The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-03-29
THE ERUPTION OF MAUNA IoA.
A Column Of Flame over Three Miles High
"a Volcano In Kcnlnkcalkun bay.


A letter from Honolulu, dated March
l, says: The prime news of the hour,
and as well the freshest, is the intelli-
gence of the grand eruption on Mauna
Loa and a submarine outbreak in Keala-
keakua bay. As yet the details received
here are meager, but the general nc
counts agree in pronouucing the recent
outbreak of the old safety valve of this
hemisphere the grandest on record. The
eruption began between nine and ten
o'clock on the evening of Wednesday,
the fourteenth of February, with great
violence and without moments warn
ing. The point of activity was the old
crater on the top of the mountain. When
the eruption began the flames suddenly
burst from the mountain and formed
magnificent column of fire to the height
of 10000 feet above the summit. From
the deck of the steamer Kilauea, lying
Mt anchor at Kawaihae, five distinct
columns of fire could be seen belching
forth from the mountain, apparently not
from the great summit clater of Mokua-
weoweo, but from a smaller crater, situ-
ated some miles distant from it, called
Pohakuhanalei The sight was grand
one, rs the columns Of illuminated
smoke shot up almost instantaneously to
an immense height in the mir. The ve-
locity with which they ascended was
srch that the first 5000 feet we're assed
inside of minute. A few Gays after
intelligence reached here that the fire
had disappeared, to the great disappoint-
ment of thousands who were preparing
to stalt for the scene. But soon after
II ws came that the great pyrotechnic ox-
hibit on of nature was still on the boards,
or otherwise the water, and that the ami
nation of the spectacle was enhanced by
frequent earthquake shocks.
1t is the general opinion that the
stream of lava is flowing rapidly down
the mountain side toward Kahuku in
Kau. When last seen it had progressed
n number of miles from the place of its
first outbreak, but did not seem to have
reached the woods. The illumination
was so brilliant that all parts of the
island were lighted up, and even on
Maui the reflected glare was so great
that i'll Waikapu it was supposed that
the cane fields and mill buildings of
Makee's plantation were on fire. One
spectator, who has witnessed number
of eruptions, says that he never saw q
more magnificently illumed smoke cloud
from any previous one.
On the twenty-fouZth the steamer
Kilnuea arrived with a party of excur-
sonists at Kealakeakua bay-the place
where Capt. Cook met his death. There
they found that submarine volcano had
broken out near the entrance to the har-
Dor the preceding night. About mile
al, of &c
fire leaped from the waters, interspersed
with columns of steam and spray that
glowed with innumerable rainbows, the
spectacle being one of the grandest
sights conceivable. In this locality the
water is boiling and whirling like an i'm
mense caldron-or one might better
say, kettle of fish. Thousands are seen
floating on the surface, ready cooked for
the repast of swarms of Knnakas, en-
gagged in gathering the dainty abund-
ance in their canoes. Large quantities of
lava are also thrown up and float for
some time on the surface. The matter is
either buoyed by the intensely boiling
water or sustained by gases that gradual
ly ooze from its pores. One specimen of
the strange matter emitted from the
seething waters is n light, porous sub
stance resembling charred sugar. An
other is much similar, with the exception
that it sparkles with silvery fecks. The
submarine eruption is apparently from a
seam in the bottom of the sea, about a
mile in length. 1t reaches the shore, and
is traced inland between two and three
miles. The flames on the water were
first noticed by the natives at three
o'clock on the morning of the twenty
fourth, and created much CONSERVATION
The depth of water here was formerly
from thirty 10 sixty fathoms; but if the
eruption continues, very likely reef
will be formed, which would render this
bay one of the finest harbors on the
Pacific. AS far as known no damage has
yet attended the eruption.