The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-09-03
INTO A CRATER.
The Terrors and Glories Of Kilnuea in
the Sandwich Islands.


the Sandwich Islands.
A correspondent of the Springfield
Republican writes from the Sandwich
Islands rs follows: Before descending
into the crater little explanation is
necessary. The crater proper is several
miles in circumference and is called
Kilauea. In the early days the natives
named the goddess of Kilauea Madam
Pele, and in their ignorance and super
stition they believed that an eruption
was her expression of anger for their
misdeeds, and ut the first indication Of
an overflow they used to offer plenteous
sacrifices in the way of pigs, sheep and
poultry. There is no record of human
sacrifice ever having been offered, but
it is not entirely improbable that before
the advent of the missionaries they took
this means of disposing of an occasional
superfuous member of society, and, to
satisfy conscience, set it all down to the
imperious demands of Nine. Pele. The
volcano as it exists to-day is composed
of two lakes-Halemanman. about 100
feet wide and three-fourths of a mile
long, and South lake, still larger. The
latter of these, owing to the change Of
GIlC ElllDullhllCIlU, ilOU DCCu
for more than three years, though until
it was shut off it was considered far the
finer one of the two. To reach the era
ter's edge we descended IN almost per-
pendicular cliff about 600 feet, and then.
looking over to the lake, it seemed only
q few minutes scramble to reach its
edge. But, oh! what deluded mortals!
Mover was disillusion more complete! !!
Provided with alpenstocks Of rather
primitive form but unmistakable trust
worthiness, we started out gayly, feeling
quite sure that it conld never take us
three hours and a half to get across; but
TIVE quite lost confidence in our own
powers of locomotion when, after half
an hours hard work, we looked back
over the very short distance we had
come and forward across the vast cx-
panse, which seemed to spread:itself fur
ther out as we proceeded.
People who have visited the Merde-
glace know how those immovable bill
lows look easy enough to skip across,
but doubtless the memory of those
treacherous assures, the sliding foot
steps and the awful possibilities sug-
gested by them are still fresh enough in
their memory to enable them to compre-
hend me when say that it seemed rs
if the crossing OF that crater were des-
tined never to end. Over waves which
snapped beneath our feet as ice crackles
when trodden upon; across seams and
crevices which seemed miles in depth;
sometimes mounting the crest of q bill
low; sometimes lost in the trough Of the
sea; exhausted with the vertical rays of a
tropical sun; suffocated with sulphurous
vapors over recent flows of lava so hot
that the soles of our shoes became al
most unbearable, and on which we could
not stop for an instant's breath lest the
fumes should overcome us; flying terror
stricken from yielding billow, only to
fall headlong and be pierced with lava,
or be blistered with the heat; turning
backward, then gazing despairingly
forward, vibrating between a shame to
retreat and an awful fear to 60 for
ward, sinking exhausted. to rise again
for one grand effort, ut last the shore of
Halemanman is reached. Again disap-
pointment claims us for its own, for in
stead of the sheet of red-hot lava, we
have been pressing forward to an ap-
parently stagnant pool of steel gray fluid,
occasionally flecked with a dull red.
This is all we see at first, for the blind
ing heat prevents our prolonged gaze as
the full splendor of q cloudless sun COM.
pels US instantly to withdraw our eyes.
After standing some time the heat be-
comes more endurable and we discover
the whole surface of the lake, a sluggish
motion which indicates q current; soon
4 l,o l,n,s,, &< 81, Isnhnr hsnhnr
they mount, till the thin crust of lava,
which has cooled, begins to crack and
finally the immense billow tumblcs
madly to the surface, and then rs if the
gates of the internal regions had been
thrown open a thousand jets of liquid
lava leap into the air like so many de-
mons with loosened chains. They hiss
and bubble and splutter rs if in tri-
umphant revelry over some lost soul.
The smashing waves dash against the
side and fill the air with sounds so un-
earthly that it is in no sense difficult to
imagine ones ears filled with shouts of
demoniac laughter.
Oh, what horror and what fascination
Looking in any direction nothing is
seen but the walls of the awful crater,
and we poor miserable mites of human
ity seem to have been banished from the
earth and left here at the portal of the
place promised in Scripture to those who
do not turn from their sins and live
Alright. Before us some Of the disem-
bodied spirits are already writhing in
the sea whose fires are never to b.
quenched. After some time the impulse
to throw ourselves in becomes madden
ing, and constantly we are haunted by a
fear that the mental strain will ut last be
too strong, and we will yield to the i'm
pulse. Still on that quiet but determ-
ined current flows toward the opposite
side Of the lake where the wall is so
heated that it looks like the mouth of a
cave. On the right there is an immense
blowhole," from which the molten
lava is spouted with such force that
sometimes it is thrown thirty and fifty
feet into the air, a glowing fountain
which dances in the garish light of day
and gives even to the clouds high above
it a rosy flush, and the wind catching
its lighted spray spins it into threads as
fine as a glassblow er ever wrought, and
carries it in golden masses for miles be-
yond the lake The natives call it Pele's
hair, and marvelously ly like mat of soft
yellow hair it looks. Nine. Pele crown
ed with its glistcning sheen would en-
mesh the hearts of nortals With far too
easy a grace, and make their doom to an
ultimate abode in her regions only too
certain. Sometimes the heart almost
stands still with fear when a loud splash
tells US that a portion of lava, mayhap
of the very piece we are standing on,
has been undermined and has fallen in
to be remelted. and at later period toss
ed high on the farther side Of the lake
to await awhile another summons to its
baptism of fire." For no two minutes
can one see exactly the same effects.
The fountains die in one spot and break
out instantly in another, the lava climbs
the wall-like shore and, retreating,
leaves trail of light behind which pales
and dies as another deposits some fantas-
tic figure high up on the opposite wall.
AS night approaches the lava takes on a
still deeper red. The sparkling jets be-
come more binding in their intensely
crimson hue, and on the star-lit canopy
above their roseate splendor is reflected.
One Ships Terrible Voyage.
IT. w.,s announced recently that the