The Placer herald., 1866-06-16
Terribly Sublime Spectacle---A Column Of
Fire One Thousand Feet in Hight, and
River of Flame 80 Miles Long,


by Mr.. Coan in the Honolulu Friend of Fob.
ruary, in bis account Of the eruption ol
Mauna Loa, on the Island OF Hawaii:
The eruption commenced near the sum
init OF the mountain, and only five or six
miles southeast of the eruption in l643
For two days this summit crater sent down
its burning floods along the north. eastern
slope OF the mountain; then suddenly the
vale closed, and the great furnace apparently
ceased blast. After thirty six hours the fusia
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 subterranean tunnel, for half way
down the mountain, when coming to weak
point, or meeting some obstruction, it burst
up vertically, sending column Of incaudes.
ceut fusia one thousand feet high into the
air This fire jet was about one hundred
ieet In diameter, and it was sustained for
twenty days and nights, varying in hight
from three hundred TO thousand feet. The
disagreement from the mountain side was
often with terrific explosions, which shook
the bills, and with detonations which were
heard for forty miles. This column of liquid
fire WAS an object of surprising brilliancy, of
intense and awful grandeur As the Jet is-
sued from the awful oriiice it was at white
heat. AS it ascended higher and higher it
reddened, like fresh blood, deepening its
color, until, in its descent, much Of it assum-
ed the color of clotted gore.
In few days it had raised cone some
three hundred feet high around the burning
orlfice, and AS the showers Of burning min
erals fell in livid torrents upon the cone, it
became one vast heap of glowing Goals,
flashing and quivering with restless action,
and sending out the heat of ten thousand
furnaces in ful' blast The struggles in dis
gorging the fiery masses, the upward rush Of
the column, the force which raised it one
thousand vertical feet, and the continuous
falling back of thousands Of tons Of mineral
fusia into The throat of the crater, and over
a cone Of glowing minerals, one mile in cir
conference was sight to inspire awe and
terror, attended with explosive shocks which
seemed to rend the mural ribs Of the noun
tain, and sound to waEen the dead and startle
the spirits in Hades. From this fountain
river of fire went rushing and leaping down
the mountain with amazing velocity, filling
up basins and ravines, dashing over prec-
pices, and exploaing rocks, until it reached
the forests at the base of the mountain,
where it burned its fiery way, consuming
the jungle, evaporating the water OF the
streams and pools, cutting down the trees,
and sending up clouds Of smoke and steam
and mulky columns of heecy wreaths to
heaven.
All Eastern Hawaii was sheen Of light,
and our night was turned into day. So
great was the illumination at night, that one
could read without lamp, and labor, tray
cling and recreation might 60 on as in the
daytime. Mariners at sea saw the light at
two hundred miles distance. 1t was pyro.
technical display, more magnificent and mari
velous than was made by any earthly mon
arch. In the daytime the atmosphere for
Of square miles would be filled
with murky haze, through which the SUM-
beams shed pale and sickly light Smoke,
pilary or Elementary vitrifactions called
Pele's hair-hoated in the air, sometimes
spreading out like fan, sometimes career
ing in swift currents upon the wind, or gy
rating in everchangng colors in the tittu
breezes. The point from which the fire.
fountain issued is ten thousand feet above
the level of the sea, thus making the igneous
pillar distinct object of observation along
the whole eastern coast OF Hawaii.
During the eruption the writer made an
excursion to the source. At three days Of
hard struggle in the jungle and over fields,
ridges and hills of bristug scoria, he arriv-
ed near sunset at The scene of action. All
night long he stood so near to the glowing
pillar as the vehement heat would allow,
listening to the startling explosions and the
awful roar of the molten column, as it
rushed upward a thousand feet, and fell back
in fiery avalanche which made the noun.
tain ,remble. 1t was such scene AS few
mortals ever witnessed. There was no sleep
for the spectator. The fierce. red glare, the
subterraneous mutterings and struggings,
the rapid explosions of gases, the rushes and
roar, the sudden and startling bursts, as of
crashing thunder-all, all were awe inspiring,
and all combined to render the scene one of
indescribable brilliancy and Of terrible sub.
Unity. The rivers of fire from the fountain
flowed about tbirty-fve miles, and stopped
within ten miles of Hilo. Had the fountain
played ten days longer, it would probably
have reached the shore.
~A Mississippi River correspondent Of
the Memphis Bulletin thinks that not more
than onefifth of the cotton and corn will be
produced on the river plantations, as com
pared with 1860, the year before the war
He says:
San immense change is apparent along
the river shores to Vicksburg. Innumera
bic ruins attest the destruction Of the last
few years. The sites of once Aourishing
villages are waste. places, mighty chimneys
lift their silent monumental bodies, the only
thing left to mark the place where elegant
mansions and splendid residences once stood.
The Vandalism and ruthless hand of unbri.
died license have stripped them of all the
attractions and beauties that sauctfeth them