Connecticut western news., 1871-10-06
An Island ON Fire.

"OJ oSo"OCA tUo SCulI1lU duu buC S0d. AU is vast pit, nine miles in circumference, sunk in the flank of the mountain, and varying in depth, in different years, from thousand to fifteen hundred feet, ac- cordlng as the sea of molten lava beneath its floor is at high tide or at ebb. For years this floor will be slowly raised by the accommodating lavas below and when their lateral pressure becomes at last too rending it's way with irresistible force through rock and earth, and shaking the whole island with the throes of its pro- gress, finally breaks to the surface, five, ten, or twenty miles from the crater. The river of fire leaps from the ground, a mighty fountain that sometimes plays a thousand feet high, with a jet that is several hundred feet in diameter, and pours down the flank of the mountain toward the sea. This it often reaches, enlarging the area of the island by push ing out new capes and promontories of lava into the water. The lava thus ejected may remain, in many places, warm and smoking for months after the eruption has ceased yet l have seen spots where the natives, pulverizing the cooled lava, and mixing with 1t few dead leaves OSAOAO III Hdu ODUdlu0u SOOC crops of sweet potatoes from what year before was torrent of liquid fire. Ma ture thus renews the furnishing a bran-new article at each eruption, white hot from her chemical laboratories in the center of the earth.
 With each eruption "the bottom is crater of Ki-lau-e-a. The flood of molten lava uh1oh # c4o ic drained away, and the vast floor of in- durated lavas, an area of six square miles at the bottom of the pit, goes crashing still further downward, three, four, five hundred feet toward the central fires j; as when the water-to compare great things with small-is let off from frozen mill-pond, and the ice settles down upon the bottom. The mountain wall is prob ably not entirely solid and compact. as the lavas are extremely fluid, and in running of honeycomb it's structure, leaving numerous caverns behind them, through which subsequent eruptions force their way. Yet the pressure re- quired for the lava to rend the mountain wall is estimated at not less than five hundred pounds to the square inch, or million pounds for stream two feet deep and seven feet broad. When the breadth of the lava stream is measured by miles instead of feet, force enough is exerted to shake the island to it's very founda- tions.
 The grand eruptions of the Ki-lau-e-a occur, with some approach of regularity, at intervals of about eight years. But the volcano does not, like Vesuvius, Etna, or Stromboi, confne it's activity to special occasions. The fire rages con tinually in the southern end of the great crater, where lake of melted lava losses it's red surges and pours forth its sul- phurous vapors without ceasing. This lake, the "Hale Mau- mau," or "House of Everlasting Fire" of the old heathen mythology, may be safely approached by the traveller at almost any time.
 The appearance of this lake varies greatly, however, at different times. Sometimes the lava is so far sunken below its banks that the travel cannot reach it, and comes away quite disap- pointed with what he has seen. Again, in times of great activity, the fiery sea may overflow upon the bottom of the crater, or force itself up through numer- ous cracks and chasms in the floor of lndurated lavas. I was once in the bot tom of Ki-lau-e-a when the lava, boiling up from below, overfowed its banks in a manner so uniform and measured so as congeal around the edges of the great lake, and build for itself a barrier around the fearful cauldron of fire. The lava, thus walled in, gradually rose many feet above the level where with others stood, at first quite unconscious of the terrific process that was going on so near us. The fiery waves, tapping over the margin, congealed where they fell, and thus builded up, little by little, their inclos- ing wall. The surface of this sea of fire was elevated about thirty feet above the level of the bottom of the crater it was 8 boiling mass of fluid lavas, half mile in diameter, that surged and thundered and sent down a threatening roar.- Splashes of liquid fire, hurled over the margin of it's confning barrier, fell among our company. Warned by this danger, we withdrew to short distance, and awaited the breaking forth of the imprisoned fire. We had hardly gained
 our new point of observation before the lava wall gave way in two places with a
 laundering crash and roar, and from
 each of the rents thus made a torrent of 1 liquid fire poured over a cliff fifty feet
 high, into the rough channel of former
 flow. Roaring, glowing, smoking, and
 wreathed in bluish flames, it ground
 along the lava channel with peculia,
 dull thunder, that was caused by the Eponderous weight of the molten mass
 It Tapped up huge rocks and bore them
 away upon its surface I could see then
 oscillate sluggishly upon the red river and finally melt and sink into it like SC
 much wax. The power and splendor O. this sudden display, the fierce sweep O. the mighty torrent, the strange process that had heaped up the flood of lava te disgorge 1t with such resistless power all made spectacle never to be forgotten
 by any of the party who witnessed it, Dr. '. M. Coao, d'a Scrib7ae,'s fo'' October A DESPERATE FIGHT.-Sheriff High tower anda posse of Moro, Cal, polio, had desperate fight with five of the es capped prisoners from Carson, Nevada in Long Valley. The Skeriff's part, opened fire on the convicts, who re
 turned it with deadly effect R. J
 Morrison, Wells, Fargo & Go. s agent a s Benton, one of the Sheriff's party, ant l one Indian, were killed outright anothe g man was shot through the hand. Tn e Sheriffs party also lost seven horses l four of which fell into the hands of tn v convicts, and three were killed. Onl, three of the convicts were seen to leav : the field. It is thought that the othe two were killed, although their bodie could not be found. The Sheriff ant f party immediately started in pursuit o f the three who escaped. The pony-ex t pres rider who was supposed to be witt = these convicts was not seen. l NEW YORK IN THE CENsUs.-Some yer, ] curious statistical facts are evolved iron the thorough analytical investigation t.