The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-04-09
of the New York Times.
SANDWICH ISLANDS.
MAGNIFIcENr sPECTAcLE-MAUNA LoA IN
ERUPTIoN-vIsIr TO THE CRATER.
H1Lo HAWAII. Jan. %, 1856.

HILo HAWAII, Jan. %, 1856.
The natives of this realm have le-
gend, that their Goddess of fire and vol
cano, Pele, after being driven from the
other islands of the group, took up her
abode on this, Hawaii, the largest of the
Islands, and the nearest the American
coast In other words, the volcanic ae-
tion which has ceased upon them is still
maintained upon this, apparently the
newest formed of them all. We are, at
present, in the midst of an eruption of
the first class, whether its duration or
the mass of matter thrown out be con-
sidered. The stream of lava, which va
ries in breadth between FIVE miles and
one, has coursed from the summit Cras-
ter of Mouna Loa, Long Mountain)
where it suddenly broke out last August,
for sixty miles, until it is within, say,
eight miles of our village and harbor of
Hilo. 1t still advances upon US, and
threatens to destroy both town and har-
Dor, spot, by the by, admitted to be
the gem of the Sandwich Islands.
1 have just returned from visit to
the end of the stream.
UP THE MOUNTAIN.
Here it was necessary to leave our
horses and procure guides and attend
ants Four miles brought US to the al
most vacant rocky bed of mountain
torrent The little water in it was not
the usual sweet limpid stream. 1t was
lukewarm and had the dirty suds ful
look of the refuse of wash-tub. This
was owing to the lava having overfown
its bed above. View very careful to
find out how hot it might be- Only a
few weeks since, a native visiting the
lava, in attempting to jump across
pool, had fallen in and sca'ded himself
so as to cause his death after day or
two of suffering. Up the rivers bed we
went for half "a mile, when we reached
the fire. W e were opportune. The sun
had set, and the full moon shining
through an almost unclouded sky, while
it gave US light enough to make our way
about the rough rocks did not eclipse
the light of the fires which everywhere
glowed before Us. The channel of the
river before mentioned, was here divided
by chain of Islands extending to the
brink of the precipice. Passing up the
right hand channel, for some fifteen rods
from the precipice, we entered between
two Islands upon the left-hand branch
and met the advanced lava stream.
THE LAVA.
Slowly the-red hot, molten mass NOV
ed down the slope towards US. Favor
ed by the comparative smoothness of
the rivers bed, it had moved on, pion-
Ger of the main body, which furlong
above spread out its glowing mass mile
in width and pressed slowly into the
dense and wet forest and jungle, drying
and telling and consuming the trees and
gigantic ferns. This is its method of
advance: First, from under the black
and hardened surface, flow, which
pushes by fingers, into the wood, drying
the mud and paving the way for succeed
ing flows, which consume and clear the
woods, aud advance the whole front of
the stream and pile up in massy blocks
the thick cooled surface-for the lava
always runs under cover of its own
making in large masses it very
soon hardens upon exposure to the air
and were it not for this system of Pyro-
ducts it could never travel far from the
crater. Sometimes these sub lava chan
nels are fifteen feet in height and of pro-
portionate breadth. We had now an
excellent opportunity to collect lava
specimens, which is done by thrusting a
pole into the liquid ooze and liftsng out
tuft, large or small. While it is still