The Hawaiian gazette., 1870-05-04

impression is Overwhelming. ne lOugef we iOot
at the action of this great crater, the more W
get spell-bound, as it were, to the spot, and tn
longer we want to stay. How small man feel;
how insignificant and helpless,-when walking
alone through that vast abyss, destitute Of al
organic life, black and earnest, like an imnens
grave!
There is only thin crust which separates us
on these Islands, from the red-hot lava of tn
central fire underneath, but down on the floor o
the crater of Kiauea there are only few feet
sometimes only inches) between us and it.
Numerous caves and temporarily extinct cone
give the naturalist fair chance to collect law
specimens of the rarest and most exquisite kinds
and in any variety of form and color. Hunting
for such specimens, it sometimes happened thai
irrespirable gases and extreme heat. breaking
through assures and blow-holes of those caves
stopped our mining instantly, and obliged us tC
leave the place with the greatest haste. 1t re
peatedly occurred that the stick which we usec
to break off specimens in the fssures, caught fire
and burned briskly. On our visits to the crater
we saw three very active lakes of fire, throwing
up the liquid mineral in immense waves and with
thunder-like noise
1t is sometimes difficult to approach the cones
on account of the sui phurous gases which they
discharge but when near them, the aspect is
grand beyond description. Dense clouds oi
smoke rush through the tops Of those cones, and
with the noise of a breathing monster, quantity
I r IL L =, - .l,o o,r
three to five minutes. There are. generally, one
or two large holes or fssures on the side of the
cone through which the flames break out in sud-
den jets. During the intervals, we are sometimes
into sea of whitehead fire. Such phenomenon
as this crater has no equal in Europe or America.
Vesuvius and Etna are small and insignificant
after we have seen the Hawaiian Kilauea.
Following the assures and cracks which, run
ming from the volcano in a southwesterly direc-
ton, point in a straight line to Keaiwa, near
Kapapaia, we come to a mountaln-spur of Mauna
Loa, whose face and top fell down during the
stormy days in April, 1868. 1t was the time
when the whole Island of Hawaii was trembling
and shaking to its very foundation, from the
pressure of volcanic gases aud the increased
amount of lava in fusion, seeking an outlet to
the surface. This was a landslide on the largest
scale, combined with large body of water stored
up in the heart of the mountain, of which the
water-marks still remain on its broken surface
This land slide-erroneously called mud-fow'
broke loose when the immense body Of lava,
coming seventeen miles, under ground from XII
lauea, passed under the mountain. The whole of
Kau District was at that time in state of con-
stant concusson-the ground waving like the
ocean, and the hills sensiby moving-and many
of the frightened people experienced a sensation
like that of sea-sickness. During the heaviest Of
the shocks, the entire side of the moutain-spur
broke off; the large body of water within it,
mingled with soil, cimpers rocks, trees, and ferns
with the whole mass, as one nairtun compoSitttna,
was thrown down more than thousand feet.
with incredible velocity. Its own weight and the
pressure from behind forced it down three miles
over the plain of Kapapala.
Grand was the sight, but not less sad and
melancholy, when the lava-fow of 1868, at Ka-
huku, first appeared to US in the distance Like
a monstrous black serpent, lay the shining and
glistening flow Of new lava, spread out for miles
over an extensive plain. The nearer we came,
the larger the monster grew, until we stood upon
the vast field of destruction, of terror and DEATH
came down from the hills in the rear, with furious
speed and Internal noise. throwing down and
crushing everything before it. But a moment,
and the wood-crowned hills were on fire. valleys
filled up, hills leveled, houses swept away, and
large number of cattle perished miserably. 1t
was the work Of one night which destroyed the
beautiful pasture land of Kahuku, and trans
formed it into silent desert.
We visited the different parts of this scene of
destruction. The lava crackles under the trav-
surface breaks into dust wherever we step on it.
Having followed the main stream, which dis
charged itself into the sea near ;he south cape of
Hawaii and after visiting the other three branches
of which the flow consists, we are able to form
an idea of the DIMENSIONS and the amount of |
liquid mineral discharged by this, the latest erup-
ton OF Hawaii. For one mile in width, and ten
miles in length, with a varying depth of from
i've to one hundred feet, nothing but one con-
iiuuous mass of black lava
Examining this flow, we come to a most re-
narkable place. Rushing down the hills, the
lowing lava came to precipice, down which the
liquid mineral fell in shower of fire about one
hundred feet wide, and eighty to ninety feet
leep. As the lava cooled in falling, the cascade
became formed ard there it stands to the present
lay like petrfed WATERFALL strange and mag
lifcent sight-its hardened waves and folds of
very description giving it, in the sunshine the
appearance of gigantic curtain of black, heavy
k The basin beneath shows waves and con-
centric lines; and further down, where the lava
ound an outlet, after having filed up the de-
preston, its flow is short and broken, resembling
he rapids Of river.
Ascending to the source Of this lava-how, we
ound large cracks twenty to thirty feet wide,
extending down the hills for about two miles
Through these, and a number of chimneys, still
llscharging hot vapors, all the destructive mate
ial of the last lava-Aow was forced out and not
rom any regular crater.
Hawaii is pre-eminently the place to study