slain111 or captured in inter-tribal wars; and they had distinct if peculiar15 prejudices in favour of fair fighting. I have read somewhere that in the Drakensberg Mountains above Natal112 a similar gang of cannibal robbers was once discovered—Kaffirs who systematically113 lured114 lonely victims into a certain remote ravine, where they disappeared.
One of the curiosities of the Taupo wilderness115 is the flat-topped mountain Horo-Horo. Steep, wooded slopes lead up to an unbroken ring of precipices116 encircling an almost level table-top. To the eyes of riders or coach-passengers on the road between Taupo and Roto-rua, the brows of the cliffs seem as inaccessible117 as the crown of Roraima in British Guiana in the days before Mr. Im Thurn scaled it. The Maori own Horo-Horo, and have villages and cultivations on the lower slopes where there is soil fertile beyond what is common thereabout. Another strange natural fortress118 not far away is Pohaturoa, a tusk119 of lava120, protruding121 some eight hundred feet hard by the course of the Waikato and in full view of a favourite crossing-place. Local guides are, or used to be, fond of comparing this eminence122 with Gibraltar, to which—except that both are rocks—it bears no manner of likeness123.
The Japanese, as we know, hold sacred their famous volcano Fusiyama. In the same way the Maori in times past regarded Tongariro and Ruapehu as holy ground. But, whereas the Japanese show reverence124 to [127]Fusi by making pilgrimages to its summit in tens of thousands, the Maori veneration125 of their great cones took a precisely126 opposite shape,—they would neither climb them themselves nor allow others to do so. The earlier white travellers were not only refused permission to mount to the summit, but were not even allowed to set foot on the lower slopes. In 1845 the artist George French Angas could not even obtain leave to make a sketch127 of Tongariro, though he managed to do so by stealth. Six years earlier Bidwill eluded129 native vigilance and actually reached the summit of one of the cones, probably that of Ngauruhoe, but when, after peering down through the sulphurous clouds of the inaccessible gulf130, he made his way back to the shores of Lake Taupo, the local chieftain gave him a very bad quarter of an hour indeed. This personage, known in New Zealand story as Old Te Heu Heu, was one of the most picturesque131 figures of his race. His great height—“nearly seven feet,” says one traveller; “a complete giant,” writes another—his fair complexion132, almost classic features, and great bodily strength are repeatedly alluded133 to by the whites who saw him; not that whites had that privilege every day, for Te Heu Heu held himself aloof134 among his own people, defied the white man, and refused to sign the treaty of Waitangi or become a liegeman of the Queen. His tribesmen had a proverb—“Taupo is the Sea; Tongariro is the Mountain; Te Heu Heu is the Man.” This they would repeat with the air of men owning a proprietary135 interest in the Atlantic Ocean, Kinchin [128]Junga, and Napoleon. He was indeed a great chief, and a perfect specimen136 of the Maori Rangatira or gentleman. He considered himself the special guardian137 of the volcanoes. Like him they were tapu—“tapu’d inches thick,” as the author of Old New Zealand would say. Indeed, when his subjects journeyed by a certain road, from one turn of which they could view the cone of Ngauruhoe, they were expected at the critical spot to veil their eyes with their mats so as not to look on the holy summit. At any rate, Bidwill declares that they told him so. Small wonder, therefore, if this venturesome trespasser138 came in for a severe browbeating139 from the offended Te Heu Heu, who marched up and down his wharé breaking out into passionate140 speech. Bidwill asserts that he pacified141 the great man by so small a present as three figs142 of tobacco. Of course, it is possible that in 1839 tobacco was more costly143 at Taupo than in after years. The Maori version of the incident differs from Bidwill’s.
In the uneasy year of 1845 Te Heu Heu marched down to the Wanganui coast at the head of a strong war-party. The scared settlers were thankful to find that he did not attack them. He was, indeed, after other game, and was bent144 on squaring accounts with a local tribe which had shed the blood of his people. Bishop145 Selwyn, who happened to be then in the neighbourhood, saw and spoke146 with the highland147 chieftain, urging peace. The interviews must have been worth watching. On the one side stood the typical barbarian148, eloquent149, fearless, huge of limb, with [129]handsome face and maize150-coloured complexion, and picturesque in kilt, cloak, and head-feather. On the other side was a bishop in hard training, a Christian151 gentleman, as fine as English culture could furnish, whose clean-cut aquiline152 face and unyielding mouth had the becoming support of a tall, vigorous frame lending dignity to his clerical garb153. Here was the heathen determined154 to save his tribe from the white man’s grasping hands and dissolving religion; there the missionary seeing in conversion155 and civilisation156 the only hope of preserving the Maori race. Death took Te Heu Heu away before he had time to see his policy fail. Fate was scarcely so kind to Selwyn, who lived to see the Ten-Years’ War wreck157 most of his life’s work among the natives.
As far as I know, Te Heu Heu never crossed weapons with white men, though he allied158 himself with our enemies and gave shelter to fugitives159. His region was regarded as inaccessible in the days of good Governor Grey. He was looked upon as a kind of Old Man of the Mountain, and in Auckland they told you stories of his valour, hospitality, choleric160 temper, and his six—or was it eight?—wives. So the old chief stayed unmolested, and met his end with his mana in no way abated161. It was a fitting end: the soil which he guarded so tenaciously162 overwhelmed him. The steep hill-side over his village became loosened by heavy rain and rotted by steam and sulphur-fumes. It began to crack and slip away. According to one account, a great land-slip descending163 in the night [130]buried the kainga and all in it save one man. Another story states that the destruction came in the day-time, and that Te Heu Heu refused to flee. He was said to have stood erect164, confronting the avalanche165, with flashing eyes, and with his white hair blown by the wind. At any rate, the soil of his ancestress the Earth (he claimed direct descent from her) covered him, and for a while his body lay there. After some time his tribe disinterred it, and laying it on a carved and ornamented167 bier, bore it into the mountains with the purpose of casting it down the burning crater of Tongariro. The intention was dramatic, but the result was something of an anticlimax168. When nearing their journey’s end the bearers were startled by the roar of an eruption. They fled in a panic, leaving the remains169 of their hero to lie on the steep side of the cone on some spot never identified. There they were probably soon hidden by volcanic dust, and so, “ashes to ashes,” slowly mingled with the ancestral mass.[2]
[2] The accepted tradition of Te Heu Heu’s funeral is that given above. After these pages went to the printer, however, I lighted upon a newspaper article by Mr. Malcolm Ross, in which that gentleman states that the bier and the body of the chief were not abandoned on the mountain-side, but were hidden in a cave still known to certain members of the tribe. The present Te Heu Heu, says Mr. Ross, talks of disinterring his ancestor’s remains and burying them near the village of Te Rapa.
LAKE TAUPO
The chiefs of the Maori were often their own minstrels. To compose a panegyric170 on a predecessor171 was for them a worthy172 task. Te Heu Heu himself was no mean poet. His lament173 for one of his forefathers174 has beauty, and, in Mr. James Cowan’s version, [131]is well known to New Zealand students. But as a poem it was fairly eclipsed by the funeral ode to his own memory composed and recited by his brother and successor. The translation of this characteristic Maori poem, which appeared in Surgeon-Major Thomson’s book, has been out of print for so many years that I may reproduce some portions of it here:—
See o’er the heights of dark Pauhara’s mount
The infant morning wakes. Perhaps my friend
Returns to me clothed in that lightsome cloud.
Yes, thou art gone!
Go, thou who wert a spreading tree to shade
And hold within thy grasp that weapon rare
Bequeathed by thy renownéd ancestor.
And let me see thy skin carved o’er with lines
Of blue; and let me see again thy face
Wake up! and take thy battle-axe, and tell
Thy people of the coming signs, and what
As are the waves, will rush with spears uplifted,
No, thou art fallen; and the earth receives
Shall soar on high, resounding189 o’er the heavens
[132]
Loosely speaking, New Zealand is a volcanic archipelago. There are hot pools and a noted sanatorium in the Hanmer plains in the middle of the Middle Island. There are warm springs far to the north of Auckland, near Ohaeawai, where the Maori once gave our troops a beating in the early days of our race-conflict with them. Auckland itself, the queen of New Zealand towns, is almost a crater city. At any rate, it is surrounded by dead craters. You are told that from a hill-top in the suburbs you may count sixty-three volcanic cones. Two sister towns, Wellington and Christchurch, have been repeatedly taken and well shaken by Mother Earth. Old Wellington settlers will gravely remind you that some sixty years ago a man, an inoffensive German baron190, lost his life in a shock there. True, he was not swallowed up or crushed by falling ruins; a mirror fell from a wall on to his head. This earthquake was followed in 1855 by another as sharp, and one of the two so alarmed a number of pioneer settlers that they embarked191 on shipboard to flee from so unquiet a land. Their ship, however, so the story runs, went ashore192 near the mouth of Wellington harbour, and they returned to remain, and, in some cases, make their fortunes. In 1888 a double shock of earthquake wrecked193 some feet of the cathedral spire194 at Christchurch, nipping off the point of it and the gilded195 iron cross which it sustained, so that it stood for many months looking like a broken lead-pencil. A dozen years later, Cheviot, Amuri, and Waiau were sharply shaken by an earthquake that [133]showed scant97 mercy to brick chimneys and houses of the material known as cob-and-clay. Finally, in the little Kermadec islets, far to the north of Cape86 Maria Van Diemen, we encounter hot pools and submarine explosions, and passing seamen196 have noted there sheets of ejected pumice floating and forming a scum on the surface of the ocean. As might be supposed, guides and hangers-on about Roto-rua and Taupo revel197 in tales of hairbreadth escapes and hair-raising fatalities198. Nine generations ago, say the Maori, a sudden explosion of a geyser scalded to death half the villagers of Ohinemutu. In the way of smaller mishaps199 you are told how, as two Maori children walked together by Roto-mahana one slipped and broke through the crust of silica into the scalding mud beneath. The other, trying to lift him out, was himself dragged in and both were boiled alive. Near Ohinemutu, three revellers, overfull of confidence and bad rum, stepped off a narrow track at night and perished together in sulphurous mud and scalding steam. At the extremity200 of Boiling Point a village, or part of a village, is said to have been suddenly engulfed201 in the waters of Roto-rua. At the southern end of Taupo there is, or was, a legend current that a large wharé filled with dancers met, in a moment, a similar fate. In one case of which I heard, that of a Maori woman, who fell into a pool of a temperature above boiling-point, a witness assured me that she did not appear to suffer pain long: the nervous system was killed by the shock. Near Roto-rua a bather with a weak heart was picked up dead. He [134]had heedlessly plunged202 into a pool the fumes and chemical action of which are too strong for a weak man. And a certain young English tourist sitting in the pool nicknamed Painkiller203 was half-poisoned by mephitic vapour, and only saved by the quickness of a Maori guide. That was a generation ago: nowadays the traveller need run no risks. Guides and good medical advice are to be had by all who will use them. No sensible person need incur204 any danger whatever.
Among stories of the boiling pools the most pathetic I can recall is of a collie dog. His master, a shepherd of the Taupo plateau, stood one day on the banks of a certain cauldron idly watching the white steam curling over the bubbling surface. His well-loved dog lay stretched on the mud crust beside him. In a thoughtless moment the shepherd flung a stick into the clear blue pool. In a flash the dog had sprung after it into the water of death. Maddened by the poor creature’s yell of pain, his master rushed to the brink205, mechanically tearing off his coat as he ran. In another instant he too would have flung himself to destruction. Fortunately an athletic Maori who was standing by caught the poor man round the knees, threw him on to his back and held him down till all was over with the dog.
IN A HOT POOL
Near a well-known lake and in a wharé so surrounded by boiling mud, scalding steam, hot water, and burning sulphur as to be difficult of approach, there lived many years ago two friends. One was a teetotaller and a deeply religious man—characteristics not universal in the Hot Lakes district at that precise epoch206. The [135]other inhabitant was more nearly normal in tastes and beliefs. The serious-minded friend became noted for having—unpaid, and with his own hands—built a chapel207 in the wilderness. Yet, unhappily, returning home on a thick rainy evening he slipped and fell into a boiling pool, where next day he was found—dead, of course. In vain the oldest inhabitants of the district sought to warn the survivor208. He declined to be terrified, or to change either his dangerous abode or his path thereto. He persisted in walking home late at night whenever it suited him to do so. The “old hands” of the district shook their heads and prophesied209 that there could be but one end to such recklessness. And, sure enough, on a stormy night the genial210 and defiant211 Johnnie slipped in his turn and fell headlong into the pool which had boiled his mate. One wild shout he gave, and men who were within earshot tore to the spot—“Poor old Johnnie! Gone at last! We always said he would!” Out of the darkness and steam, however, they were greeted with a sound of vigorous splashing and of expressions couched in strong vernacular212.
“Why, Johnnie man, aren’t you dead? Aren’t you boiled to death?”
“Not I! There’s no water in this —— country hot enough to boil me. Help me out!”
It appeared that the torrents213 of rain which had been falling had flooded a cold stream hard by, and this, overflowing214 into the pool, had made it pleasantly tepid215.
NGONGOTAHA MOUNTAIN
Needless to say, there is one fatal event, the story of [136]which overshadows all other stories told of the thermal zone. It is the one convulsion of Nature there, since the settlement of New Zealand, that has been great enough to become tragically216 famous throughout the world, apart from its interest to science. The eruption of Mount Tarawera was a magnificent and terrible spectacle. Accompanied as it was by the blowing-up of Lake Roto-mahana, it destroyed utterly217 the beautiful and extraordinary Pink and White Terraces. There can be no doubt that most of those who saw them thought the lost Pink and White Terraces the finest sight in the thermal region. They had not the grandeur218 of the volcanoes and the lakes, or the glorious energy of the geysers; but they were an astonishing combination of beauty of form and colour, of what looked like rocky massiveness with the life and heat of water in motion. Then there was nothing else of their kind on the earth at all equal to them in scale and completeness. So they could fairly be called unique, and the gazer felt on beholding219 them that in a sense this was the vision of a lifetime. Could those who saw them have known that the spectacle was to be so transient, this feeling must have been much keener. For how many ages they existed in the ferny wilderness, seen only by a few savages220, geologists222 may guess at. Only for about twelve years were they the resort of any large number of civilised men. It is strange how little their fame had gone abroad before Hochstetter described them after seeing them in 1859. Bidwill, who was twice at Roto-rua in 1839, never mentions [137]them. The naturalist223 Dieffenbach, who saw them in 1842, dismisses them in a paragraph, laudatory224 but short. George French Angas, the artist, who was the guest of Te Heu Heu in 1845, and managed, against express orders, to sketch Tongariro, does not seem to have heard of them. Yet he of all men might have been expected to get wind of such a marvel225. For a marvel they were, and short as was the space during which they were known to the world, their fame must last until the Fish of Maui is engulfed in the ocean. There, amid the green manuka and rusty-green bracken, on two hill-sides sloping down to a lake of moderate size—Roto-mahana or Warm Lake,—strong boiling springs gushed227 out. They rose from two broad platforms, each about a hundred yards square, the flooring of craters with reddish-brown sides streaked228 and patched with sulphur. Their hot water, after seething229 and swirling230 in two deep pools, descended231 to the lake over a series of ledges232, basins, or hollowed terraces, which curved out as boldly as the swelling233 canvas of a ship, so that the balustrades or battlements—call them what you will—seemed the segments of broken circles. Their irregular height varied from two to six feet, and visitors could scale them, as in Egypt they climb the pyramids. One terrace, or rather set of terraces, was called White, the other Pink: but the White were tinged234 lightly with pink in spots, and their rosy235 sisters paled here and there, so as to become nearly colourless in places. “White,” moreover, scarcely conveys the exact impression of Te Tarata, except from a distance [138]or under strong light. Domett’s “cataract of marble” summed it up finely. But to be precise, where it was smoothest and where water and the play of light made the surface gleam or glisten237, the silica coating of the White ledges reminded you rather of old ivory, or polished bone tinted238 a faint yellow. As for the “Pink” staircase, one traveller would describe it as bright salmon-pink, another as pale rose, for eyes in different heads see the same things differently. The White Terrace was the higher of the two, and descended with a gentler slope than the other. The skirts of both spread out into the lake, so that its waters flowed over them. The number and fine succession of these ivory arcs and rosy battlements made but half their charm. The hot water as it trickled239 from shelf to shelf left its flinty sediment240 in delicate incrustations—here like the folds of a mantle241, there resembling fringing lace-work, milk outpoured and frozen, trailing parasites242 or wild arabesques243. Or it made you think of wreathed sea-foam90, snow half-melted, or the coral of South Sea reefs. Then among it lay the blue pools, pool after pool, warm, richly coloured, glowing; while over every edge and step fell the water, trickling244, spurting245, sparkling, and steaming as it slowly cooled on its downward way. So that, though there was a haunting reminder246 of human architecture and sculpture, there was none of the smug finish of man’s buildings, nothing of the cold dead lifelessness of carved stone-work. The sun shone upon it, the wind played with the water-drops. The blue sky—pale [139]by contrast—overarched the deeper blue of the pools. Green mosses247 and vivid ferns grew and flourished on the very edge of the steam. What sculptor’s frieze248 or artist’s structure ever had such a framework? In the genial water the bathers, choosing their temperature, could float or sit, breathing unconfined air and wondering at the softness and strange intensity249 of colour. They could bathe in the day-time when all was sunshine, or on summer nights when the moonlight turned the ledges to alabaster250. Did the tribute of his provinces build for Caracalla such imperial baths as these? No wonder that Nature, after showing such loveliness to our age for a moment, snatched it away from the desecration251 of scribbling252, defacing, civilised men!
The eruption of Tarawera was preceded by many signs of disturbance253. Science in chronicling them seems to turn gossip and collect portents254 with the gusto of Plutarch or Froissart. The calamity255 came on the 10th of June, and therefore in early winter. The weather had been stormy but had cleared, so no warning could be extracted from its behaviour. But, six months before, the cauldron on the uppermost platform of Te Tarata had broken out in strange fashion. Again and again the water had shrunk far down, and had even been sucked in to the supplying pipe, leaving the boiling pit, thirty yards across and as many feet deep, quite dry. Then suddenly the water had boiled up and a geyser, a mounting column or dome236 many feet in thickness, had shot up into the air, struggling aloft to the height of a hundred and [140]fifty feet. From it there went up a pillar of steam four or five times as high, with a sound heard far and wide. Geyser-like as the action of the terrace-pool had been, nothing on this scale had been recorded before. Then from the Bay of Plenty came the news that thousands of dead fish had been cast up on the beaches, poisoned by the fumes of some submarine explosion. Furthermore, the crater-lake in White Island suddenly went dry—another novelty. Next, keen-eyed observers saw steam issuing from the top of Ruapehu. They could scarcely believe their eyes, for Ruapehu had been quiescent as far back as man’s memory went. But there was no doubt of it. Two athletic surveyors clambered up through the snows, and there, as they looked down four hundred feet on the crater-lake from the precipices that ringed it in, they saw the surface of the water lifted and shaken, and steam rising into the icy air. Later on, just before the catastrophe, the Maori by Roto-mahana lost their chief by sickness. As he lay dying some of his tribe saw a strange canoe, paddled by phantom256 warriors258, glide259 across the lake and disappear. The number of men in the canoe was thirteen, and as they flitted by their shape changed and they became spirits with dogs’ heads. The tribe, struck with terror, gave up hope for their chief. He died, and his body lay not yet buried when the fatal night came. Lastly, on the day before the eruption, without apparent cause, waves rose and swept across the calm surface of Lake Tarawera, to the alarm of the last party of tourists who visited the Terrace. Dr. Ralph, one of these, noted [141]also that soft mud had apparently260 just been ejected from the boiler of the Pink Terrace, and lay strewn about twenty-five yards away. He and his friends hastened away, depressed261 and uneasy.
No one, however, Maori or white, seriously conceived of anything like the destruction that was impending262. The landlord of the Wairoa hotel grumbled263 at the native guide Sophia for telling of these ominous264 incidents. And a Maori chief, with some followers265, went to camp upon two little islets in Roto-mahana lying handy for the hot bathing-pools. Why should any one expect that the flat-topped, heavy looking mountain of Tarawera would burst out like Krakatoa? True, Tarawera means “burning peak,” but the hill, and its companion Ruawahia, must have been quiescent for many hundred years. For were not trees growing in clefts266 near the summits with trunks as thick as the height of a tall man? Nor was there any tradition of explosions on the spot. Thirteen generations ago, said the Maori, a famous chief had been interred166 in or near one of the craters, and Nature had never disturbed his resting-place. The surprise, therefore, was almost complete, and only the winter season was responsible for the small number of tourists in the district on the 10th of June. It was about an hour past midnight when the convulsion began. First came slight shocks of earthquake; then noises, booming, muttering, and swelling to a roar. The shocks became sharper. Some of them seemed like strokes of a gigantic hammer striking upwards267. Then, after a shock felt for fifty[142] miles round, an enormous cloud rose above Tarawera and the mountain spouted fire, stones, and dust to the heavens. The burning crater illumined the cloud, so that it glowed like a “pillar of fire by night.” And above the glow an immense black canopy268 began to open out and spread for at least sixty miles, east, north-east and south-east. Seen from far off it had the shape of a monstrous269 mushroom. In the earlier hours of the eruption the outer edges of the mushroom shape were lit up by vivid streams and flashes of lightning, shooting upward, downward, or stabbing the dark mass with fierce sidelong thrusts. Forked bolts sped in fiery zig-zags, or ascended270, rocket-fashion, to burst and fall in flaming fragments. Sounds followed them like the crackling of musketry. Brilliantly coloured, the flashes were blue, golden or orange, while some were burning bars of white that stood out, hot and distinct, across the red of the vomiting271 crater. But more appalling even than the cloudy canopy with its choking dust, the tempest, the rocking earth, or the glare of lightning, was the noise. After two o’clock it became an awful and unceasing roar, deafening272 the ears, benumbing the nerves, and bewildering the senses of the unhappy beings within the ring of death or imminent273 danger. It made the windows rattle274 in the streets of Auckland one hundred and fifty miles away, and awoke many sleepers275 in Nelson at a more incredible distance. And with the swelling of the roar thick darkness settled down—darkness that covered half a province for hours. Seven hours after the destruction began, settlers far away on [143]the sea-coast to the east were eating their morning meals—if they cared to eat at all—by candle-light. To say that it was a darkness that could be felt would be to belittle276 its horrors absurdly—at any rate near Tarawera. For miles out from the mountain it was a darkness that smote277 and killed you—made up as it was of mud and fire, burning stones, and suffocating278 dust. Whence came the mud? Partly, no doubt, it was formed by steam acting on the volcanic dust-cloud; but, in part, it was the scattered contents of Roto-mahana—a whole lake hurled279 skyward, water and ooze280 together. With Roto-mahana went its shores, the Terraces, several neighbouring smaller lakes and many springs. Yet so tremendous was the outburst that even this wreck was not physically281 the chief feature of the destruction. That was the great rift, an irregular cleft, fourteen or fifteen miles long, opened across the Tarawera and its companion heights. This earth-crack, or succession of cracks, varied in depth from three hundred to nine hundred feet. To any one looking down into it from one of the hill-tops commanding it, it seemed half as deep again. It, and the surrounding black scoria cast up from its depths, soon became cold and dead; but, continuing as it did to bear the marks of the infernal fires that had filled it, the great fissure23 remained in after years the plainest evidence of that dark night’s work. When I had a sight of it in 1891, it was the centre of a landscape still clothed with desolation. The effect was dreary282 and unnatural283. The deep wound looked an injury to the earth as [144]malign as it was gigantic. It was precisely such a scene as would have suggested to a zealot of the Middle Ages a vision of the pit of damnation.
LAKE AND MOUNT TARAWERA
Until six in the morning the eruption did not slacken at all. Hot stones and fireballs were carried for miles, and as they fell set huts and forests on fire. Along with their devastation284 came a rain of mud, loading the roofs of habitations and breaking down the branches of trees. Blasts of hot air were felt, but usually the wind—and it blew violently—was bitter cold. At one moment a kind of cyclone285 or tornado286 rushed over Lake Tikitapu, prostrating287 and splintering, as it passed, the trees close by, and so wrecking288 a forest famous for its beauty.[3] What went on at the centre of the eruption no eye ever saw—the great cloud hid it. The dust shot aloft is variously computed289 to have risen six or eight miles. The dust-cloud did not strike down the living as did the rain of mud, fire, and stones. But its mischief290 extended over a much wider area. Half a day’s journey out from the crater it deposited a layer three inches thick, and it coated even islands miles off the east coast. By the sea-shore one observer thought the sound of its falling was like a gentle rain. But the effect of the black sand and mouse-coloured dust was the opposite of that of rain; for it killed the pasture, and the settlers could only save their cattle and sheep by driving them hastily off. Insect life was half destroyed, and many of the smaller birds shared the fate of the insects. By Lake Roto-iti, fourteen [145]miles to the north of the crater, Major Mair, listening to the dropping of the sand and dust, compared it to a soft ooze like falling snow. It turned the waters of the lake to a sort of soapy grey, and overspread the surrounding hills with an unbroken grey sheet. The small bull-trout291 and crayfish of the lake floated dead on the surface of the water. After a while birds starved or disappeared. Wild pheasants came to the school-house seeking for chance crumbs292 of food, and hungry rats were seen roaming about on the smooth carpet of dust.
[3] See The Eruption of Tarawera, by S. Percy Smith.
MAORI WASHING-DAY, OHINEMUTU
How did the human inhabitants of the district fare at Roto-rua and Ohinemutu? Close at hand as they were, no damage was done to life or limb. They were outside the range of the destroying messengers. But nearer to the volcano, in and about Roto-mahana, utter ruin was wrought293, and here unfortunately the natives of the Ngati Rangitihi, living at Wairoa and on some other spots, could not escape. Some of them, indeed, were encamped at the time on islets in Roto-mahana itself, and they of course were instantly annihilated294 in the midst of the convulsion. Their fellow tribesmen at Wairoa went through a more lingering ordeal295, to meet, nearly all of them, the same death. About an hour after midnight Mr. Hazard, the Government teacher of the native school at Wairoa, was with his family roused by the earthquake shocks. Looking out into the night they saw the flaming cloud go up from Tarawera, ten miles away. As they watched the spectacle, half in admiration296, half in terror, the father [146]said to his daughter, “If we were to live a hundred years, we should not see such a sight again.” He himself did not live three hours, for he died, crushed by the ruin of his house as it broke down under falling mud and stones. The wreck of the building was set alight by a shower of fireballs, yet the schoolmaster’s wife, who was pinned under it by a beam, was dug out next day and lived. Two daughters survived with her; three children perished. Other Europeans in Wairoa took refuge in a hotel, where for hours they stayed, praying and wondering how soon the downpour of fire, hot stones, mud and dust would break in upon them. In the end all escaped save one English tourist named Bainbridge. The Maori in their frail297 thatched huts were less fortunate; they made little effort to save themselves, and nearly the whole tribe was blotted298 out. One of them, the aged128 wizard Tukoto, is said to have been dug out alive after four days: but his hair and beard were matted with the volcanic stuff that had been rained upon him. The rescuers cut away the hair, and Tukoto’s strength thereupon departed like Samson’s. At any rate the old fellow gave up the ghost. In after days he became the chief figure in a Maori legend, which now accounts for the eruption. It seems that a short while before it, the wife of a neighbouring chief had denounced Tukoto for causing the death of her child. Angry at an unjust charge, the old wizard prayed aloud to the god of earthquakes, and to the spirit of Ngatoro, the magician who kindled299 Tongariro, to send down death upon the chief’s wife [147]and her people. In due course destruction came, but the gods did not nicely discriminate300, so Tukoto and those round him were overwhelmed along with his enemies. At another native village not far away the Maori were more fortunate. They had living among them Sophia the guide, whose wharé was larger and more strongly built than the common run of their huts. Sophia, too, was a fine woman, a half-caste, who had inherited calculating power and presence of mind from her Scotch301 father. Under her roof half a hundred scared neighbours came crowding, trusting that the strong supporting poles would prevent the rain of death from battering302 it down. When it showed signs of giving way, Sophia, who kept cool, set the refugees to work to shore it up with any props303 that could be found; and in the end the plucky304 old woman could boast that no one of those who sought shelter with her lost their lives.
The township of Roto-rua, with its side-shows Ohinemutu and Whaka-rewa-rewa, escaped in the great eruption scot free, or at any rate with a light powdering of dust. The place survived to become the social centre of the thermal country, and now offers no suggestion of ruin or devastation. It has been taken in hand by the Government, and is bright, pleasant, and, if anything, too thoroughly305 comfortable and modern. It is scientifically drained and lighted with electric light. Hotels and tidy lodging-houses look out upon avenues planted with exotic trees. The public gardens [148]cover a peninsula jutting306 out into the lake, and their flowery winding307 paths lead to lawns and tennis-courts. Tea is served there by Maori waitresses whose caps and white aprons308 might befit Kensington Gardens; and a band plays. If the visitors to Roto-rua do not exactly “dance on the slopes of a volcano,” at least they chat and listen to music within sight of the vapour of fumaroles and the steam of hot springs. A steam launch will carry them from one lake to another, or coaches convey them to watch geysers made to spout35 for their diversion. They may picnic and eat sandwiches in spots where they can listen to muddy cauldrons of what looks like boiling porridge, sucking and gurgling in disagreeable fashion. Or they may watch gouts of dun-coloured mud fitfully issuing from cones like ant-hills—mud volcanoes, to wit.
For the country around is not dead or even sleeping, and within a circuit of ten miles from Roto-rua there is enough to be seen to interest an intelligent sight-seer for many days. Personally I do not think Roto-rua the finest spot in the thermal region. Taupo, with its lake, river, and great volcanoes, has, to my mind, higher claims. Much as Roto-rua has to show, I suspect that the Waiotapu valley offers a still better field to the man of science. However, the die has been cast, and Roto-rua, as the terminus of the railway and the seat of the Government sanatorium, has become a kind of thermal capital. There is no need to complain of this. Its attractions are many, and, when they are exhausted309, you can go thence to any other point of the region. You may [149]drive to Taupo by one coach-road and return by another, or may easily reach Waiotapu in a forenoon. Anglers start out from Roto-rua to fish in a lake and rivers where trout are more than usually abundant. You can believe if you like that the chief difficulty met with by Roto-rua fishermen is the labour of carrying home their enormous catches. But it is, I understand, true that the weight of trout caught by fly or minnow in a season exceeds forty tons. At any rate—to drop the style of auctioneers’ advertisements—the trout, chiefly of the rainbow kind, are very plentiful310, and the sport very good. I would say no harder thing of the attractions of Roto-rua and its circuit than this,—those who have spent a week there must not imagine that they have seen the thermal region. They have not even “done” it, still less do they know it. Almost every part of it has much to interest, and Roto-rua is the beginning, not the end of it all. I know an energetic colonist311 who, when travelling through Italy, devoted312 one whole day to seeing Rome. Even he, however, agrees with me that a month is all too short a time for the New Zealand volcanic zone. Sociable313 or elderly tourists have a right to make themselves snug314 at Roto-rua or Wairakei. But there are other kinds of travellers; and holiday-makers and lovers of scenery, students of science, sportsmen, and workers seeking for the space and fresh air of the wilderness, will do well to go farther afield.
At Roto-rua, as at other spots in the zone, you are in a realm of sulphur. It is in the air as well as the [150]water, tickles315 your throat, and blackens the silver in your pocket. Amongst many compensating316 returns it brightens patches of the landscape with brilliant streaks317 of many hues—not yellow or golden only, but orange, green, blue, blood-red, and even purple. Often where the volcanic mud would be most dismal318 the sulphur colours and glorifies319 it. Alum is found frequently alongside it, whitening banks and pool in a way that makes Englishmen think of their chalk downs. One mountain, Maunga Kakaramea (Mount Striped-Earth), has slopes that suggest an immense Scottish plaid.
WAIROA GEYSER
But more beautiful than the sulphur stripes or the coloured pools, and startling and uncommon in a way that neither lakes nor mountains can be, are the geysers. Since the Pink and White Terraces were blown up, they are, perhaps, the most striking and uncommon feature of the region, which, if it had nothing else to display, would still be well worth a visit. They rival those of the Yellowstone and surpass those of Iceland. New Zealanders have made a study of geysers, and know that they are a capricious race. They burst into sudden activity, and as unexpectedly go to sleep again. The steam-jet of Orakei-Korako, which shot out of the bank of the Waikato at such an odd angle and astonished all beholders for a few years, died down inexplicably320. So did the wonderful Waimangu, which threw a column of mud, stones, steam, and boiling water at least 1500 feet into mid-air. The Waikité Geyser, after a long rest, began to play again at the [151]time of the Tarawera eruption. That was natural enough. But why did it suddenly cease to move after the opening of the railway to Roto-rua, two miles away? Mr. Ruskin might have sympathised with it for so resenting the intrusion of commercialism; but tourists did not. Great was the rejoicing when, in 1907, Waikité awoke after a sleep of thirteen years. Curiously321 enough, another geyser, Pohutu, seems likewise attentive322 to public events, for on the day upon which the Colony became a Dominion323 it spouted for no less than fourteen hours, fairly eclipsing the numerous outpourings of oratory324 from human rivals which graced the occasion. There are geysers enough and to spare in the volcanic zone, to say nothing of the chances of a new performer gushing325 out at any moment. Some are large enough to be terrific, others small enough to be playful or even amusing. The hydrodynamics of Nature are well understood at Roto-rua, where Mr. Malfroy’s ingenious toy, the artificial geyser, is an exact imitation of their structure and action. The curious may examine this, or they may visit the extinct geyser, Te Waro, down the empty pipe of which a man may be lowered. At fifteen feet below the surface he will find himself in a vaulted326 chamber327 twice as roomy as a ship’s cabin and paved and plastered with silica. From the floor another pipe leads to lower subterranean328 depths. In the days of Te Waro’s activity steam rushing up into this cavern329 from below would from time to time force the water there violently upward: so the geyser played. To-day there are geysers irritable330 enough to [152]be set in motion by slices of soap, just as there are solfataras which a lighted match can make to roar, and excitable pools which a handful of earth will stir into effervescence. More impressive are the geysers which spout often, but whose precise time for showing energy cannot be counted on—which are, in fact, the unexpected which is always happening. Very beautiful are the larger geysers, as, after their first roaring outburst and ascent331, they stand, apparently climbing up, their effort to overcome the force of gravity seeming to grow greater and greater as they climb. Every part of the huge column seems to be alive; and, indeed, all is in motion within it. Innumerable little fountains gush226 up on its sides, to curl back and fall earthwards. The sunlight penetrates332 the mass of water, foam, and steam, catching333 the crystal drops and painting rainbows which quiver and dance in the wind. Bravely the column holds up, till, its strength spent, it falters334 and sways, and at last falls or sinks slowly down, subsiding335 into a seething whirlpool. Brief, as a rule, is the spectacle, but while the fountain is striving to mount skyward it is “all a wonder and a wild desire.”
COOKING IN A HOT SPRING
Two Maori villages, one at Ohinemutu, the other at Whaka-rewa-rewa, are disordered collections of irregular huts. Among them the brown natives of the thermal district live and move with a gravity and dignity that even their half-gaudy, half-dingy European garb cannot wholly spoil. Passing their lives as they do on the edge of the cold lake, and surrounded by hot pools and steam-jets, they seem a more or less amphibious race, [153]quite untroubled by anxiety about subterranean action. They make all the use they can of Nature’s forces, employing the steam and hot water for various daily wants. Of course they bathe incessantly and wash clothes in the pools. They will sit up to their necks in the warm fluid, and smoke luxuriously336 in a bath that does not turn cold. But more interesting to watch is their cooking. Here the steam of the blow-holes is their servant; or they will lay their food in baskets of flax in some clean boiling spring, choosing, of course, water that is tasteless. Cooking food by steam was and still is the favourite method of the Maori. Where Nature does not provide the steam, they dig ovens in the earth called hangi, and, wrapping their food in leaves, place it therein on red-hot stones. Then they spread more leaves over them, pour water upon these, and cover the hole with earth. When the oven is opened the food is found thoroughly cooked, and in this respect much more palatable337 than some of the cookery of the colonists338. In their culinary work the Maoris have always been neat and clean. This makes their passion for those two terrible delicacies339, putrid340 maize and dried shark, something of a puzzle.
Life at Roto-rua is not all sight-seeing; there is a serious side to it. Invalids341 resort thither342, as they do to Taupo, in ever-increasing numbers. The State sanatorium, with its brand-new bath-house, is as well equipped now as good medical bathing-places are in Europe, and is directed by a physician who was in former years a doctor of repute at Bath. Amid the [154]embarras des richesses offered by the thermal springs of the zone, Roto-rua has been selected as his headquarters, because there two chief and distinct kinds of hot healing waters are found in close neighbourhood, and can be used in the same establishment. The two are acid-sulphur and alkaline-sulphur, and both are heavily loaded with silica. Unlike European springs they gush out at boiling-point, and their potency343 is undoubted. Sufferers tormented344 with gout or crippled with rheumatism345 seek the acid waters; the alkaline act as a nervous sedative346 and cure various skin diseases. There are swimming baths for holiday-makers who have nothing the matter with them, and massage347 and the douche for the serious patients. Persons without money are cared for by the servants of the Government. Wonderful cures are reported, and as the fame of the healing waters becomes better and better established the number of successful cases steadily348 increases. For the curable come confidently expecting to be benefited, and this, of course, is no small factor in the efficacy of the baths, indisputable as their strength is. Apart, too, from its springs, Roto-rua is a sunny place, a thousand feet above the sea. The air is light even in midsummer, and the drainage through the porous pumice and silica is complete. In such a climate, amid such healing influences and such varied and interesting surroundings, the sufferer who cannot gain health at Roto-rua must be in a bad way indeed.
In the middle of Roto-rua Lake, a green hill in the [155]broad blue surface, rises the isle17 of Mokoia. There is nothing extraordinary in the way of beauty there. Still, it is high and shapely, with enough foliage to feather the rocks and soften350 the outlines. Botanists351 know it as one of the few spots away from the sea-beach where the crimson-flowering pohutu-kawa has deigned352 to grow. In any case, the scene of the legend of Hinemoa is sure of a warm corner in all New Zealand hearts. The story of the chief’s daughter, and her swim by night across the lake to join her lover on the island, has about it that quality of grace with which most Maori tales are but scantily draped. How many versions of it are to be found in print I do not dare to guess, and shall not venture to add another to their number. For two of New Zealand’s Prime Ministers have told the story well, and I can refer my readers to the prose of Grey and the verse of Domett. Only do I wish that I had heard Maning, the Pakeha Maori, repeat the tale, standing on the shore of Mokoia, as he repeated it there to Dr. Moore. In passing I may, however, do homage353 to one of the few bits of sweet romance to be found in New Zealand literature. Long may my countrymen steadfastly354 refuse to disbelieve a word of it! For myself, as one who has bathed in Hinemoa’s bath, I hold by every sentence of the tradition, and am fully181 persuaded that Hinemoa’s love-sick heart was soothed355, as she sat on her flat-topped rock on the mainshore, by the soft music of the native trumpet356 blown by her hero on the island. After all, the intervening water was some [156]miles broad, and even that terrific instrument, a native trumpet, might be softened357 by such a distance.
Long after the happy union of its lovers, Mokoia saw another sight when Hongi, “eater of men,” marched down with his Ngapuhi musketeers from the north to exterminate358 the Arawa of the lake country. To the Roto-rua people Mokoia had in times past been a sure refuge. In camp there, they commanded the lake with their canoes; no invader359 could reach them, for no invader could bring a fleet overland. So it had always been, and the Mokoians trusting thereto, paddled about the lake defying and insulting Hongi and his men in their camp on the farther shore. Yet so sure of victory were the Ngapuhi chiefs that each of the leaders selected as his own booty the war-canoe that seemed handsomest in his eyes. Hongi had never heard of the device by which Mahomet II. captured Constantinople, but he was a man of original methods, and he decided360 that canoes could be dragged twenty miles or more from the sea-coast to Lake Roto-iti. It is said that an Arawa slave or renegade in his camp suggested the expedient361 and pointed362 out the easiest road. At any rate the long haul was successfully achieved, and the canoes of the Plumed363 Ones—Ngapuhi—paddled from Roto-iti into Roto-rua. Then all was over except the slaughter364, for the Mokoians had but half-a-dozen guns, and Hongi’s musketeers from their canoes could pick them off without landing.
EVENING ON LAKE ROTO-RUA
Fifteen hundred men, women, and children are said [157]to have perished in the final massacre365. Whether these figures were “official” I cannot say. The numbers of the slain computed in the Maori stories of their wars between 1816 and 1836 are sometimes staggering; but scant mercy was shown, and all tradition concurs366 in rating the death-roll far higher than anything known before or after. And Mokoia was crowded with refugees when it fell before Hongi’s warriors. Of course, many of the islanders escaped. Among them a strong swimmer, Hori (George) Haupapa, took to the lake and managed to swim to the farther shore. The life he thus saved on that day of death proved to be long, for Haupapa was reputed to be a hundred years old when he died in peace.
The famous Hongi was certainly a savage221 of uncommon quickness of perception, as his circumventing367 of the Mokoians in their lake-stronghold shows. He had shrewdness enough to perceive that the Maori tribe which should first secure firearms would hold New Zealand at its mercy; and he was sufficient of a man of business to act upon this theory with success and utter ruthlessness. He probably did more to destroy his race than any white or score of whites; yet his memory is not, so far as I know, held in special detestation by the Maori. Two or three better qualities this destructive cannibal seems to have had, for he protected the missionaries368 and advised his children to do so likewise. Then he had a soft voice and courteous369 manner, and, though not great of stature370, must have been tough, for the bullet-wound in [158]his chest which finally killed him took two years in doing so. Moreover, his dying exhortation371 to his sons, “Be strong, be brave!” was quite in the right spirit for the last words of a Maori warrior257.
Hongi would seem to be an easy name enough to pronounce. Yet none has suffered more from “the taste and fancy of the speller” in books, whether written by Englishmen or Colonists. Polack calls him E’Ongi, and other early travellers, Shongee, Shongi, and Shungie. Finally Mr. J. A. Froude, not to be outdone in inaccuracy, pleasantly disposes of him, in Oceana, as “Hangi.”
“Old Colonial,” in an article written in the Pall58 Mall Gazette, gives Mokoia as the scene of a notable encounter between Bishop Selwyn and Tukoto, a Maori tohunga or wizard. To Selwyn, who claimed to be the servant of an all-powerful God, the tohunga is reported to have said, as he held out a brown withered372 leaf, “Can you, then, by invoking373 your God, make this dead leaf green again?” The Bishop answered that no man could do that. Thereupon Tukoto, after chanting certain incantations, threw the leaf into the air, and, lo! its colour changed, and it fluttered to earth fresh and green once more.
PLANTING POTATOES
Among many odd stories told of the juggling374 feats375 of the vanishing race of tohungas this is one of the most curious. More than one version of it is to be found. For example, my friend Edward Tregear, in his book The Maori Race, relates it as an episode of a meeting between Selwyn and Te Heu Heu, where [159]the trick was the riposte of the chief to an appeal by the Bishop to him to change his faith. In that case the place of the encounter could scarcely have been Mokoia, or the tohunga have been Tukoto.
Whatever may be said—and a great deal may be said—against the tohunga as the foe of healing and knowledge, the religious prophets who from time to time rise among the Maori are not always entirely376 bad influences. A certain Rua, who just now commands belief among his countrymen, has managed to induce a following to found a well-built village on a hill-side among the forests of the Uriwera country. There, attended by several wives, he inhabits a comfortable house. Hard by rises a large circular temple, a wonderful effort of his native workmen. He has power enough to prohibit tobacco and alcohol in his settlement, to enforce sanitary377 rules, and to make his disciples378 clear and cultivate a large farm. Except that he forbids children from going to school, he does not appear to set himself against the Government. He poses, I understand, as a successor of Christ, and is supposed to be able to walk on the surface of water. His followers were anxious for ocular proof of this, and a hint of their desire was conveyed to the prophet. He assembled them on a river’s bank and gravely inquired, “Do you all from your hearts believe that I can walk on that water?” “We do,” was the response. “Then it is not necessary for me to do it,” said he, and walked composedly back to his hut.
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1
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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2
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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3
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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4
prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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5
nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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6
craters
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| n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等 | |
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7
crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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8
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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9
eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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10
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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11
cone
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| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
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12
cones
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| n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒 | |
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13
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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14
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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17
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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18
seethes
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| （液体）沸腾( seethe的第三人称单数 )； 激动，大怒； 强压怒火； 生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth) | |
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19
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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20
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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21
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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22
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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23
fissure
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| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
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fissures
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| n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
reek
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| v.发出臭气；n.恶臭 | |
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26
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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27
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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28
noisome
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| adj.有害的，可厌的 | |
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29
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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30
stockade
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| n.栅栏，围栏；v.用栅栏防护 | |
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31
tribal
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| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
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32
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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33
legendary
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| adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学） | |
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34
spouted
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| adj.装有嘴的v.（指液体）喷出( spout的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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35
spout
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| v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱 | |
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36
boiler
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| n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等) | |
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37
tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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38
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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39
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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40
lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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41
lagoons
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| n.污水池( lagoon的名词复数 )；潟湖；（大湖或江河附近的）小而浅的淡水湖；温泉形成的池塘 | |
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42
thermal
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| adj.热的，由热造成的；保暖的 | |
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43
spouts
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| n.管口( spout的名词复数 )；（喷出的）水柱；（容器的）嘴；在困难中v.（指液体）喷出( spout的第三人称单数 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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44
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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45
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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46
marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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47
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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48
cascade
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| n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下 | |
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49
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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50
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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51
mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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52
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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53
quiescent
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| adj.静止的，不活动的，寂静的 | |
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54
rimmed
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| adj.有边缘的，有框的v.沿…边缘滚动；给…镶边 | |
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55
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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56
obsidian
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| n.黑曜石 | |
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57
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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58
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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59
belched
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| v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气） | |
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60
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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61
sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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62
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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63
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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64
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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65
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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66
notably
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| adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地 | |
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67
porous
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| adj.可渗透的，多孔的 | |
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68
withers
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| 马肩隆 | |
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69
tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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70
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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71
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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72
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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73
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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74
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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75
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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76
renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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77
simile
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| n.直喻，明喻 | |
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78
hems
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| 布的褶边，贴边( hem的名词复数 )； 短促的咳嗽 | |
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79
cascades
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| 倾泻( cascade的名词复数 )； 小瀑布（尤指一连串瀑布中的一支）； 瀑布状物； 倾泻（或涌出）的东西 | |
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80
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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81
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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82
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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83
funnel
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| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
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84
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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85
variant
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| adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体 | |
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86
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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87
rift
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| n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入 | |
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88
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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89
foams
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| n.泡沫，泡沫材料( foam的名词复数 ) | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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91
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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92
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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93
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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94
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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95
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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96
scantily
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| adv.缺乏地；不充足地；吝啬地；狭窄地 | |
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97
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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98
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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99
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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100
glimmers
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| n.微光，闪光( glimmer的名词复数 )v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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101
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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102
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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103
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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104
wayfarers
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| n.旅人，（尤指）徒步旅行者( wayfarer的名词复数 ) | |
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105
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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106
gorged
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| v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的过去式和过去分词 )；作呕 | |
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107
missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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108
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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109
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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110
cannibalism
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| n.同类相食；吃人肉 | |
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111
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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112
natal
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| adj.出生的，先天的 | |
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113
systematically
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| adv.有系统地 | |
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114
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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115
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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116
precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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117
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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118
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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119
tusk
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| n.獠牙，长牙，象牙 | |
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120
lava
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| n.熔岩，火山岩 | |
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121
protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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122
eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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123
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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124
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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125
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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126
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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127
sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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128
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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129
eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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130
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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131
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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132
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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133
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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134
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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135
proprietary
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| n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主 | |
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136
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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137
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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138
trespasser
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| n.侵犯者；违反者 | |
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139
browbeating
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| v.（以言辞或表情）威逼，恫吓( browbeat的现在分词 ) | |
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140
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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141
pacified
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| 使（某人）安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
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142
figs
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| figures 数字，图形，外形 | |
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143
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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144
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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145
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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146
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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147
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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148
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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149
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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150
maize
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| n.玉米 | |
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151
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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152
aquiline
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| adj.钩状的，鹰的 | |
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153
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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154
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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155
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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156
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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157
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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158
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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159
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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160
choleric
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| adj.易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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161
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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162
tenaciously
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| 坚持地 | |
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163
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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164
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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165
avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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166
interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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167
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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168
anticlimax
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| n.令人扫兴的结局；突降法 | |
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169
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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170
panegyric
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| n.颂词，颂扬 | |
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171
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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172
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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173
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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174
forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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175
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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176
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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177
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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178
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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179
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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180
athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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181
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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182
chiselled
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|
| adj.凿过的，凿光的； （文章等）精心雕琢的v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的过去式 ) | |
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183
varied
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|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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184
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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185
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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186
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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187
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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188
wondrous
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|
| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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189
resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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190
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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191
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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192
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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193
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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194
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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195
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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196
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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197
revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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198
fatalities
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| n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运 | |
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199
mishaps
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| n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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200
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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201
engulfed
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| v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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202
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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203
painkiller
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| n.止痛药 | |
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204
incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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205
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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206
epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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207
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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208
survivor
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| n.生存者，残存者，幸存者 | |
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209
prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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210
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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211
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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212
vernacular
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|
| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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213
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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214
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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215
tepid
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| adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的 | |
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216
tragically
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| adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地 | |
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217
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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218
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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219
beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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220
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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221
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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222
geologists
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| 地质学家，地质学者( geologist的名词复数 ) | |
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223
naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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224
laudatory
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| adj.赞扬的 | |
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225
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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226
gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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227
gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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228
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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229
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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230
swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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231
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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232
ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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233
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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234
tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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235
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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236
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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237
glisten
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| vi.（光洁或湿润表面等）闪闪发光，闪闪发亮 | |
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238
tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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239
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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240
sediment
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| n.沉淀，沉渣，沉积(物) | |
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241
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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242
parasites
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| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
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243
arabesques
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| n.阿拉伯式花饰( arabesque的名词复数 )；错综图饰；阿拉伯图案；阿拉贝斯克芭蕾舞姿（独脚站立，手前伸，另一脚一手向后伸） | |
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244
trickling
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| n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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245
spurting
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| （液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的现在分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺； 溅射 | |
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246
reminder
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| n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示 | |
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247
mosses
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| n. 藓类, 苔藓植物 名词moss的复数形式 | |
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248
frieze
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| n.(墙上的)横饰带，雕带 | |
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249
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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250
alabaster
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| adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石 | |
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251
desecration
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| n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱 | |
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252
scribbling
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| n.乱涂[写]胡[乱]写的文章[作品]v.潦草的书写( scribble的现在分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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253
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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254
portents
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| n.预兆( portent的名词复数 )；征兆；怪事；奇物 | |
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255
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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256
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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257
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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258
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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259
glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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260
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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261
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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262
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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263
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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264
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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265
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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266
clefts
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| n.裂缝( cleft的名词复数 )；裂口；cleave的过去式和过去分词；进退维谷 | |
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267
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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268
canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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269
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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270
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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271
vomiting
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| 吐 | |
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272
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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273
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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274
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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275
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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276
belittle
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| v.轻视，小看，贬低 | |
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277
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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278
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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279
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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280
ooze
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| n.软泥，渗出物；vi.渗出，泄漏；vt.慢慢渗出，流露 | |
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281
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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282
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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283
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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284
devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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285
cyclone
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| n.旋风，龙卷风 | |
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286
tornado
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| n.飓风，龙卷风 | |
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287
prostrating
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| v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的现在分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力 | |
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288
wrecking
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| 破坏 | |
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289
computed
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| adj.[医]计算的，使用计算机的v.计算，估算( compute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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290
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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291
trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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292
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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293
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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294
annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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295
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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296
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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297
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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298
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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299
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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300
discriminate
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|
| v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待 | |
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301
scotch
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|
| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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302
battering
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| n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 ) | |
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303
props
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| 小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋 | |
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304
plucky
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|
| adj.勇敢的 | |
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305
thoroughly
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|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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306
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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307
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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308
aprons
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| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
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309
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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310
plentiful
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|
| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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311
colonist
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| n.殖民者，移民 | |
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312
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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313
sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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314
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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315
tickles
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| （使）发痒( tickle的第三人称单数 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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316
compensating
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| 补偿，补助，修正 | |
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317
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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318
dismal
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|
| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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319
glorifies
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| 赞美( glorify的第三人称单数 )； 颂扬； 美化； 使光荣 | |
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320
inexplicably
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| adv.无法说明地，难以理解地，令人难以理解的是 | |
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321
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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322
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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323
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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324
oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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325
gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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326
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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327
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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328
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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329
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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330
irritable
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|
| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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331
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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332
penetrates
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| v.穿过( penetrate的第三人称单数 )；刺入；了解；渗透 | |
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333
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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334
falters
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的第三人称单数 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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335
subsiding
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的现在分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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336
luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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337
palatable
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| adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的 | |
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338
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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339
delicacies
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| n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到 | |
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340
putrid
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| adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的 | |
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341
invalids
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| 病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
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342
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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343
potency
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| n. 效力，潜能 | |
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344
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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345
rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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346
sedative
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| adj.使安静的，使镇静的；n. 镇静剂，能使安静的东西 | |
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347
massage
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| n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据 | |
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348
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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349
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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350
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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351
botanists
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| n.植物学家，研究植物的人( botanist的名词复数 ) | |
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352
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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353
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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354
steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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355
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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356
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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357
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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358
exterminate
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| v.扑灭，消灭，根绝 | |
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359
invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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360
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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361
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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362
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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363
plumed
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| 饰有羽毛的 | |
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364
slaughter
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|
| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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365
massacre
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|
| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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366
concurs
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| 同意（concur的第三人称单数形式） | |
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367
circumventing
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| v.设法克服或避免（某事物），回避( circumvent的现在分词 )；绕过，绕行，绕道旅行 | |
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368
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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369
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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370
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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371
exhortation
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| n.劝告，规劝 | |
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372
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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373
invoking
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| v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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374
juggling
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| n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词 | |
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375
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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376
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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377
sanitary
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| adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的 | |
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378
disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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