Hochstetter's Description.

Dr. Ferdinand von Hochstetter's account, written in 1860, is the first scientific description of the lake and the terraces. Hochstetter, who visited the place, after seeing Taupo, on his journey through the heart of the Island, said that Rotomahana was one of the smallest lakes in the district, barely a mile long from north to south, and over a quarter of a mile wide. According to his measurement it was 1098 feet above the level of the sea. Its form was very irregular on the south side, where the shore was formed by swamp; three small meandering creeks discharged themselves into the lake. In many parts of those swamps warm water streamed forth, mud pools were visible here and there, and from the projecting points muddy shallows covered with swamp grass extended almost as far as the middle of the lake. At the north end the lake grew narrower. The quantity of boiling water issuing from the ground, both on the shores and the bottom of the lake was “truly astonishing.” Of course the whole lake was heated by it. Near the mouth of the cool creeks, the water showed a temperature of 50 deg. F. to 52 deg. F., but in the middle of the lake and near its outlet 80 deg. F. was about the mean temperature of the lake. The water was muddy, turbid, and of a “smutty green colour.” It was the harbour of countless water and swamp fowl. The main interest was attached to the east shore. There were three principal springs to which the lake owed its fame.

“First of all,” Hochstetter wrote, “is Te Tarata, at the north-east end of the lake, with its terraced marble steps projecting into the lake, the most marvellous of the Rotomahana marvels. About 80 feet above the lake, on the fern-clad slope of a hill, from which in various places hot vapour was page 27 escaping, there lies the immense boiling cauldron in a crater-like excavation with steep reddish sides 30 or 40 feet high, and open only on the lake side towards west. The basin of the spring is about 80 feet long and 60 feet wide, and filled to the brim with perfectly clear transparent water, which with the snow white encrusted basin appears of a beautiful blue, like the blue turquoise….

“The native who served me as a guide asserted that sometimes the whole mass of water is suddenly thrown out with an immense force, and then the basin is open to view to a depth of 30 feet, but that it fills again very quickly. Such eruptions are said to occur only during violent easterly gales. If it be true, then Te Tarata spring is a geyser playing at long intervals, the eruptions of which equal perhaps in grandeur the eruptions of the famous geyser in Iceland. The deposit of the water is like that of the Iceland springs, silicious, not calcareous, and the silicious deposits and incrustations of the constantly overflowing water have formed on the slope of the hill a system of terraces, which, as white as if cut from marble, present an aspect which no description or illustration is able to represent. It has the appearance of a cataract plunging over natural shelves, which as it falls is suddenly turned into stone. The silicious deposits cover an area of about three acres of land. For the formation of these terraces, such as we see them to-day, doubtless thousands of years were required.

“The flat-spreading foot of the terraces extends far into the lake. There the terraces commence with low shelves containing shallow water basins. The farther up the higher grow the terraces—two, three, some also four and six feet high. They are formed by semi-circular stages, of which, however, not two are of the same height. Each of those stages, has a small raised margin, from which slender stalactites are hanging down upon the lower stage, and encircles on its platform one or more basins resplendent with the most beautiful blue water. These small water basins represent as many natural bathing basins. Some of the basins are so large and deep that one can easily swim about in them. During violent water-eruptions from the main basin, steaming cascades may occur; but at ordinary times very little water ripples over the terraces, and only the principal discharge page 28 on the south side forms a hot steaming fall. After reaching the highest terrace there is an extensive platform with a number of basins five or six feet deep, their water showing a temperature of 90 deg. F. to 110 deg. F. The pure white of the silicious deposit, in contrast with the blue of the water, with the green of the surrounding vegetation, and with the extensive red of the bare earth-walls of the water-crater, the whirling clouds of steam—altogether presents a scene unequalled of its kind.”