The Hawaiian gazette., 1868-05-06

R the lava l. thrown up into an lDucScttp&OAc
confusion; pile upon pile Of -, gorge and
ridge ~ turns.
Tbs caviug In Of the floor seemed TO be still
In progression. for twice during cur explers-
ton Of the crater, our nerves Nerc disturbed
br a prolonged heavy rumbling and rattling
noise as IRON a distant platoon frc OF mus
kerry. coming from the northwest corner.
In the afternoon visited kilsuea Al, that
small crater, hardly half 4 mile disisnt,
eastward, from the great one saw Il in i>sSs,
When the bottom and sides were covered
with shrubs and small trees. Now the bot
tom Is covered with shining noor of black
lava. ard the dark patches along It's sides.
give abundant evidence Of fre in grass and
bush, take its depth 70 be about thu same
A. that Of the large crater.
Thus far As to what We have seen. Now
allow me to relste what learnt from kama.
who has resided near the volcano without
interruption for the last tive months, and
whose strong nerves sustained him during
the fearful catastrophe Introduced BY the
earthquake Of April I'd. be, and the China
man " ho keeps the house, were the only per
sous who remained al KilSuea- He says that
for two months preceding the hrst shoeA,
viz. from Jan 70 to March y, the crater had
been unusually active; eight lakes being In
constant ebullition. and frequently Overflow
ing. During sll this time, 1.-THE date Of its
inst appearance could not be aseertSined eN-
actly) there was in the northwest corner i
"blOW hole" from which, at regular inter
walls, of a minute or less, with roaring noise,
large masses Of vspOr were thrown OF, a.
frOm a steam engine. This ceased about the
nth Of March Al the same time the activi-
" of the lakes became greatly Increased, and
ksin& Anticipated mischief March q, the
inst shock was perceived Two DAYS later,
Mr. Fernandez found the bottom OF the era
ter oYerhowed with fresh lava and incandes-
cent
Thursday, April I'd, al a few minutes past
four. P. N, the biz earthquake occurred,
which caused the ground around kiia1ea 10
rock like ship AZ sea At that moment, there
commenced fearful detOnstions in the crater,
large quantities OF lava were thrown up 10 a
great height portions Of the wall tumbled
IN This extraordinary eommOiiOn, accom-
panied with uuearthly noise and eeaseiesS
Swayiug % the grou1d. continued from that
day til Sunday night, April 5th. but from TIE
first, he frs begun % rsrsds On Thursday
night, il VAS already confined to the regular
lakes; on Saturday night, it only remained
in the great south lake, and on Sunday night
there was none az all; Pele had LEFT kilaHea-
The noises now became weaker, and were
separated BY longer intervals. By Tuesday,
quiet reigneG In kilauea On that afternoon
the lasa burst out al distance OF forty miles
southwest, i'm kahuku-
April I'd, from six 10 ten, P. N, KainS co
served IRE ia tue direction Of Puma, which,
at the time, caused him 10 believe that the
lava had found = vent again in that direction,
a. il did in 1870; but he subsequently, salts
fed himself that il was only 4 reflection
from lava in HilaUea LES. 1t was not seen
aftsrward.
Il Is needless 70 comment on the important
bearing Of the facts rel+e-d, upon a rational
analysis Of the pheuOm 1nstiiUting the
late catastrophe As myw shy friend Kaina
-. 81
much troubled about the sudden disappear
ance of Madam Pele, and desired that on my
return to the capital, | should express my
opinion that said lady was only on Temporary
leave of absence, l scquit myself of this debt
Of gratitude for the valuable information re-
eeived with so much The more pleasure, as
believe l can do il with good conscience
Kilauea has been dry once before, after the
great hOW in 1870 This information l have
from that faithful ehrOniclsr Of the Hawaiian
Volcanoes, the Rev Mr. I. COan at HilO, as
also another very important one, viz: that
this present eruption has been the irst in
stance Of simultaneous activity in kilaUea and
the crater Of NOkUaWeOweo on the summit
Of MSuua Loa- That lava issued in three
streams from the summit Of the mountain on
April 3, i corro6orated by many eye-wit-
nesses in kau-
TIE GREAT Tissue NEAR TIE PUMA Road.
IN halatdla ne were EpiQ tDAI urt la0
been seen several nights in ;. Z. direction,
and that natives had reported flowing lava
there. We rode over in the morning Of April
10Th At 4 distance of miles from Mr. Reeds
dwelling. " here the Puma road turns of from
the Kilausa road, heavy clouds of white vspor
were seen TO issue from the bush, which
spaFssly covered the pahoehoe, mRkai of the
road Half an hours ride brought Us up to
the place, but we Esre obliged TO leave our
horses some distance before reaching the
spot, on account of assures. After having
crossed a number Of them, beading for the
heaviest cloud Of vapor, We at last came TO a
deep eryvaSse in the pahOehOe, at least II feet
in width, no bottom visible Ii narrowed
and widened out in places, but nowhere was
less than 5 feet wide. Its length We estimated
al 400 feet. Parallel with this great erevssse
constituting Il belt about GO feet in width,
were 4 number of smaller ones on each side,
diminishing in size with distance from II,
from 8 feet ~ 4 few inches. From the larger
openings in the former heavy white columns
OF hot steam issued which had decidedly
alkaline smell Smaller Jets Of VapOr, 20 the
number of %, rose from the smaller assures.
We could not discover fire in any place, but
il Is very probable that during dark nights
the reflex Of the underlying lava should be
thrown Up. for a. TIE steam did not seem 70
contain combGstible material it Is unlikely
that the light seen should have been pro-
4l-EQ u H. lLC u4EAI uttENAAOu u al LLAE
nssurgs was y. Z degrees n, :. ". 9 de-
grses :, or nearly the direction Of line con
Meeting kilauea with WaiOhinu and kahuku-
The distance Of these assures from EIlauea
Is Is miles.
EAPAPALA
As in this district the earthquake Of April
2ud eliminated 10 lis greatest intensity, 50
as even TO rsud in twain the framework OF
mountain side, and hGri down on the plain
portion Of its tank, il Is necessary to give
short description of the country in order TO
insure a proper understanding Of the dis
sGrbance. The locality in question Is that
comprised between the ranch station Of
Messrs Reed s Richardson, on the east, and
Mr. T. Lyman, on the vest, distance Of
i've miles The government road connect
ing these two places runs through 4 ine
grassy plain, which has 4 very gentle tall
towards the sea irs elevation being about
1900 feet. Into this plain project from the
slope Of MIuua LOa three parallel hills or
spurs each about one mile in length, and
from 500 to 1 900 feet in height They in
ciude two broad valleys between them The
upper portions Of these valleys rise with
steep incline towards a ridge which runs at
righE Angles with the spurs, and Is covered
With dense pulu forest, which extends far
ID the gentle slope Of the dome Of N4una
Lod- IN the second one Of these TaileE-
that next TO Mr. Lgman' s-the 50 caliea mud
dOE took plaes, but very extensive land
slides, confined simply to thz loose earth and
eouei0uerate, also occurred in the other
valleys
The ground around Reed & Richardson's
station Il torn Up into numerous small cracks
and nssures, running in every direction
some are large enough to snguif. horse and
rider, 4 flct which actually occurred feE
days aftsF the earthquake 4 large ei-teru,
bulk in solid masonry and covered with an
arched stone root. vas rent to pieces, and