The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-08-05


Prpf Haslsll, Of Oahu Colleee. sandwieh
Islands, recent gruduafe Of yais, viSttea he
soieans of Mauna Ioa, with about thlrty Of
ths studsnla and, il. q article on the subject.
he gives I vivid description Of the majsssic
river'of laya, flowing nom the mountain 10
tho SEA. He says:
IfcmFthe mounfAin, we werp able to follow IL
On its south side, as q strone wind wns blow
Ing from that direction Here we found good
wsisng, y nn snd could withsafety approach with
stream was from 70 to 100 feet but its velocity
almost sncredibie Some Of our uArtv thought
II iWt miles Per hour. We could not calculate
= I'm n !. my WY ior pieces Of cold lava thrown
lnIo Id y Woniu SINK and melt almost instantly.
The velocity certainly seemed as sreet a. thar
I OF railroad car. For eight or Ten miles thc
stream presented succession Of cascades. ra-
a4 pads, . curves and T. eddies with an occasional
nature Of the ground over which i flowed.
some by the new lava itself The xtren,, hnri
bnilt up its own banks on each side and had
aaasa 1s % 70 me densn q its channel by melting
fally than water In consequence Of lis i'm
mense velocity and imperfect mobility It's
surface took the same shape as the ground
over which It flowed; It therefore presented
not only holloWs, but ridges. In several
places, for few feet, the course of the ST tream
was An ascent of Ave to ten degrees in onein
stance Of twenty-five. Where the turns in the
stream were abrupt, the outside of the stream
was much higher than The inside. So much
was this the case, that the outside sometimes
curved over the inside, forming a SPIRAL tits
needless to add that we were filled with won
der and admiration of the sights we saw.
"The clinIers are always formed by deep
streams, and generally by wide ones, which
now sluggishly, become damned up in front
by the cooling of the lava, and in some in
stances cooled over the top, forming as it were
& frnav 49, L.
meath, the barriers in front and the crust on
the surface are broken up, and the pieces are
roiied forward and coated over the melted lava
which coois and adhercs 10 them more or less
linen, 1rem the force of the melted lava be-
hlnd and underneath, the stream rolls over
ana over itself In this way a bank of clinkers
ten 10 1orty feet high, resembling an ernbnnk-
Inent Oh railroad is formed. Often at the end
OF the stream no liquid lava can be seem and
the only evidence of motion is the rolling of
the Jagged rocks of all sizes down the front of
the eembankment. Sometimes the stream breaks
.Drohgh inns embankment and flows on for a
iime until 1t gets clogged up again, and then
the same processes are repeated. In this latter
case the Outbursting stream often carries as il
were on its back immense masses of clinkers.
which look like hills walking We found NO
would seem that none are formed except where
the descent is but little, or the lava but imper-
fectly melted
"There is only one point more of which l
VIII speak. l am not quite satisfied that there
is fissure in the side of the mountain, through
which the lava made it's exit TO the surface
Those of our party who had seen the flow of 1910,
and who had no doubt of q fissure in the side
OF the mountain then, think that there is no
assure In this case. do not, of course be-
lieye in the old theory of perpendicular duct
or pipe reaching down to the reservoir of lava;
but il seems to me that the lava, by the pres
sure of gases and steam, works its way to the
surface as the water of springs by the hydraul-
ic pressure. Hydraulic pressure also eonsti
tutes part of the force which impels lava
Mauna Lo is full Of caves passages, &c and
very porous and besides, the lava, i'll case OF
this flow at least, could melt it's way more or
less, where it met distractions. 1t may be-
however, that there is a rent in the side Of the
mountain