The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1868-05-19
She 29es1ern Democrat, Charlotte, QLG.
Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes.

Volcanic ErupuonS anu earthquakes.
SAN Francisco, May The bark Comet,
from the Sandwich Islands, brings accounts of a
terrible volcanic eruption by Mauna Loa, which
began it's demonstration on March II. On the
2Sth. one hundred earthquake shocks were felt,
and during the two weeks following, to April,
IL, two thousand earthquake shocks occurred.
At Waischina the earth opened in many pla-
ces, and tidal wave sixty feet high rose over
| the tops of the cocoa trees for quarter of a
mile inland, sweeping human beings, houses and
everything movable before it. A terrible shock
Frustrated churches and houses, and killed many
persons In all one hundred lives were lost, be-
sides thousand horses and cattle. The craters
vomted fire, rocks and lava, and a river of red
hot lava five or six miles long flowed to the sea
at the rate of ten miles per hour, destroying
everything before it and forming an island in the
sea- new crater two miles wide opened and
threw rocks and streams of fire a thousand feet
high Streams of lava rolled to the sea- At
one time the illumination extended fifty miles at
night. The lava has pushed out from the shore
one mile.
At Waischna, three miles from the Shore a
conical island rose suddenly, emitting column of
steam and smoke, while the Kono packet was
passing, scattering mud on the vessel. The
greatest shock occurred April 2. Prior to the
eruption there was a shower of ashes and pumice
During the great shock the swinging motion of
the earth was dreadful, so that no person could
stand In the midst of this tremendous shock
an eruption of red earth poured down the noun
tain, rushing the plain three miles in three
minutes, and then ceased Then came the great
tidal wave, and then the streams of lava. The
villages on the shore were all destroyed by this
| wave. The earth opened under the sea and red
dened the water. The earth eruption swallowed
thirty persons, and the sea many more.
Great suffering and terror prevailed in the dis
| trict, and the whole region affected. The
| sloop Live Yankee has been dispatched with pro-
visions, &C., to rescue and relieve.
| The Honolulu correspondence of the Bulletin,
gives the details of the volcanic disturbances,
showing that the earthquake shocks extended to
| all the Islands of the Hawaiian group; but no
! damage is known to have occurred except around
Mauna Loa. Numerous extensive land slides
accompanied the other phenomena, destroying
life and property. The summit and side of hill,
fifteen hundred feet in height, were thrown a
thousand feet over the tops of trees, and landed
in the valley below The gases that issued
afterward destroyed both vegetable and animal
! life.
| Bottomless assures opened in the mountains
side. A lava stream flows under the ground,
breaking out in four jets six miles from the sea,
and throwing lava and stones l 800 feet high.
The new island thrown up is 400 feet high,
and is joined to the main land by stream of
| lava mile wide. 4 large stream of water has
| bui st from the mountain where the earth erup-
ton occurred. The base of the volcano is about
thirty miles in circumference, and is desolated
| At least half million dollars worth of property
! is destroyed.
The King of the Sandwich Islands had issued
, proclamation for the relief of the sufferers
Many visitors had gone from Honolulu and will
60 from San Francisco.
Locality Of the Catastrophy.
! Mauna Loa, in the Sandwich Islands, which
has been lately the scene Of a terrific volcanic
explosion, IS a high mountain, little South Of
the central part of the island of Hawaii forty
miles from the coast. 1t was visited by Lieu
tenant Wilkes, of the United States exploring
| expedition, in 1910, who ascertained its height
| to be 1888 feet Like the island on which it
is situated it has been built up by volcanic
agency. Its craters are numerous; one of them,
to the bottom of which Wilkes descended, is
about fifteen thousand feet in length and eight
| thousand in width, its west bank being seven
hundred and eighty-four feet deep, and its east
bank four hundred and seventy feet. The great
crater so-called, is three and half miles long,
two and half miles wide, over thousand feet
deep and the bottom is said to be occupied by a
restless lake of liquid fire. 1t is stated that while
Lieut.. Wilkes was there this lake overlooked and
in one night discharged about fifteen million
cubic feet of lava. A violent eruption occurred
in Mauna Loa in 1855, which lasted thirteen
months, and sent its streams of lava over an area
estimated at 800 square miles Another violent
eruption began in 1859, when three new craters
were opened in the side of the mountain. Vol
canoes are indeed so frequent and violent through
out the Sandwich Islands as to render much of
the surface insusceptible of culture