The living waters of Geyserland have exercised a hypnotic attraction upon mankind throughout time. Scientific explanation hardly satisfies the love of the magical (common to most of us), inspired by the wonderful sights found in the central thermal arca of New Zealand, an area extending from White Island to Rotorua and Wairakei.

But as curiosity cannot wholly be appeased (although greatly entertained) by the remarkable Maori legends, retailed by the guides, regarding the geyser phenomenon, the following account is given in the hope that it may help visitors to an intelligent understanding of one phase of Nature's tireless energy.

Of all the features of the present stage of New Zealand's volcanic history, the most outstanding is probably the geyser. Geyser-activity is a phase of volcanic action that occurs in many parts of the world. This phenomenon may be seen, for instance, in the sub-artic wastes of Iceland, in the remote uplands of mysterious Thibet, and in the famous Yellowstone Park of North America.

New Zealand, however, possesses the world's greatest geyser-group, and that renowned Thermal District of which Rotorua and Wairakei are the chief centres, displays geyser-activity in endless variety, and in a multiplicity of form such as the older countries cannot offer, and provides a fruitful field for original study and research. Here we may trace the “life history” of the geyser through every stage, from the simple furmarole that is the genesis, to the dry, sinter-ringed orifice that betokens the ultimate extinction of life and action.

In this brief article it is impossible to do more than touch upon the salient features of this spectacular manifestation of thermal energy. I shall therefore endeavour to outline briefly the researches that have developed the present accepted theory of the causes of geyser-action.

The word, “geyser,” is of Icelandic origin, and may be interpreted liberally as “that which gushes, or spouts forth.”

At the headwaters of the White River, and nearly thirty miles from Hecla, the volcano of Iceland, is a group of boiling springs, the three largest of which are called the Great and the Little Geysers, and the Strokr. It is from the two firstnamed that the term is derived, and it is from the scientific investigation of these pools, particularly the Great Geyser, that our present knowledge of the subject is in large measure due.