The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-08-08
Correspondence Of the T.. e. Advertised
Fucts 4 bout Pulu.

MR. EDITOR In your issue Of July 18th, under
the head Of editorial, l notice your remarks concerning
some bales Of pull discovered to be on fire in the hold
Of the steamer Montana, supposed by some to have
been caused by spontaneous combustion, and asking
for information of any parties who may have known
Of n like case heretofore.
This being the first case of which l have any knowl-
edge of pulu being on fire from an unknown cause, L
have no hesitation in saying, frou-an experience OF
Is years as n producer of pulu, that the cause OF IRE
mentioned was not from spontaneous combustion,
but, as you Supposed it, from 4 spark, or a cigar.
The fact of the pull lying en- the wharf subject to
being wet, could not in the remoteSt degree have had
any effect in producing spontaneous combustion, as
it was common with Us, at some stations, 10 pile our
pressed pulu at the landing, subject to the weather;
at another station, we were at times compelled to raft
our bales through the breakers. 1t viii be found
about as impossible to wet the interior of a bale of
pulu by exposure or immersion as it would a barrel
of flour, both operating the same way by forming a
coating OH the outside through which the water can
not penetrate.
During my occupancy of a pulu station in the vi
cinity of the volcano of Kilauea, We had n very dry
summer, and all the water our laborers had for some
time was what could be collected on our pull beds
from the heavy dews through the night, all of which
does away with the idea of water penetrating pulu
and being one of the causes of generating heat.
Some may say the pulu, then, may have been
pressed damp and heat generated thereby. A word
on that score. In the year 1856, 1 was obliged to go
to Kohala, where We then had n pull station, and
open, pick, and dry about 100 bales Of wet pulu,
which our managing man had pressed from his then
imperfect knowledge of pull. The pulu had laid
about four months, owing to the absence of the Lido
Tho to the Guano Islands-lOng enough for the wrap
pers to be entirely rotted off-but the pulu was found
to be perfectly cool, and instead of the temperature
being increased l should say it was lower. 1t was at
that station I first saw pull rot in a pile. 1t was n
lot of loose, damp pulu, about 5000 pounds. 1 found
the inside black, with much the appearance of finder,
which it would very readily he taken for, but q close
examination would show the fibre.
The cause of the fire on the Montana having been
from a spark l have not the least doubt, and will cite
a case. During my residence at Keauhou a spark of
fire from a pipe l was smoking communicated with
one of several bales of pulu piled up at the landing. 1
extinguished the FIRE, as l thought, it being on the
outside of the bale, and when l went to breakfast L
stated the matter to Mr.. Jones, (the pulu belonging
to him. but on my return from breakfast noticed
smoke issuing from the bale, and it was with the ut
most difficulty we extinguished the ire, only then by
opening the bale and spelling it for shipment. BY
this you will see how easy it is for a spark to be COM
municated to a bale of pulu on the wharf and not
show itself until on board of the vessel.
Mr.. Editor, L am not in the pull business now,
and have not been for the last four years, and do not
intend to enter it again; therefore the above state
ment in viudication of pull cannot be from personal
motives, but as you say that 60 an article of commerce
which for twenty years has been constantly shipped
without the slightest accident on shipboard, should
no, be classed as hazardous on mere opinion"
f. b. SWAIN,
formerly of A. Harris & CO.
Kaiwiki, Hilo, Hawaii, July 90, 1868.