The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-11-23

were worse than nine ON an ordinary
road
"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 afame; 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 Haie-nta,t-,1au, or House
of Everlasting Fire. lay splitting and
moaning at our feet
ga lake of boiling lava is what the
column of smoke marked out to us--a
pit within a pit-a lake of raging lava
fifty feet below us.
" 1t was 80 hot and suffocating on the
brink of this lake that we cut eye-holes
in our pocket handkerchiefs and wore
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 fire never goes out, is
a huge lake of liquid lava, heaving with
groans and thunderings that cannot be
described. Around its 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 hundred direc-
tions, 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.
"F For three hours we gazed spell
bound, though it seemed but 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-mau-mau are
very dangerous to stand upon. A whole
family came near losing their lives on
one. A loud port beneath their feet
and sudden trembling of the crust
made them run for life; and hardly had
they jumped the assure 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
pot of molasses, and then you can dip
up the liquid lava with long pole. You
get quite o 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
coin into the lava to be imprisoned as
it cools.
ga foreigner once imbedded silver
dollar in the hot lava, ard gave the
specimen to native, but he immediate
ly threw it on the ground, breaking the
lava, of course, and hberating the dol
lar, which he pocketed, exclaiming:
Volcano plenty enough, but me not get
dollar every day.
Zone of our party collected lava
specimens from around Hale-mau-mau,
and tied them up in her pocket-hand-
kerchief. Imagine her establishment 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 deliciously, 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 sound
shakings, 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 thel
the opening of long steam-crack, she
keeps her visitors quite in awe of hel
powers, though she is probably several
hundred years old.
"Not far from the little hut where We
sleep, close to the precipice, is Pele't
great laboratory, where she makes sui
phur. We wear our straw hats to the
sulphur banks, and she bleaches then
for us.
"Well, this is strange, strange land
old Pele being only one of its many GU
riosities.
81 only hope you may all see the &C
tive old goddess before she dies. Sh,
hasn't finished her work yet. Once in
while she runs down to the shore, I,