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

II Advertisers residing the Eastern rnssi ss-ts. can
,heir cards by esnr Grsenhaeks t~ such amosnt
al sors sn S Sis1 @ 10 s sy ms n & sr "' nc
about 20 feet wide, but narrowing and continuing it
self northwarj. We walked round the southern end
of the gap aud followed il up the West q lee side
Before long came to another enlargement of the
Ssure like the former, emitting hot air charged with
acid gases which drove us back. Still continuing our
march the West side of the issure close as the
hot gases would allow, in sight of a pretty
miniature cone. built up most regularly Of loose sco-
ria to the height of twelve feet and located right over
the fssure. Is encloses chimney crater of about IL
feet in diameter, with perpendicular Sides the depth
of which could be ascerained. Hot gases issued
in abundance. On account of the exhalation OF the
latter we were obliged to cross the chasm, on the
bridge formed by the cone. to the windward side,
along which we followed up steadily.
The direction of this fssure was 5. degrees w.
and n. degrees f. The DIR. trced it up the
mountain about three miles, wsr,n he was obliged
TO desst, owing TO the covered fires, smoke and
heat. In place he came ,ipto a cataract OF
lava coming down the precipitus side of the bill,
height of at least 800 feet.
KiIauca Crater.
During the great commotion on Hawaii, the
ancient crater of Kilauea has undergone changes,
a record of which will interest all who have ever
visited it. The ''great earthquake" occurred Mt
p NJ. the Cd of April, which was followed ny
another of nearly equal force at 1890 on the
morning of the 4th, when the fires began to die
out and the lava in all the lakes i'm it TO subside,
till on Tuesday following there no sign of Gre
or smoke, showing intimate connection with the
Kahuku eruption.
Prior to the 4th, it had been unusually active,
and the entire western half of the crater is rep
/ TOD bayi haau in
counts state that it a mass of 1tcn lava,
which has not been the case since May, 1910. On
the ith. the lava began to be withdrawn, and the
portion which had been in recent action subsded,
so that it is now three four hundred feet lower
than it was month before. From tho volcano
house one would not readily observe the extent Of
this subsistence, but on going down into the part
that has sunken, the extent Of the change is no
ticed The old south lake is hollow pit
five hundred feet deep, with single large cone
at the bottom, surrounded with black lava rocks,
but showing no fire or smoke. The result
of the earthquake was to completely cxtin-
gush the fires in the crater, at least for few
days
- The following from Mr.. Fornanders letter wi
be read with interest in this connection:
s.At the crater of Kilauea the action of Thursday
Volcano House), arrived in Hilo Friday forenoon, and
reported that from to IL 80 p. 1.-THE time when
he LETT, there n continued series of heavy
Shocks the earth opening and cracking in all drcc
tions At the first heavy shock Il ny, the crater
changed its entire appearance The walls had tum-
bled the south and southwest sides, and on the
east side from the southeast sulphur banks to nearly
the place of descent from the Volcano House. The
banks of the south lake, including what was known
as the Cathedral, had cayed in, and the lake was
some six times larger than before. large chasm
n g A. n. l.l-,
the lookout house, running up into the woods,
and cutting off the kau road entirely. Between D
and r. NJ, fire discovered to have broken out in
the old Kilauea crater the east of the Volcano and
at the same time the lava beds in the volcano seemed
to have settled down about 100 feet, if the volcano
had been tapped Mr.. Porter attempted to visit the
old crater but obliged to give it up account
of the chasms and cracks continually opening and
barring the way. He got sufficiently near, however,
ascertain that that old crater, which for has
been extinct, now all aglow with burning lava.
probably drawn off from the volcano. The shocks,
explosions, opening of cracks and stea,nhole in
ali directions, threatening to isolate the Volcano
House. large steam-bole right in the gravel path in
front of the house. ard chasn running ali along the
fence nearly up to the Stables and the, 50 to say,
visible grinding of the rocks to powder by the con-
tnued action of the earthquake, admonished Mr..
Porter that about time to leave for Hio, and he
left
In order to make this subject clear, it should
be stated that there three craters ct Kilauea
the large one, which all travellers visit second
sold Klauea,' which is directly east Of the large
crater and connected with it by narrow isthmus
and tie third is IS Kauea iki,'' or little Kilauea
southeast of the large crater and connected with
the farther or south sulphur banks by similar
isthmus This latter is seldom visited, as it is on
the lee side of the crater and not 50 accessible.
The {. old crater - is the referred to. Until
the late eruption it covered with trees, dense
shrubbery and grass, and probably had not before
been the scene of active eruption for a century
at least.
From the interesting account, published in the
Gazette by DIR. Wm Hillebrand, We extract the
following relating to the crater of KiIauea:
+" Allow me to relate what learnt from kama,
who has resided the volcano without interrupts
for the last five months, and whose strong
tained IN during the fearful catastrophe introduced
| by the earthquake of April ID. He and the China
man who keeps the house, the only persons who
| remained at Kauea. He says that for two months
preceding the first shock, viz, from Jan. 20 to March
% the had been unusually active eight lakes
being in constant ebulltion, and frequently overflow
ipp During all this time, (the date of its first ap
pearance could not be ascer.ined exactly there
in .he northwest '' blow-hoe,' from which
at regular intervals, of minute or less, with
ing noise, large masses of vapor were thrown of, a.
from a steam engine This ceased about the 18th OF
March At the same time the activity of the lakes
became greatly increased and kama anticipated mis-
chief Two days later. Mr.. Fernandez found the bot
tom of the crater overowed with fresh lava and in
candescent.
Thursday April ID, at a few minutes past four
T. NJ, the big earthquake occurred which caused the
ground around Kilauea to rock like ship at sea
At that moment, there commenced fearful detonation.
i'm the crater large quantities of lava were thrown
up to a great height; portions of the wall tumbles
in This extraordinary conimoton, accompanied
with unearthly noise and ceaseless swaying of thu
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