The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-06-06 00:00:00

A HAWAIIAN VOLCANO.

A holy correspondent of the louliampolle Journal who
writes from Hilo, Ilawaii, gives a long and graphic account
of a recent visit by a party of four, of whom she was one, to
the crater at Kilauea, the largest known active volcano in
the world. Site describes it as a vast black pit. ten or twelve
miles In circumference, and about a thousand feet deep. She
founo the greater put of a stony lake of old lava, with in-
numerable crevices, from which Issued clouds of steam, and
near the centre was a huge mound, probably half a mile
round the top and goOft. high, which sent up heavy colunms
of smoke, the cauldron of the South Lake. The writer des-
cribes the descent into the crater:—

"The path led first down a steep decline covered
with ferns, strawberry plants, okela, silver sword, and
sit ía bushes, past the edges of deep ravines or between
two chasms, huge boulders of lava rock that had fallen
from the cliff above, down a long flight of steep
stairs made of poles and earth, and over a number of
gravelly ridges that extended like capes and promon-
tories into the stony sea of black lava below. Here
we rested awhile and listened to the echoes that the
rocky cliff above its sent back when we beat on the
rocks with our staffs. I varied the experiment by
beating on the ground, but it gave back such a hollow,
empty sound that I suggested that we should go to the
more solid ground, when the guide cheered us by re-
marking that for the next three or four hours we would
be walking over a thin crust above fire and lava, and his
statement was verified as we went on, for every now
and then we came to cracks where the stones were
white and yellow with heat, so that we could not touch
them, and emitting clouds of steam and volumes of hot
air and sulphurous gases. The lava had assumed most
fantastic shapes, of a variety beyond description. In
some places thick heavy waves of new lava had flowed
over old lava, penetrating every depression and crevice,
pouring over the sides of cliffs like waterfalls of thick
tar (Irish), and hanging in petrified festoons and

stalactites down the sides of huge fissures forced
apart in the great earthquake of 18438. The uew
lava had a metalic lustre. on its surface; the old

EV; ;as black, or a -Peilia.l:7lull-grity, like nothing
else in the world. It gave a crisp, crackling sound under
our feet, sometimes breaking through like a crust of
snow, sometimes slowly sinking in an ominous way
thst was not reassming. We Nat dOWII to rest in the
slfft of a lava ridge, but goon became uncomfortably
warm, and going round to the other side to investigate,
found we were Ott an oven; looking down a wide
crack of red-hot stones we Raw the glow of the fire
below, and heard the peculiar sound of a subdued rage
which subterranean tires give out. The guide here
began picking his way carefully, for we were nearing
the edge of the cauldron, and walking on the thin sur-
face of raging furnaces. At last the place was reached.
We stood on the high bank of an irregular lake of
liquid fire, which was seething and rolling to and fro,
glowing with exceeding great heat, and sending up vast
columns of smoke. The bottom of the cliff was fringed
with tire, and seemed ready to crumble into the lake
beneath, the shore line of lava looked like blood
compared with the Mack eliff above it. A cascade of
tire WILK playing in the centre of the lake, boiling up,
rolling downward, bubbling, tossing up jets of molten
lava, and scattering fiery spray all around it. Then
for a few moments it subsided, and the lake cooled
over on top, a thin crust of gray and black, but it soon
heaved up slowly in the centre and snouted up a fiery
geyser, 30 or 40 feet high; that playea like a colossal
fountain several minutes, flingingoot showers and clots ;
of lava, and dashing up red billows against the cliffs
with a sound resembling surf on a rocky shore, only
that it had something indescribably hellish and diabo-
lical in it that tilled me with an awful shudder. That
swashing, self conscious sound, now faint, now loud
m was to eby far the most impressive I part. I think
should go mad if I had to listen to it long and realize
that it was caused by the restless surging sea of fire
that seemed the very lake of perdition. A large part
of tho cliff has fallen in lately, almost dividing the lake
into two parts, and the southern part, that furthest
from us, seemed most active. Sometimes the wind
shifted and sent the smoke right in our faces; it was
just like the fumes of lighted matches, and set us to
coughing and strangling in a moment. We were at
times almost suffocated, but dared not go further on,
for the edge of the cliff was seamed and scarred and
: scorched with fires, so that it hung together in crisp
layers, with wide gaps between, whence issued volumes
of smoke, and the peculiar glimmer and glow of great
heat. The place on which we stood was so hot
that we had to keep moving about lest our feet
should burn, and I found by experiment that I
could not hold my hand over a crevice more than a
few seconds owing to the intense beat. The scene
below was constantly changing; sometimes, when
the lake had crusted over, a billow of red-hot lava
would roll from under the cliff and break in the crust
near the shore, roll again and break in noes, all aeross
the lake, till it was once more a mass of liquid fire,
that boil.' and bubbled in restless cascades, or spouted
up jets with great force 40 feet in the air. Remember,
there was no flame or blaze about all this ; it was
liquid matter, heated to red or white heat, resembling
exactly the molten iron seen in founderies. This lake
is constantly changing. At the time of our visit it was
three or four acres in extent, and the surface was 120
feet below the top of the oliff. Huge masses of rock
are constantly tumbling in, and there is always danger
to visitors who stand close to the edge. only a few
days before, a party had a very narrow escape; they
were standing on a ledge of rock, when they heard a
swashing sound beneath them, and hail just time to
step backwards when the entire shelf was precipitated
into the boiling lava below. We stayed about three
hours watching the lake glow and brighten and change,
and then, gathering up a lot of specimens, we toiled
I back."