The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-09-14
MoNDAY...........sEPTEMRER Ii, 1868.
Volcanoes I'm the Pacific.

Volcanoes I'm the Pacific.
The numerous volcanoes to be found in
different parts of the world have called forth
various theories in regard to their cause,
and many extraordinary circumstances in
connection with their appearance are con-
tinually being discovered, and conjectures
in regard to them are formed and discarded
with singular rapidity. Perhaps the most
striking feature connected with active vol
canoes is their tendency to linear arrange
mcnt, first noticed by Sir John Herschel.
In the Alutiar island twenty-three volca-
noes lie almost precisely in straight line
of nine hundred miles another line Of nine
hundred miles is found in Kamschatka,
and extend through the Kurile islands
to Yesso, in Japan; those of the Ladrone
islands form line extending four hum
dred and twenty-nine miles, and those of
Java, Sumbawa, and Flores make straight
line of 1,0SO miles. The last number of
Hdrper'S Magazine contains an interesting
account of certain volcanoes in the Sand
wich islands. In the Pacific, some distance
southwest from San Francisco, there is
chain of twelve islands called the Hawaiian
group, in which each island regularly in
creases in size, from northwest to southeast,
and each of which has been successfully,
in the same line, thrown up by the action
of submarine volcanic fires. The island
farthcst to the northwest in this chain is
the Oldest and smallest, and also the most
fertile, producing fine crops OF sugar and
coffee; but as they progress towards
the southeast they become larger and
more barren, showing increasing signs
of volcanic action. 1t would seem,
therefore, in this case, that these islands
have actually been successively created by
volcanoes in a regular line, and that time
and the decrease of volcanic action are
gradually rendering them more capable of
cultivation, and at the same time the action
of the waves is wearing them away IN some
places. Hawaii, the youngest and largest,
is 4 900 square miles in extent, and is the
constant scene of tremendous volcanic
eruptions. 1t contains three immense
mountain peaks, two of which nearly equal
Mont Blanc in height. The grandeur and
vastness of the scenery are said to be un-
eaualled even in Switzerland, though the out
lines are less varied than those of the Alps.
One of these mountains has two active era
tiers, one of which has, since the memory OF
ma presented to view lake of boiling lava
varying from hundred to thousand acres
in extent. A vast black pit, nine miles IN
circumference and 400 feet deep, is first
seen, but on nearer approach the great
chasm disappears and q sea OF lava takes
its place, strewed with debris and covered
with great tissures. The steam rising from
the seams of this rock is condensed by the
breeze, and, trickling down, is carefully
saved by the natives, who have no stream
of water at hand. The soil is so hot that
meat and vegetables covered with leaves
and buried for twelve hours are found tho
roughly cooked. A path descends into
the crater, but the assures render it dan
gerous. An hours walk leads to the CEN
ire, where lake of fire mile in circum-
ference boils and roars, sending brilliant
>prays high up in the air. Formerly this
was thought by the natives to be the resi-
ience Of the goddess they worshipped, who,
when offended, swept away villages and
shattered dwellings by the fire of her an
ger, and vast numbers Of animals and much
property of all descriptions were thrown
into the pit for sacrifices and to conciliate
her wrath.
An eruption was lately witnessed at this
place, of singular nature. The melted
lava, as it was thrown beyond the edge OF
the lake, solidifed and gradually formed a
circular wall around the sea Of fire, which
then being in unusual activity, pressed
and at length burst through the wall with
a tremendous crash, and poured on river
of fire, upheaving and melting vast masses
of solid rock like pieces of wax, and at
one point plunging down cliff more than
fifty feet high. The other crater does not
remain in perpetual action, but Its erup-
tons are more conspicuous, as the crater Is
II 600 feet above the sea.
Ten eruptions have been recorded from
these volcanoes during the last eighty
years, one of which, in 1855, lasted thlr-
teen months, flooded an area of three hum
dred square miles, and disgorged thirty
eight billions Of cubic feet of lava, destroy
ing forests and filling up valleys. The
most destructive of these eruptions oc-
Cured last April, when, without warming,
fountains of fire were sent up, followed by
great columns Of smoke; violent earth
ouakes ensued, three hundred of which
we're counted in q single day, the earth
ouiyering all the time between the shocks.
On the I'd of April the most terrific earth
quake that was ever known in these islands
took place, lasting two or three minutes,
but crushing houses, uproooting trees, and
throwing precipices into the sea. A vast
portion of q hillside was torn away and
carried three miles in three minutes, OBJ
literating everything in its way.
In one place the top of mountain was
torn off and thrown three miles into an in
habited valley, carrying with it torrents OF
water and immense quantities OF rocks ana
trees, and instantly killing all within its
reach. The sea, which had receded far be-
low the low water mark, suddenly leaped on
the shore in wave forty feet high, destroy
ing every living thing in its course, and
devastating many miles of the coast. These
varied agents of destruction continued to
rage with increasing fury for over two
weeks, and gave more than sufficient cause
for pronouncing the volcano Of Hawaii the
most fearful in the world. Many of these
eruptions, by reaching the sea, have added
new territory, and SO long as the volcanoes
continue to exist, SO long doubtless will these
islands grow in size and increase in num-
ber.-Philadelphia Ledger.