The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-05-09


below Knhuku with no bottom visible from the brink
of it and emitting quantities of sulphuric vapor.
~ have Just been tld incident that occurred mt
NnOle, during the nundatiOn OF that place. At the
time of the shock on Thursday, man named Holoua,
and his wife, of the house and started for the
hills above, but remembering the money he had IN
the house, the man left his wife and returned to
bring it away just as he had entered the house the
sea broke the shore, and, envelopng the building,
first washed il several yards inland, and then, as the
receded, swept it off to sea- with him IN it. Be
ing powerful man, and one ofthe most expert SWIM
in that region, he succeeded IN wrencing OH
board or n rafter, and with this papa hes-Haia
(surfb boar, lac boldly struck out for the SHORE anu
landed safely with the return wave. When we con-
slider the prdigous height of ;he breaker on which
he rode to the shore, (5O perhaps 90 feet the feat
seems almost incredible, were it not that he is now
alive attest it, well the people ON the hillside
who him.
Mr. George Jones met heavy loss at he'uhou
by the nundation. Besides the houses and fixtures
which swept away by the sea, he also lost some
l67 bales of pulu that were really FOR shipment On
Saturday last he chartered the schooner on Fri0ir
and started in her If he could not pick up some
Of the pulu that might have been washei along thc
shore, between there and the South point.
" IIilo and Puma have suffered, 50 far, compara-
lively least though the shocks and fire.
quent and still continue, and the damage to houses
and property is very large. But poor kauis almost
wholly destroyed. The sea washed away the coast
villages. and the earthquake razel the inland places.
I" The number of people now known to haze per-
iShed between NinOle anu heaiNi. NEunhuu anu III
onamoa included), is AZ at Kawaa, I at Honnapo,
% total, 81, besides number of the pulu pickers
up in the mountains, back of Hilea how many am
not yet advised neither have heard the number Of
those who perished at kaalaala."
This was one of those sad catastrophics where
s'dstance lends enchantment to the sccne,' and
which few witnessed. From all we can gather from
the above and other sources, the wave rolled in
along the Kau coast from forty to sixty feet high,
and reccded FIVE times, decreasing IN force each
successive time. 1t covered the tips of the lower
cocoanut trees, swept inland from five to six hun
dred yards, and destroyed nearly everything NOV
able including the trees growing along the shore.
The total number OF lives lost during the cartlI-
auakes and tide wave was ahjIt one hundred.
After these events on the II of April, earth
quakcs continued to be frequent and alarming,
and nothing noteworthy occurred till the 9TH,
when a lava eruption took place above Kahuku,
seven miles northwest of Wniohinu in the district
of Kau. which is the most southern district the
/ island.
A company of eight or ten, including the writ
er took passage in the steamer for hom on the
9th of April, and arrived ut Kahuku on the
! 10th, three days after the eruption broke out
We consequently had the finest opportunity that
could possiblv have been sought, for seeing what
proved to be Il most brilliant display.
On the passage to Hawaii in the steamer, ou
the night of the eth, the whole island OF Hawaii
was seen brilliantly Illuminated, the overhanging
clouds rejecting the glare of the fires beneath
! and n stream of lava seen from the vessel,
distance of mt least one hundred miles.
i We left Kealakca<ua Bay on the morning %
. Anri nd nt. a %
t,ventv-scycn miles, over lava cinkeTs, reachc,
Eonua towards night where we slept III Il tlatci
7 house. built by Mr.. Chas. y. Spencer as an ac
commodation house, it being just half way he
tween the bay and WaiDhin't, and distant iron
the lava flow about thirteen miles. Daring tin
nioht we coud hear the distant noise of the erup
tion-a peculiar rumbling, 50 different from
: the roar OF the sea any other noise, that, t
wake up in the night AMI listen 70 it, unaccount
able uttcr.nccs. tended Ia create fear with thoS
l who for the FIRST time heard IT. In tiie morning
several of the PARTY decided to turn back to kei
I Iukeakua and returned without seeing the gram
sight before us. The Others. seven in number
not counting native attendants, mounted horse
ami proceeded ON to the f1w.
A. we approached it the rumbins noise be
, came more and more distinct. and the evidence
4 of appr.s,ch u some great disturbance ot natur
: more frequent. The ground was covered Wit
I what upucarcd To he cndcrs, but on eSaminiIi
r them we found they were fragments ct pumlc
1 stone which had been carried by the wini a dis
. tancc nf over ten miles. Mixed with these Gin
o ders was Pele's HAIR, which we found finating i
/. the air. and when it was thick we had to hol
our handkerchief IL our nostrils To- prevent IN
. haling it. Our clothes were frequently covcrc
: with it. On reaching cmincnce i've miiC
!, from the stream. we found group of forty q
fifty natives, who Were waiting To- cr'ss over
!. Kau. and had been here several DAYS. From th
r unint dense clouds of smoke could he seen rism
! All along the course or the lava stream, from t
n mountain side 10 the sea.
j We hurried ON and reached the ilpw shortl
after noon, where, from a rid . To the West oT Il
t the whole scene opened before us. Between 4
c and the crater was valley live hundred yaru
= wide and ten miles long. which hard recently bee
e oyeriowed throughout its entire with and leI'-t
frun the mountain To the sea, where 1t widcne
: t. two or three miles. The lava WAS oi u
= smooth pqh0ehOe variety, from ten 10 twcn'
. feet deep and partially cooled over, though ane
! smoke and gas escaped from numerous creyIcc
e We stood on it, though it was hot enough To hur
Il the socs Of our shoes. This lnya stream origin