The primitive Republican. (Columbus, Miss.) 18??-1852, 1852-05-20
The Great Volcanic Euption q Eauna
LOa, II the Sandwich Islands.

grand eruption IN the mountain Of Maunl
Lon, on the island II Hawaii, received by
way of California. The lutest accounts from
the sceneof the fiery visitation are Il the
9th Of March, ut which time the spt ctacle is
said to have been sublime beyond anything
of the kind ever Witnessed. The eruption
exceeds in grandeur any Of the volcanic con-
vulsions # Maunu I4n ever bcfirc seen by
white men on the islands, and great fears
were entertained for the safety of the beauti-
full town Of Ililo. We subjoin accounts Of
its action from the Polynesian:
ave have received verbal information in
regard to the state Of the eruption, as late as
to the 9th Of March, from the lecward side
of Hawaii. At that date the light from the
flowing current was as bright as it had been
at any former period, sufficient to enable
person to pick up needle from the ground
at midnight, from which fact the inference
is drawn that the current is still flowing on
towards the sea.
"The current seems to have broken out
through an old tissue, about one-third down
the side of Mauna Loa, on the northwest
side, and not from the old crater on the sum-
NIT, called Mokuoweoweo. The altitude of
the present eruption is about ten thousand
feet above the level of the sea, and from the
Bay of Hilo (Byron's Bay) must be some
fifty or sixty miles. If it succeed in reach
ing the ocean at the point supposed, after
having filed up all the ravines, gulches, and
inequalities of very broken country, it will
undoubtedly be one of the most extensive
eruptions of modern times.
at would seem, from the last note from
Mr. Coan, that the stream had dividcd-one
part taking an easterly course towards Puma,
while the other took northerly one towards
Hilo. This may so divide the volume of
lava that neither branch will reach the sea
but from the latest accounts the northerlyI
branch was still burning its way through a
dense forest, and if the supply holds out long
enough, it will naturally fall into the course
of the Waikiki river, and follow it to where
it 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 it entire. A jet of lava play
ing five hundred feet in the air, must be in
deed 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 Mauna Loa, it was as
certained to be FIVE hundred feet high This
was upon the supposition that it was thirty
miles distant. We are of the opinion that
it was greater distance, say from forty to-
sixty miles. With glass, the play of this
jet, at night, was distinctly observed, and a
more sublime sight can scarcely be imagin-
ed. A column of molten lava, glowing with
the most intense heat, and projecting into
the air to distance Of five hundred feet, was
a sight so rare and at the same time so aw-
fully grand, as to excite the most lively feel
ings of awe and admiration, even when view
ed at distance Of forty or fifty miles. How
much more awe-inspiring would it have been
at distance of one OF two miles, where the
sounds accompanying such an eruption could
have been heard. The fall of such col
umn, 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 rOck-bound coast.
''The diameter of this Jet is supposed to
be over one hundred feet, and this we can
easily believe, when we reflect that from it
proceeded the river of lava that flowed off
from it toward the sea. In some places this
river is a mile wide, and in others more con-
tracted. At some points it has filed up
ravines one hundred, two hundred and three
hundred feet in depth, and stiA it flowed on
l. entered a heavy forest, and the giant
growth of centuries is cut down before it
like grass before the mowers scythe; no OBJ
stacle can arrest it in its descent to the sea.
Mounds are covered over, ravines are filled
up, forests are detrOyed, and the habitations
of men are consumed like fax in furnace
Truly, 'He toucheth the hills and they
smoke
eve have not yet heard of any destruc-
ton of life from the eruption now in pro-
gress. A rumor has reached us that small
native village has been destroyed, but of this
we have no authentic intelligence. Should
it reach the sea without destroying life or
property, it will be matter Of thankfulness
and almost unhoped for exemption. A large
number of the residents Of Honolulu had
gone to Hawaii to witness the upheavings of
Mauna Loa."
Another letter, after stating that the lava
had burned through the woods to within ff-
teen 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 roll
ing, tumbling and flashing on towards Hilo
1t is accompanied with frequent explosions.
At night, the imagination cannot conceive a
spectacle more awfully grand. The immense
flow of lava reflects upon the clouds its cher
ry-red hue, and as they gather in density
about the mountain, are caught up by the
upward current of atmosphere, and hurried
with rapidity into every imaginable shape,
representing in the heavens a wild picter-
esque, scene"
The eruption, it appears, commenced on
the 18th of February, at o'clock in the
morning.
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