The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-07
TBE VOLCANO on NAuNA LoA.

Inc mucn eXClt6u over an efup-
ton of Mauns Loa, on Hawaii, and its striking
phenomenon of an outflow to the sea.
AS visit to Hawaii is part of my plan, l
hasten it little, lest l be too late for the
sight. The 9TH of October l take passage in
a little native schooner for Kawaihae; and
after rolling about for several days in the long
heavy swell of the Pacific, in dead calms, SO
near Lahaina that an hours row would have
set us ashore there, and enduring as we'll as
/ could for five days the smells of the crowded
natives and their food, we came to anchor
off O beach in the northwestern corner of
Hawaii.
Here is temple, or huge altar, large pile
of coral stones, with no roof, terraced down
to the plain, built by Kamehameha the First,
in his days OF heathenism. l roamed about
the spot, enjoying the unspeakable beauty of
the tropical scenery and temperature, until
evening" when L engaged a native boat to
take me to the outflow. Never can l forget
the charm of this night. If you have never
been on an island of the Pacific tropics read
the first two stanzasss ssof Tennyson's 'TIotos,
Eaters, and fancy may do the work of ex-
perience.
ain the afternoon they came unto a land,
In which It seemed always afternoon.
All round the coast the anguid air did swoon,
Brt athing like one that hath a weary dream.
Full-faced above the valley stood the NOON
And like q downward smoke, the slender stream
Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.'
The "slumbrous foam" broke in sheets
lazily over the outposts of coral reefs, the
moonlight waved upon the long swell, the
gentle trade-wind breathed over us an ex-
quisite breath, neither hot nor cold, and our
little boat with its keeled outrgger moved
over the fairy scene in silence, the bow
scarce making ripple against the silvered
surface of the sea.
! When the wind raises itself little; as it
does ever and anon, a native lies out at his
! hna
on an even keel A drowsiness comes over
us all, which is broken as sson as we round
the point, and the glaring fires of the volcano
burst upon our sight.
But how different is this from all views of
volcanoes of which have ever read The
crater from which this outflow comes is
forty miles from the sea, and some ten or
twelve thousand feet above it. There is
a lurid light above the crater seen in the
heavens, and reflected over land and sea;
but there is no eruption into the air. There
is only steady fl ow of deep, wide streams
of lava. These move at very slow rate,
and find their way, by dipt of good engi-
neering to the sea. They pour into a valley
for days until they have filed it to the
! height of its outer hillside, and then hurry
in fierce and rapid tumult down its sides
until they bridge a river, or gully out an
obstruction, or, after long debate, make up
their mind to go round it, although it shall
delay them for days. in this slow way, the
mass travels seaward now in one vast stream,
of one, two, or three miles wide, and now in
detacbments. All who have seen course of
lava know how soon its fiery red, left in
repose, crusts over with O slate -colored scum,
and how soon this crust, if unbroken, cools
and hardens, so as to be passable on foot.
These processes had been at work on this
stream so long that uniform course was
visible to the eye. But long lines of miles
i'll length were crusted and hardened over;
and here and there, like ranges of potteries in
Staffordsbire seen at night, the red spots
appeared, looking like little long lakes of
crimson water.
The outflow into the sea had already work cd
wonders. It had filed up a harbor, and
numerous fish ponds, worked itself out in the
form of moles and breakwaters made new
harbors, and new reefs and headlands all the
while burning, sputtering, and kissing at its
vast titanic labors. The space occupied by
the outflow was about three miles in width
Not that sheet of lava three miles wide was
always flowing intothe sea; but that was the
width given up to its operations. Sometimes
for minutes together, there was no flow along
the entire line. Then, overcoming the
opposing mass of rocks, earth, and
trees it had borne along and heape6
mp before it, the lava mounted over
it and poured itself into the Tranquil
SEA, ulsslDS anu sledLnlDS, Will conUlnuOuh
explosions, as of firearms and small artillery
and sending up into the air steadily rising
clcnds of vapor. Then this effort subsidies:
this spot becomes quiet; and the assauting
force breaks over at the other end of the
long line. Sometimes several points are
stormed and carried at once, by the blood
red invader of the sea, with rattling anC
roaring of musketry and artillery, and rising
cloudsof vapor. Old Ocean feels the un.
wonted heat far out into its depth. I went
as near it as l could persuade the natives tC
take their boat. They were afraid, partly nc
6oubt, from the remains of their ole
superstitions. Peli, the goddess of wrath
had her seat on this mountain-top, and the
eruptions Of her fury carried terror into th'
: hearts of the people. Peli is still, under
their Christian civilization, the name for
volcano, as our own word is derived from
/ Vulcan. They pretended that the heat o
the water would injure the boat and opeI
her seams, and 1 was obliged to stay at, per
baps, a safer distance. Putting my hand
over the gunwale, l found the water warm
5 and at times as hot as l could comfortably
l bear it.
For hours lay rocking in the little boat il
8 silence, for the natives did not speak, givin
f myself up TO the impressions of this wonder
ful scene-wonderful in its display of tn
power and grandeur of physical forces i
their conhicts-wonderful in the combinatio
of wrathful vehement action on the land
Z with the magnificent repose of the grea
4 ocean; the fascination of the short spac
Z given up to the contest; the long, diml
traceable line of march of the lava, its occG
sional camp fires burning along its course
3 from the old crater, so far in the inland; an
s all under the canopy of tropical night, c
Q moon and stars and gentle winds, over mouI