Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-04-11
A Fiery FOunfain-lhe Volcanic Eruption
OF Mamma Lasa, or one Of the Sandwich

OF Mama Lon, or one Of the Sandwich
ISLANDS,
any ever con eeiyed Of is described by Mr. Coan 10
the Honolulu Friend of February in his account of
the ton of Mauna Loa. on the island Of Hawaii.
The eruption commenced near the summit of the
mountain, and only five six miles southeast of the
erupton of lS43. For two days this summit crater
sent down its burning foods along the northeastern
slope OF the mountains thon suddenly the valve closed
and the great furnace apparently eeased blast After
I'M n?Irs the lusla was seen bursting out OF
the top to the base. 1t would seem that the summit
lava NAG found a subterranean tunnel for half way
down the mountain, when coming to a weak point
or meeting with obstruction, it burst up yerti
cally, sending column of incandescent fusia
This fire-jet about one hundred feet in diam
ter. and it sustained for twenty days and nights
gorgement from the mountain side was often with
terrific explosions which shook the hills, and with
column OF liquid fire was an object o. surprising
brilliancy, OF intense and awful grandeur. Is the
Jet issued from the awful orice it at white heat
As il assembled higher and higher it REDEEMED like
fresh blood, deepening its color until in its descent
much of it assumed the color of clothed gore. In
few days 1t had raised cone some three hundred
feet high around the burning ori6ce. and. the
showers of burning minerals fell in livid torrents
upon the cone it BECAME one vast heap of glowing
Goals, flashing and qulveiing with restless action
and sending out the heat of ten thousand furnaces
IN intense blast.
The struggles in disgorging the fiery masses, the
upward rush OF the column, the force which raised it
thousand vertical feet. and the continuous falling
burning throat of the crater, and over cone of
glowing minerals, one mile in circumference, was
sight to inspire awe and terror attended with expo-
sve shocks which seemed to rend the mural ribs of
the mountain, and sounds to wake the dead and
startle the spirits in Hades. From this fountain
river OF fire went rushing and leapng down the
mountain with amazing velocity, filling up basins
and ravines, dashing over precipices and exploding
rocks until it reached the forest at the base of the
mountain. where it burned its fiery way, consuming
the Jungle evap0rating the water of the streams and
pools, and cutting down the trees and sending up
ntlrlyx- onl,,,
teecy wre6ths to Heaven.
All Eastern Hawaii wa sheen of light, and our
night was turned into day. So great was TIE illu-
mination at night, that one could read without
lamp. and labor. travelling and recreation might go
at two hundred miles distance. 1t was a pyrotech-
meal display E.ore magnificent and marvellous than
was ever made by an earthly monarch. In the day
time the atmosphere, for thousands of sauare la5s
would be filled with murky haze. through which the
sunheams shed pale and sickly light. Smoke,
steam gases, ashes, cinders-furnaee and capillary
or Harmonious vtrifaatlns called Pee'shair-foated
IN the air. sometimes spreading out like fan,
times careering in swift currents upon the wind or
gyratlng in changing cOorS in the ftful breezes
The point from which the ire-fountain issued is
10000 feet above the level of the sea- thus making
the lgeneous pillar distinct object of observation
along the whole eastern coast Of Hawaii.
During the eruption the writer made an excursion
to its source After three days of hard struggle in
the jungle and oyer fields ridges and hills of brisng
scoria he arrived near sunset at the scene of action
All night long he stood as near to the glowing pillar
as the vehement heat would allow, listening to the
startling eGpiosionG and the awful roar of the molten
column it rushed upward thousand feet and fell
back in fiery avalanche which made the mountain
trembe. 1t such scene as few mortals ever wit
messed. There no sleep for the spectator The
fierce, red glare, the subterranean mutterings and
strugglngs the rapid explosions Of gasses the rushes
and roar the sudden and startling bursts as of crash
ing thu1der-all, all were awe-inspiring. and all
brilliapcy and of terrible submity The river of fire
from the .ta!n flowed about thirty five miles and
stopped with in ten niles Of Hilo. Had the fountain
played ten days longer, it would, probably, have
reached the shore. '' Icy