The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1866-05-11

A Jet of lava Of more stupendous proper |
tons than any ever conceived of is describ-
ed by Mr. Ccan, in the Honolulu Friend,
of February, in his account of the eruption
of Manua Loa, on the island of Hawaii:
The eruption commenced near the sum
NIT of the mountain, and only five or six
miles southeast Of the eruption in 1843. |
For two days this summit crater sent down
lis burning floods along the north eastern |
slope Of the mountaini then suddenly the
vale closed, and tie great furnace apparent !
~ ceased blast. After thirty-six hours the
fusia was seen bursting out of the eastern
side of the mouutain, 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 OF meeting some obstruction, it burst
up vertically, sending a column of mean
descent fusia one thousand feet high into
the air. This fire Jet was about one hun
dred feet IN diameter, and it was sustained
for twenty days and nights, varying in
The disgorG ement from the mountain side
was often with terrific explosions, which
shook the hills, 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 issued from the awful orifce it
was at white heat AS it assembled higher
and higher it redeemed like fresh blood,
deepening It's color, until in It's descent,
much of it assumed the color of clothed
gore.
In few days it had raised a cone some
three hundred feet high around the burning
orifce, and as the showers of burning min
erals fell in liyid 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 full blast. The struggles in
disgorging the fiery masses, the upward
rush of the column, the force which raised
it one thousand vertical feet, and the con-
tinuous falling back of thousands of tons of
mineral fusia into the throat Of the crater,
and over cone of glowing minerals, one
mile in circumference, was sight to in
spire awe and terror, attended with explo-
sive shocks which seemed to rend the mu-
raj ribs of the mountain, and sounds to
waken the dead and startle the spirits in
Hades. From this fountain river of fire
went rushing and leaping down the noun
tain with amazing velocity, filing up basins
and ravines, dashing over preoipices, and
exploding rocks, until it reached the forests
at the base Of the mountain, where it burned
it's fiery way, consuming the jungle, eYapo-
rating the water Of the streams and pools,
cutting down the trees, and sending up
clouds of smoke and steam and murky col
umns of.feecy wreaths to heaven.
All Eastern Hawaii was a sheen flight,
and our night was turned into day. So
great was the illumination at night, that
one could read without lamp, and labor,
travelling and recreation might go on as in
the day time Mariners at sea saw the
light at two hundred miles distance. 1t
was a protechnical display, more magnif-
cent and marvellous than was ever made by
anv earthly monarch. In the daytime the
atmosphere for thousands of square miles
would be filed with a murky haze, throug h
which the sunbeams shed pale and sickly
light.
Smoke, steam, gases, ashes, cinders-
furnace or capillary or Elementary vitrifac-
tions called Pele's Fabricated in the air,
sometimes spreading out like fan, some
times careering in swift currents upon the
wind, or gyrating in ever-changing cOlors
in the ftful 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 observa
ton along the whole eastern coast of Ha
wall.
During the eruption the writer made al
excursion to the source. After three days
of hard struggle in the jungle and over
fields, ridges and hills Of bristling scoria
he arrived near sunset at the seat of action
All night long he stood so near to the glow
ing pillar as the vehement heat would allow
listening to the startling explosions and The
awful roar of the molten column, as it rush
ed upward a thousand feet and fell back il
fiery avalanche which made the mountain
tremble 1t was such a scene as few NOR
tails ever witnessed. The fierce, red glare
the subterraneous mutterings and strug
glings, the rapid explosions Of gases, thu
rushes and roar, the sudden and startling
bursts, as of crushing thunder-all, wer
awe-inspiring. and all combined to rende
the scene one of indescribabls bfillianc,
and of terrible sublimity. The rivers o
fire from the fountain flowed about thirty
FIVE miles, aud stopped within ten miles o
Hilo. Had the fountain played ten day
longer, it would probably have reached tn
shore.