e ten miles distant from the crater.
Some of them instinctively took to flight, but before they could run
much more than a hundred yards the light of day was suddenly changed
into a darkness more intense than that of midnight; a shower of blinding
hot ashes and sand poured down upon them; the ground was shaken with
earthquakes, and explosion followed explosion, the last being the most
violent of all. Many fugitives, as well as people in the houses, were
overwhelmed by the deluge of mud, none of the fugitives, when overtaken
by death, being more than two hundred yards from the village." From the
statements made by those fortunate enough to escape with their lives,
and from a personal examination of the ground, Mr. Norman inferred that
the mud must have been flung fully six miles through the air and then
have poured in a torrent along the ground for four miles further. All
this was done in less than five minutes, so that "millions of tons of
boiling mud were hurled over the country at the rate of two miles a
minute."

The velocity of the mud torrent may perhaps be overestimated, but in its
awful suddenness this catastrophe was evidently one with few equals. The
cone destroyed may have been largely composed of rather fine ashes and
scoriae, which was almost instantaneously converted into mud by the
condensing steam and the boiling water ejected. The quantity of water
thus discharged must have been enormous.

Of the remaining volcanic regions of the Pacific, the New Zealand
islands present some of the most striking examples of activity. All
the central parts, indeed, of the northern island of the group are of a
highly volcanic character. There is here a mountain named Tongariro, on
whose snow-clad summit is a deep crater, from which volcanic vapors are
seen to issue, and which exhibits other indications of having been in a
state of greater activity at a not very remote period of time. There
is also, at no great distance from this mountain, a region containing
numerous funnel-shaped chasms, emitting hot water, or steam, or
sulphurous vapors, or boiling mud. The earthquakes in New Zealand had
probably their origin in this volcanic focus.

THE NEW ZEALAND VOLCANOES

Tongariro has a height of about 6,500 feet, while Egmont, 8,270 feet in
height, is a perfect cone with a perpetual cap of snow. There are many
other volcanic mountains, and also great numbers of mud volcanoes, hot
springs and geysers. It is for the latter t