The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-11-22

How we worked that passage up
hill and down hill, over hard-pointed
lava that cut through our shoes
like knife blades; over light, crumbled
lava, into which We sank up to our
knees; over hills OF lava that were.
themselves, covered with smaller hills:
into ravines and over steam. cracks. some
of which we could jump with the aid Of
our long poles, and some of which we
had to find our way around; steam
cracks whose depths we could not see,
and into which we thrust our walking
sticks, drawing them out charred black
or ahame; over lava so hot that we ran
as rapidly and lightly as possible, to pre-
vent our shoes being scorched. Three
hours OF this kind OF work for the three
miles, and HdIe-2310u-naGa6, or House
OF Everlasting Fire, lay splitting and
moaning at our feet
"A lake Of boiling lava is what the
column of smoke marked out to us-a
pit within pit--a lake Of raging lava
fifty feet below us.
" 1t was so hot and suffocating on the
brink of this lake that we cut eye-holes
them as masks. Even then we had to
run back every few moments for breath
OF fresher air, though we were on the
Windward side of the lake. The gases
on the leeward side would suffocate one
Instantly. Oh. the glory This Hale
mau-mau, whose tire never goes out, is
huge lake of liquid lava, heaving with
gr0ans and thunderings that cannot be
described. Around It's edge, the red
lava was spouting furiously. Now and
then the center of the lake cooled over,
forming thin crust of black lava, which,
suddenly cracking in a hundred direc-
tons, let the blood-red fluid ooze up
through the seams, looking like fiery
snakes.
+" Imagine these enormous slabs of
cooled lava slowly raising themselves on
end as if alive, and, with stately motion,
plunging beneath the sea Of fire, with an
indescribable roar.
For three hours we gazed spell
bound, though it seemed but a few mo-
ments; we were chained to the spot. as
is every one else who visits Kilauea.
The wind, as the jets rose in air,
spun the molten drops of lava into fine
threads, which the natives call Pele's
hair, and very like hair it is
All this time under our feet were
rumblings and explosions that made us
run now and then, for fear of being
blown up; coming back again after each
fright, unwilling to leave the spot.
occasionally, the embankment Of the
lake cracked off and fell in, being i'm
mediately devoured by the hungry food.
These Lodges around Hale-maa-naau are
very dangerous to stand upon. A whole
family came near losing their lives on
one. A loud T port beneath their feet
and sudden trembling of the crust
made them run for life; and hardly had
they jumped the fssure that separated
the ledge ON which they were standing
from more solid ooting-separated life
from death-than crash went the ledge
into the boiling lake
:. Sometimes the lake boils over, like
a pot Of molasses, and then you can dip
up the liquid lava with long pole. You
get quite lump of it, and by quickly
rolling it on the ground mold cylinder
the size of the end Of the pole, and
about six inches long. Or you can drop
a coin into the lava to be imprisoned as
it cools.
"a foreigner once imbedded silver
dollar in the hot lava, and gave the
specimen to a native, but he immediate
~ threw it on the ground, breaking the
lava, of course, and lberating the dol
lar, which he pocketed, exclaiming:
Volcano plenty enough, but me not get
dollar every day.
"One of our party collected lava
specimens from around Hale-mau-mau,
and tied them up in her pocket-hand-
k0rchief. Imagine her astonishment on
finding, later, they had burned through
the linen, and one by one dropped out.
Terrible as old Pele is, she makes
herself useful, and is an excellent cook.
She keeps q great many ovens heated for
the use of her guests, and no two at the
same temperature, so that you may.
select one of any heat you wish. In
these ovens (steam- cracks) she boils tea,
coffee and eggs; or cooks omelets and
meats. You wrap the beef or chick
en-, or whatever meat you may wish to
cook, in leaves, and lay it in the steam.
crack. Soon it is thoroughly cooked,
and delioiously, too.
She also Keeps tub of warm water
always ready for bathers.
She doesn't mean to be laughed at,
though, for doing this kind of work, and
doing it IN an original kind Of way. After
she has given you one or two SQUAD
shaklngs, which she generally does.
you'll have great respect for the old lady
and feel quite like taking off your hat to
her. With the shakings and the thun-
behring's under foot, and now and then
the opening Of long steam-crack, she
keeps her visitors quite in awe of her
powers, though she is probably several
hundred years old.
"Not far from the little hut where we
sleep, close to the precipice, is Pele's
great laboratory, where she makes sui
phur. We wear our straw hats to the
sulphur banks, and she bleaches them