The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1852-05-20
The Sreat Volcanic Eruption of Mamma
Loa, i'm the Sandwich Islands.


of the fiery visitation to the 9th of March,
at which time the spectacle is said to have been
sublime beyond anything of the kind ever wit
messed. Che eruption exceeds in grandeur any
Of the volcanic convulsons of Mauna Loa ever
before seen by white men on the islands, and
great fears were entertained for the safety of
the beautiful town of Hio. We subioin ac-
counts of its action from the ''Polynesian -
'sWe have received verbal information in re-
gard to the state of the eruption, as late as TO
the 9th of March, from the leeward side of Ha-
wall At that date the light from the flowing
current was as bright it had been at any for
mer perioi, sufficient to enable person to pick
up needle from the ground at midnight from
which fAct the inference is drawn that the cur
rent is stifl flowing on towards the sea-
The current seems to have broken out thro'
old assure, about one-third down the side of
Mauna Loa, on the northwest side, and not from
| the old crater on the summit, called Mol,uoweo-
wee. The altitude of the present eruption is a
bout 10000 feet above the level of the sea, and
from the bay of Hilo, (Byron's Bay,) must be
some so or 60 miles. If it succeeded in reaching
the ocean at the point supposed, after having fl
led up all The ravines gulches and inequalities
Of very broken country, it will undoubtedly be
! one Of the most extensive eruptions of modern
times
1t would seem, from the last note from Mr.
Coan, that the stream had divided-one part ta-
king am easterly course towards Puma, while the
other took northerly one towards nilo. This
may so divide the volume of lava that neither
branch win reach the sea ; but from the last ac-
counts, the northerly branch was still burning
its way through a dense forest, and if the sup
ply holds out long enough, it viii naturally fall
into the course of the Wailuku River, and follow
it to where il disembogues into the bay, at Hilo.
We anxiously wait further intelligence
An abstract from correspondents letter, in
the Polynesian, is of so much interest that we
, copy ii entire. A jet of lava playing five hun
dred feet in air must be indeed a magnificent
and sublime sight:
''By an accurate measurement of the enor-
nous jet of glowing lava, where it first broke
forth on the side of AIauna Loa, it was ascertai-
ned to be five hundred feet high This was up
on the supposition that it was thirty miles dis
tant. We are of the opinion that it was a great
1
! With glass, the play of this jet, at night, was
distinctly observed, and more sublime sight
can scarcely be imagined. A column of molten
J lava, glowing with the most intense heat, and
projecting inte the air to a distance of FIVE hun
dred feet, was a sight so rare and at the same
time so awfully grand, TO excite the most
lively feelings of and admiration, even when
viewed at distance of forty fifty miles,
How much more awe-aspiring would it have
| been at a distance of one or two miles, where
| the sounds accompanying such an eruption could
have been heard The fall of such a column
would doubtless cause the earth to tremble and
the roar of the rushing mass would have been
/ like the mighty waves of the ocean beating upon
4 rock ound coast
The diameter of this jet is supposed to be over
one hundred feet and this we easily believe,
when we reflect that from it proceeded the riv-
er of lava that flowed off from it towards the sea-
| In some places this river is mile wide, and in
others more contracted. AT some points it has
| filled up ravines one hundred two hundred and
three hundred feet in depth, and it still flowed
on 1t entered a heavy forest, and the giant
growth of centuries is cut down before it like
grass before the mowers scythe No obstacle
can arrest it in its descent to the sea. Mounds
are covered over ravines are filed up, forests
are destroyed and the habitations of men are
consumed like fax in furnace. Truly, 'He
toucheth the hills and they smoke
We have not yet heard of any destruction of
life from the eruption now in progress. a ru-
NOR has reached US that a small native village
has been destroyed but of this we have no au-
thentic intelligence. Should it reach the sea
without destroying life or property, it will be a
matter of thankfullness and almost unhoped for
exemption. A large number of the residents of
Honolulu had gone to Hawaii to witness the up
heavings of Mauna Loa."
Another letter, after stating that the lava had
burned through the woods to within fifteen miles
of Hilo, and was still progressing, adds
''The side of the mountain has opened about
midway its dome, and the lava pours out with
unrestrained effort, and comes rolling, tumbling
and flashing on towards Hlo 1t is accompan-
led with frequent explosions. At night the i'm
agination cannot conceive a spectacle more aw-
! fully grand. The immense flow of lava reflects
upon the clouds its cherry red hue, and as they
gather in density about the mountain, are caught
| up by the upward current of atmosphere, and