The Waters of Healing.

The most common form of hydro-thermal activity in the Lakes Country is the hot spring, often an old geyser which has relapsed into a gently but continually boiling well or cauldron. Many of these boiling fountains supply the medicinal baths for which Rotorua is famous. They have been classified scientifically under the following groups:—

1.—Saline, containing chiefly chloride of sodium.

2.—Alkaline, containing carbonates and bicarbonates of soda and potash.

3.—Alkaline ailiceous, waters containing much silicic acid, but changing rapidly in exposure to the atmosphere and becoming alkaline.

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4.—Hepatic or sulphurous, waters which contain sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphurous acid.

5.—Acid waters, in which there is an excess of mineral acids, such as hydrochloride and sulphuric acid.

It is the sulphurous waters whose presence is most marked at Rotorua, and the odour of sulphuretted hydrogen is the most insistent characteristic of the hot springs groups.

Some of the best known of these springs, all valuable as healers of man's aches and pains, are the Whangapipiro, or Madame Rachel's Bath, and Te Pupunitanga, or the Priest's Bath, in the Government grounds at Rotorua; the Postmaster's Bath, an exceedingly powerful wai-ariki, on the shores of Rotorua Lake; Te Kauwhanga; the Waihunuhunu-kuri spring Ohinemutu; Turikore or the Spout Bath, and the “Oil Bath,” at Whakarewarewa—types these of a thousand medicinal springs in the Thermal Zone, some used for bathing only, others fit for invalids' drinking. Many of these springs bear English names, which may appear cryptic or fantastic to a visitor; the explanation is that they were usually given because of some pakeha pioneer who derived benefit from their life - renewing wells and who proclaimed the virtues of the waters. The Priest's Bath and the Postmaster's Bath are examples.

In the early days the invalid who ventured into the manuka, where the warm springs bubbled up and sent their steam clouds softly curling above the thickets, had either to camp with the Maoris or live in a tent beside the spring. Things are very different now at Rotorua, where the hand of man has transformed so much of the land.