Whakarewarewa.

The principal geyser active here is Pohutu, which throws a beautiful column of boiling water fifty to seventy feet in the air, shooting with tremendous force from an oval tube or funnel about two feet wide. Close to the geyser pipe is a deep pool of blue water which is a kind of indicator to the big spouter; it becomes a furiously boiling cauldron just before Pohutu bursts forth. Close by are two small geysers, one called the “Prince of Wales' Feathers” from the form of its spout. Other geysers there are, but in a quiescent state; they may become active again at any time. The glittering terrace of white silica just above the Puarenga, where that brown and sulphurous stream goes swirling down between its painted banks, is the gathering place for visitors who want to see Pohutu Geyser play, with a tremble of the ground an all-pervading subterranean sound:—

“Like ponderous engines infinite, working

at some tremendous task below.”

Pohutu means “splashing,” an appropriate name for this wonderful intermittent fountain, whose hot spray is showered over the glistening terraces, to cascade thence into the weird river below.