The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1859-04-12

Il
the see, and 1000 below the snOw-covered sum
init, the lava bursts out, squirting up like foun
tain in jsts-eOmetimes 500 feet high, never les
than 25O-and then runs in stream Of liouiS
hre, half mi wide, 50 miles to the sea, sweep
ing everything before it.
All accounts represent It as the most mapnid
cent that has occurred in eur islands within pres
ont memory. The heavens at night arc fully
Illuminated for hundreds Of miles around, ant
the sea 10 lit up with long, slanting beams The
smoke has been sensibly preceptihle here, at
distance Of two hundred miles to windward, ant
the light discerned. Out at Maui, distance ball
way to Hawaii. the illumination has been splen
did. Az . spectator informed, me it was like
the blaze of thatched house within stone'a
throw.
| This Mauna Moa, on the Hawaii, the most
modern island Of the group, sthe latest formed
OF Hawaiis mountains, and is vet incomplete
Viewing it from Hilo, it presents the outliae oi
bow slightly bent and at that distance, go reg.
ular an arc does its really rugged outline appear,
that an artist who should truly represent il
would be thought not to have copied nature. l,
appears to be long, hence it's name, Loa, But
| viewing it from Waimea, on the right from
Kona, opposite and from Kau, on the left oi
| Hilo, our mountain presents nowhere its end,
and then you conceive that it is an immense
| dome. That seemingly low arch 10 the hgest
| OF Pacific Ocean Mountains. But it is yet in its
giant youth. Every new eruption accumulates
| new masses upon q broad crown. So that the
process Of eruption is not depicting one by
which the mountain throws cut its own bowels,
but one Of building up, out Of materials drawn
from depths so deep and reservoirs 90 vast, that
this vast base of . mountain il but nipple ON
the outlet OF it's discharging vent.
gentleman who vis'tsed the volcano on the
18th of Feb. writes az follows:
Our path Vas rocky and steep, and we had
time to see and enjoy all these things.
So ascending with varying scene and climate
We reached camping ground at distance of per-
haps sixteen miles from the beach, ten miles
short OF the orifce of the volcano and some thir.
ty miles from where it discharges into the sea,
and near to the flowing lava. Night was the
time for observation. The before black and
smoking masses then shOne out IN hundreds OF
fiery iliuminations, and the fountain head dis
closed itself by a jet de Eau varying from 200 to
500 feet in height. and in diameter Of base 800
feet, rs We coDectured from an examination at
that distance, through our glasses.
The front Of the flow is about 5000 feet in
width. and slowly. irresistibly pushes forward
its high, red wall of fire, rising over hills and
falling over precipces with calm irresistible
power which hlmbles and belittlcs all human
a
dense column of smoke to the hight of per-
haps 10000 feet. There was not, however, with
this as with the eruptOns of Etna and Vesvius,
discharge Of elders, nor preceptibly even Of
steam. The discharge was confined to the
dense, pure, and perfectly fused heavy lava, and
to heavy bOu,ders projected tar above the foun-
tain, and falling sometimes back again into the
csldron. and sometimes without the rim, down
which they rolled. for time glowing and visible,
soon turned BLACK and lost to our sight. More
like an icelandic Geyser. as represented in our
Biographies chan any thing else this ebjec-
ton at the source-now rising, now falling, in
columns, uniting, dividing, and jettug in spires,
pyramids, cones and columns. Next the crater
the flow is now visible from below, being in q
valley, after which it divides itself into numerous
streams, occupying five or six miles in breath,
and the descent being perceptions, the flow is
rapid; but it soon reaches a surface of light de-
scent. and here the flow is slow and the streams
mainly concentrated into one. Occasionally
cascade was to be observed. Conceive q Tren-
ton Falls metamorphosed into a fall not of spark
ling, foaming, white water, but Of fluid iron,
going over with sullen pitch, bearing along
cakes Of black, congealed lava OF ice Set this
scene against the great side OF the mountain, in
the night; only lighted by its own fires, wreathed
by its own smoke snd you have what We saw
below the crater, one of the new side streams
had been damned up until lake had accumula.
ted behind the obstruction, and the weight broke
it down, and the released mass rushed down,
with a tremendous noise and fury through the
thick jungle, cutting down the trees, rolling of
huge boulders from its front of twenty five feet
high resembling pile of burning coals.
Occasional" the Washington correspondent
cf tho has fol on
the Union newspaper, its new proprietor and its
probable editor:
The old story of the present of the white ele-
phsnt is again about TO be illustrated in the
purchase of the Washington Union, by 'Gen.
George Washington Bowman" Superintendent
of Public Printing, former Adjutant General of
Pennsy lvana, late editor of the Bedford Gazette,
aud puissaL advocate of Dallas against Buch-
anan for President in lS48. You know the
story runs that the receiver OF the elephant
could neither transfer his expensive present,
nor retain it himself without being eaten out of
house and home. Now, the Washington Union
I do not wonder that he is in ectasies over bis
riddance. The fate Of mere organ of such an
Administration as the present may always be
forewrtten: No such paper can be sustained
without being burden on the Treasury. With
all the advantage of the thousands of post
masters of the United States and the valuable
advertising OF the departments with q number
OF thousands OF dollars) every year, and other
jobs, no paper committed to the policy of an
Administration like this can stand. Gen. Bow.
man is by no means a Legget, or a Bryant or a
Barnes in the editorial chair. He embroidered
the Bedford Gazette lin your state) with his
italics, capitals and admiration marks. but TO
pale before the discussion of State questions,
x,f ho
people look for in the national organ, the Gem
eral will sheathe his sword. Judge Black is an
excellent editor, as We all know, but not an inc
dustrious one; and, as he is about taking tour
for the benefit of his health, Gen. Bowman must
look else " here for u steady aud industrious pen.
The President used to write well Tor the news
papers himself, solae what ,laboriOusly and heavi
ly, it is true, but al~ays stately aud solid He,
however, has other fish oiry besides furnishing
yards OF matter to the Washington Union. Mr..
Appleton, of the State Department, counts him
self out Of the ring, and it is believed that Col.
Simeon NJ. johnson Zone Of the existing edito-
rial staff will retire from the concern the mo-
ment General Bowman takes possession. The
business management Of the paper will, OF
course, demand General Bowmah's special at
tention, and part Of his duty will be to canvass
the p0stmasters, SO as to secure their support
of his enterprise. These place-men, however,
have been pretty we'll exhausted and tired, and
as the future has very little hope in it for them,
they will not be very apt to respond to new
appeal for largesse.
Captain Hudson, of the Niagara, was once,
saws the Jamaica Long Island Farmer, a baker
boy in Brooklyn. One day he CHANGED to be in
the Navy Yard at Brooklyn, and the thought
struck him that he would like to enter the navy.
So going to the proper officer, he applied for
admission. The novelty of seeing lad alone,
boldly asking for place so often secured BY
political preferences, or by the entreaties OF
influential friends, attracted At once atten-
ton of the officer, and he inquired, "What can
you do" The reply vas prompt and decisive: I:
/" Anything that another boy can" He was
told 10 cali again, and few days passed, and
the place was given to the enterprising lad
Scarcely in his new position, be began TO show
marks Of genius and aptitude which outbid his
associatiares, and step BY step the bakers boy
rose TO influence and rank, and to day he stands
among the highest in rank and most influential
in power Of the great ones who compose the
United States Navy. Such, In brief, Is the
career Of William N. Hudson, Commander OF