The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-04-27


Terribly Sublime Spectacle--A Col
umn of Fire One Thousand Feet
in Hight, and a River of Flame
Thirty-Five Miles Long.
A Jet of lava of more stupendous pro-
portions than any ever conceived of is
described by Mr. Coan in the Honolulu
Friend, of February, in his account of
the eruption of Manua LOs, on the
Island of Hawaii:
The eruption commenced near the
summit of the mountain, and only FIVE
or six miles southeast of the eruption
in lS43. For two days this summit
crater sent down its burning floods
along the northeastern slope of the
mountain; then suddenly the vale
closed, and the great furnace apparent
ly ceased blast After thirty six hours
the fusis was seen bursting out of the
eastern side of the mountain, about
midway from the top of the base.
1t would seem that the summit lava
had found a subterranean tunnel, for
half way down the mountain, when
coming to a weak point, or meeting
some obstruction, it burst up vertically,
sending a column of incandeseent fusis
one thousand feet high into the air
This fire Jet was about one hundred
feet in diameter, and it vas sustained
for twenty days and nights, varying in
hight from one hundred to a thousand
| feet. The disagreement from the
mountain side was often with terrific
explosions, which shook the hills, and
with detonations which were heard fol
forty miles. This column of liquid fire
was an object of surprising brIlliancy
| of intense and awful grandeur As the
let issued from the awful orifce it was
| at white heat As it ascended higher
and higher, it Redeemed, like fresh
blood, deepening its color, until, in itI
descent, much of it assumed the color
of clotted gore
In few days it had raised a cone
some three hundred feet high around
the burning orifice, and as the showers
of burning minerals fell in livid tor.
rents upon the cone, it became one vas
heap of glowing Goals, flashing anG
| quivering with restless action, anC
sending out the heat of ten Thousand
furnaces in full blast. The struggle.
in disgorging the fiery masses, the up
ward rush of the column, the force
which raised it one thousand vertica
feet and the continuous falling back o
thousands of tons Of mineral fusia int,
the throat of the crater, and over a cont
of glowing minerals, one mile in cir
cumference, wss sight TO inspire awe
and terror, attended with eXplosiv,
shocks which seemed to rend the mu
raj ribs of the mountain, and sound Il
waken the dead and startle the spirit
in Hades. From this fountain a rive
of Gre went rushing and leaping dowr
the mountain with amazing velocity
filing up basins and ravines, dsshinl
over precipices, and exploding rocks
until IL reached the forests at the bas
of the mountain, where il burned il
fiery wav, consuming the jungle, evspc
rating the water of the streams anS
pools, cutting down the trees, and send
ing up clouds of smoke and steam an
murky columns of heecy wreaths /
heaven.
All Eastern Hawaii was q sheen {
light, and our night was turned int
day. SO great was the illumination q
night, that one could read without
lamp, and labor, travelling and recres
tion might 60 on as in the daytime
Mariners at ses saw the light at tw
. hundred miles distance. Ii was pyrI
, technical display, more magnificent an
marvellous thsn was made by any eartl
ly monarch. In the daytime the g
mosphere for thousands Of square mile
= would be filed with a murky baz
through which the sunbeams shed
pale and sickly light Smoke, steam
gases, ashes, einders-furnace or capil
srv or Elementary vitrifactions salle
Pele's hAir-aoated in the air, som
times spreading out ike fan, som
times careering in swift currents upo
the wind, or gyrating in eYer-ohsngin
oelors in the fitful breezes The p0iI
from which the fre-fountain issued
ten thousand feet above the level {
the ses, thus making the igneOus pilli
o a distinct object Of observation aIon
}, the whole eastern coast of Hawaii
During the eruption the writer mad
an excursion on the sourcs. A. thrs