Page:Our New Zealand Cousins.djvu/82

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
66
Our New Zealand Cousins.

strongly myself, and it was shared by other members of the party. The witchery of this exquisite bath, albeit it would boil one to rags in an instant, is such that one feels a strange semi-hysterical impulse to sink softly in and be at rest.

N.B.—The feeling can be at once dispelled by dipping one's fingers into the scalding waters. The cure is instant and effectual.

The floor seems made of pearly sago, and a soft deposit covers the sides and bottom of the bathing pools, which feels grateful to the naked touch of our pliant limbs, as we roll lazily about in Sybaritic enjoyment. The baths are, of course, a little lower down the terrace, and you can have every degree of warmth, as you shift your position higher up or lower down. They are quite hidden from the view of any one at the edge of the lake, and thus we waited till the ladies had had their bath, and then we fairly revelled in the delicious sensations, and would have possibly remained there for hours, had not Kate, with stentorian voice, summoned us to hasten, as the day was drawing in to its close.

A day surely to be marked with a white stone in the calendar of one's life. The remembrance of these marvels will haunt me to my dying hour.

The swift return down the impulsive creek, with its fern-clad banks, thermal springs, scuttling wild ducks, and the skilled steering of our bronzed and tattooed Maoris were all very enjoyable; but during all the long row home, the disembarkation