Morning journal and courier., 1881-10-25

TOAtt LAEOuSA u bEOplc61 1OfeSG or 1ungl0. l
 could hardly have imagined anything of the sort so beautiful. It was different from any
 thing had ever seen, though somewhat re- sembling, principally in luxuriance, the
 cypress swamps of Florida, as seen during that beautiful sail up the Oklawaha But
 here there were no venomous reptiles, no mosquitoes, and no flies or gnats. We were in maze of trees, ferns, vines and flowers entirely new. For several miles we passed through ferns from ten to fifteen feet high Then we had to crawl through more mud and scramble over rough, rocky trail, and
 were soon ready for luncheon when we reached the Halfway House. Instead of the old grass house, locked up, which Miss Bird describes, we found a new and pretty I wooden one, nicely painted outside and in. It had two neat bedrooms, with double beds | covered with bright patchwork quilts, par Tor and dining.r room, all exclusively for trav- ! elers. Some natives lived in grass house ! near by. While the horses were mak- ! ing good meal off the tall, tender grass a | 'wakine" put some tea, crackers, butter, ssr- dimes, poi and native bananas on the table, and we proceeded to take them off. We were fortunate in having such fine day cloudy, and the air cool and bracing Part of the way resembled New England woods on an autumn day. Before we had accom- { plished over thirty miles, however, we got caught by shower, but as the roads got bet ! ter our beasts 'made time,' and we reached
  the journey in eight and a half hours, not including stoppage at the Halfway House. The accommodations were much better than we had expected. The house is very long (ninety feet), with piazza the whole length of it. Here fne-looking, frank, energetic, polite and attentive landlord (we~ found MT Lentz to be all this, and more before we
 left, received us, and we were not at all sorry to find ourselves presently in very pleasant room with large open fireplace and a blazing wood fire, in front of which were sofas and easy chairs. Although we were
 not expected, in very short time good, smoking hot dinner, cooked by MT. Lensz, was ready for us. Near the house we found party of four young men from Honolulu encamped. They had arrived there on-
 foot from Hilo an hour or two before us They had put up a tent on which was char coaled ''The Big 4-Volcano or Bust.'' They were nearly "busted," but there they were with an American flag flying over them on the edge of the crater of the largest active
 volcano in the world. And what vast pit it was. Six hundred feet below us we could
 see it's floor or bed of 1ava covering, it is said, six square miles. This resembled the lava around Hilo. This whole bed we were told, is sometimes raised or lowered several hundred feet The lava would thus seem but crust floating like ice in pond Beyond the center we could see steam and vapor ascending from the burning lakes. and II | them and occasionally some fiery spray as | Madam Pele stirred up her fires more vigor- | ously than usual.
 During the evening we amused ourselves ! smoking and telling stories in front of the | fire, and in looking over a Ie.of volumes | in which, since 1863, visitors had recorded ! descriptions of their trips, what they had seen, their impressions, sketches of the | lakes, and also caricatures. I made few ex-
 tracts and copied some descriptions in full One visitor in 1868 writes: ''Arrived from
 Hilo Stepping at the Half Way House) over | one of the worst roads ever seen, with feel ing that some saddles do not fit the human
 frrme and that many valuable suggestions might be made to those whose occupation it
 is to manufacture the article above named
 to their general improvement Another \ writes: Feel well repaid. although now I eat my meals from the mantelpiece." An
 other, evidently impressed by what he had ! seen, and poetically inclined, spreads himself
 in the following ines
 "'If Beecher or Bob IngersolI
 1 Should chance to stray this way, I'm sure they would tell us all Their theories were far astray.
 For what with PeIes lake of fire
 The smoky sulphurous smell,
 | They would not have the least desire ' To say S"There is no HelL'
 | Could they but stand upon the brink | And view the fiery deep
 'Twould make them both reflect and think !
 ! 'Twould make them change their present tune And ponder long and well,
 I And Beecher Ghe sly old coon)
 Would say Bob, this is h-l.'
 But Bob may never visit here
 And Beecher may not want to;
 Unless they do, 'tis very clear
 Where they will both be sent to-" | The next morning, after hearty break fast, our party, together with the campers l and guide, descended into the crater to K plore the wonders and mysteries of Kilauea | The trail led us first through patches of trees, flowers and ferns, and then over beds | of vitreous, irridescent lava, about two and a ! half miles, to the new lake, which is ! about 15O feet higher than the main bed ! Until we reached the edge, it only appeared like smoking pit in the middle of barren ! waste, but here we saw something different When we first arrived, the action was con- ! fined mostly to the edges, where the boiling lava lashed the banks, dashing at times high into the air, while the middle was covered by [ black skin or thin crust. Steam and sul phurous vapors arose from the cracks and crevices around the brink, but a strong breeze blew them away from us. This lake, 1 as it is called, though it is more like big cauldron, is about quarter of mile in di- ameter, with perpendicular banks varying from ten to sixty or seventy feet. After a while the action increased a livid crack ran out towards the middle, then another: huge
 cakes of the broken crust would tip up and
 slide rapidly under the now boiling lava fountains of liquid fire now began to play. spouting up here and there subsiding in one
 place only to break out in another, tossing
 great masses and jets of gory mother lava
 high into the air. The whole lake was now
 in action, boiling, tossing, surging, spouting,
 roaring, splashing. slight crust would
 form at times, only to wrinkle, fold over and
 be swallowed up. The wind would catch the
 spray as it was thrown high into the air and
 spin it out into long yellow threads, forming
 what is known here as Pele's hair; immense
 quantities covered the leeward banks As the
 action increasedsso did the heat until, not
 withstanding the wind, our faces were almost
 scorched, but still we fingered the sight was
 so grand and impressive.
 sHere at one view the eye:takes in the whole;
 The wonderful sublime, unequaled scenel
 Here let us sit and gaze and drink our fill
 Awed into nothingness, to silence awed
 Conld our contracted faculties expand
 To the full measure of scenes like these,
 What joy, ineffable to comprehend The wondrous whole, Wondrous in every part
 No wonder that untaught savages
 Should here propitiate the unknown power
 Whose being famed upon the molten noodi
 Lo with what mighty power
 The lifted columns rear their glowing heads
 Like Lii 's, artificial M jets in playing founts:
 Wit With banners ITS cleaning in the suns bright rays.
 Of famed Niagara, cen te see
 The mighty ocean lashed into foam,
 Far less with rapsurous vision to behold
 The heaving pillows of this boiling lake"
 Wenext visited Hale -Maumau or the ssHouse
 of Everlasting Fire, :" supposed to be the
 home of the Goddess Pele of Hawaiin mythol-
 ogy, who is supposed to rule all volcanoes |
 This old lake is very interesting. Itresembles |
 the new one and yet differs from it. and they
 both change from hour to hour and day to !
 day; no one, it is said, ever saw them twice
 alike. We did not get as good view of this |
 one, for the walls were much higher and
 formed of loose rock liable to fall at any mo-
 ment. The guide told us that some time ago
 bank hereewas noticed to be sinking and in |
 twenty minutes had entirely disappeared.
 When we returned to the Volcano House |
 most of the party were loaded down with |
 specimens of the different kinds of lava. l
 About half way up the trail leading into the |
 crater is white marble monument, which
 marks the spot where, few years I
 before, a gentleman who had visited the |