face of the land covered
Nature's chemical laboratory, are all regarded by the visitor as quite
the proper thing,--in fact, just what is to be expected. Even the scores
of naked Maori bathers, of both sexes, outrage no sense of propriety in
this weird atmosphere of Ohinemutu. One seems to be surrounded by a race
upon whose semi-civilization the era of clothes has not yet dawned. The
Maori inhabitants of Wairoa, the native town which was so recently
buried with all its people by a volcanic outburst, had no more reason to
anticipate any immediate danger than have these natives on the banks of
Lake Rotorua. Indeed, so far as external evidence of subterranean
volcanic force is concerned, the inhabitants of Wairoa had not one half
the threatening tokens about them that exist here at every turn.
Sulphur, alkaline, and iron-impregnated pools of inviting temperature
induce one to indulge in frequent baths, and it seems but natural that
the natives in their semi-nude condition should pass so much of their
time in the water, both sexes mingling in this pleasure as they would do
in the ordinary avocations of life. Near to the shore, where the lake
is shallow, a boiling spring forces its way to the surface of the
surrounding cold water, telling of a submerged fiery caldron underlying
the lake at that particular point. It was, however, no more significant
than the scores of other steam-holes and spouting geysers which force
themselves to the surface all about this sulphurous region. In short,
the town of Ohinemutu is built on a thin crust, roofing over, as it
were, a vast fiery furnace, whose volcanic eccentricities form the
marvel of the locality.

Here then the traveller eats, drinks, and sleeps above a series of
suppressed volcanoes. One could not but recall the fate of Lisbon and of
half-exhumed Pompeii. Many of these springs and geysers are so hot that
a mere touch of the water will blister the human flesh as quickly as
contact with red-hot iron. Others are of a temperature suitable for
boiling vegetables; and still others by artificial means--that is, the
introduction of cool surface-water--are rendered of a temperature
suitable for bathing purposes. One must walk cautiously among these
boiling mud-pits, open springs, and steam-holes; a misstep might prove
instantly fatal. Caldrons lie on either side of the path, within a few
inches of where one may be walking all unsuspiciously. A Maori child
lately disappeared while playing