The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-05-03
TERRIBLY SUBLIME SPECTACLE.
A Column of Fire One Thousand Feet
i'm Hight, and River of Flame
ThiFty-fiVe Miles In Length.

A jet of lava of more stupendous
proportions than any ever conceived
of, is described by Mr.. Coan, in the
Honolulu lFI.iend of February, in<his
account of the eruption of Manua Loa,
on the Island of Hawaii:
The eruption commenced near the
summit of the mountain, and only five
or six miles southeast of the eruption
of 1843. For two days the summit
crater sent down its burning floods
along the northeastern slope of the
mountain; then suddenly the valve
closed, and the great furnace. appa-
rently 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.
It would seem that the summit lava
had found a ssubtefaneans tunnel, for
half way down the mountain, when
coming to D weak point, or meeting
with some obstruction, it burst up
vertically, sending column of incan-
. descent fusia | 900 feet high in the
air. This fire jet was about hun
dred feet in diameter, and it was sus-
tanned for thirty days and nights:
varying in hight from 500 to 1 900 feet.
This disagreement from the mountain
side was often with terrific expIo-
sions, which shook the hills, and with
detonations which were heard for for
ty miles. This column of liquid fire
was an object of surprising brilliancy,
Of intense and awful grandeur. As
the jet issued from the orifice it was
at white heat. As it assembled higher
and higher it REDEEMED like red blood,
deepening its color, until, in It's de-
scent, much of it assumed the color
of clothed gore
In a few days it had raised a cone,
some 300 feet high around the. burn
ing orifce, and, as the showers Of
burning minerals fell In livid torrents
upon the cone, It became vast heap
Of glowing Goals, flashing and CULVER
ing with restless action, and sending
out the heat of ten thousand furnaces
in full blast The struggles in dis
gorging the fiery masses, the upward
rush Of the column, the force which
raised it 1000 verticle feet, and the
continuous falling back of thousands
of tons of mineral fusia into the throat
of the crater, and over a cone of glow
ing minerals, one mile in circumfer-
ence. was a-sight to inspire awe and
terror. attended with explosive shocks
which seeme11 to rend the rural ribs
ofthe mountain, and sounds to awaken
the dead and startle the spirits in
Hades. From this fountaina river of
fire went rushing and leaping down
the mountain with amazing velocity,
filing up basins and rayines, dashing
over pfecipices, and exploding rocks,
until it reached the forests at the base
! of the mountain, where it burned its
| fiery way, consuming the jungle, evap-
Grating the water of the streams and
pools. cutting down the trees, and
sending UP clouds of smoke and steam
in murky columns of feecy wreaths to
heaven. M ~
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, travelling, and
recreation might go on as in the day
time. Mariners at sea saw the light
at 200 miles distance. 1t was pyro-
technical display more magnificent