The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-01-20
THE cRArER's IMMENSELY.


In stepping a few PAGES from the house,
you find you have passed the night on the
crater's brink. Standing there, you gaze
into a hole in the ground big enough to
swallow Auckland, PonsOnby, Newton,
Parnell, Grafton Road, Epson, Eden Ter
race, and Mount Eden, and still leave room
for Nesuvius. According 10 Dana, there Is
material lying about loose to make twenty
five Of Vulcan's Vesuvian smOke-stacks
This may be one phase of planet making,
but ii Is not your ideal volcano. Instead
OF q peak or pyTamidal mound throwing
boulders as big as n house at the sun, ana
belehing empowering blasts of fire and
steam from it gaping apex, after the man
ner of some ignepotent whale on a frollc, IL
is an unfathomable abyss midway between
the summit crater and the sea. in a slightly
undulating country, only about 4OOO feet
above the oceau's level. The preclpltouS
walls average 1000 feet in depth, forming an
irregular circle ten miles in diameter The
floor Of p0hOehOe, or field lava, without trace
of scoria, is undulating, with a striking re-
semblance to the waters Of a lake congealed
at a moment of intense agitation. III con-
tains three lakes of blood-red flame, whose
seething surfaces are 100 feet lower than the
main floor on which they are sunk. These
artesian pyrOtechnic pits are each about a
mile in circumference, and fret and tume
and lash themselves to foaming fury, as the
storm-tossed ocean does agalnt an IRON
bound coast. Seen at their acme of activity,
they are appalling and sublime. Their vast
fire fountains dart h~eavenward 100 or 200
feet, expanding above into a sanguinary
| canopy, and Topping about their bases IN
prysmatic scintillalions and blood hail.
Bubbles of the fluid are waited away, and
in their flight u Harmonious vitrihcation,
called Pele's hair, is formed in a manner
similar to glass-blowing. 1t is usually
auburn, fine as a woman's, and often very
long. It's gossamer lightness allows it TO
float and gyrate in the ais n long time, and,
with a good breeze, it is frequently carried
n hundred miles, occasionally falling upon
ships far out to sea.
LAVA WRATH.
Exposure to the atmosphere lowers the
temperature of liquid lava very quickly,
and a black induration forms upon the sur
face with marvellous rapidly. Jets burst
ing up through this fall back upon it in CORY
clots. waists tracts upon a lake may be con-
gealed and dead. Presently the surface is
agitated as with n leviathan beneath strug-
Cling for release, as you have seen a pig in
q poke. The crust, no longer able to stand
the strain, cracks, exposes the bloody fangs
and flaming tongue between black and grim
ming lips a hundred feet long. The tongue
rolls forth in a huge wave, covering the
lower jaw, like that of q Maori during his
most eXtravagant grimaces in the war
dance, when he has succeeded in frighten-
ing himself, if not his enemy, into a fit, and
almost Strangled himself in attempt to tie
his tongue around his neck. The upper
jaw is raised high in the air, the tatooed
face distorted and covered with flaming
eruptions, and a chaotic upheaval ensues
throughout the entire body. Vast slabs re-
sembling smoked field ice, are turned on
end, and melt like wax as they sink into
the capacious NAV of the roaring and furi-
Gus element, which, with, unsuitable ran
cour, undermines and engulphs n stipend
Gus slice of its mural enclosure near by,and
upon which you stood a moment ago. You
hurriedly retreat with terrified amaZement,
and ask, CHAD we stood there a little longer,
what ?" The curdling of your marrow,
like the composition of some barometers
when n storm is pending, hints that the
] problem, docs death end all?" would have
received peditious solution.
PELE's SHARES AND PITFALLS. -
To visit all three lakes is often impossible,
because of the deadly fumes that bar the
way. With a favorable wind, however,
the tour may be accomplished without
much danger. Basaltic columns of uniform
diameter throughout an entire length of
several hundred feet, are seen, with heads
in the clouds. aud their feet on the brink of
an all-melting pit of liquid fire. Peeping
into the Tuning opening of n cone feStooned
with Pele's hair, you behold n scene of won
drous beauty a fairy grot of rainbow tints,
with inches Astounding in stalagtites and
stalagmites of all dimensions and every
color, the effulgence augmenting in proper
ton to depth. Below, fairy stasactites,
tinged with igneus sulphates, is an incan-
descence, binding as the glare of the sun.
Guides are very attentive, and do their best
to frighten one out of their wits, by point
ing out all dangers, real or apparent. The
Impractical eye sees no trail, and would
play you n worse trick than getting you to
step into a pool of water, which it represents
as a nice, dry place on a rainy night. Here
you would fall through a thin lava crust,
and be buried i'm a black brittle mass, for
tunate if nothing worse happened than q
few of Pele's locks getting to your clothes,
and subsequently into your skin, where
they impart the sensation of a thousand
thorns i'm the flesh. Benedicts with shrew-
ish wives may appreciate the situation, if
they ever came home with n strange hair
upon their coat-collar. Indeed, / am not
sure that the principle involved is capable
of widest application. In order to avoid the
snares and pitfalls of this blonde syren, it is
just as well to follow in the guides footsteps
as he requests, or else test all ground with
the Alpine slaves. OF which there is always
a good supply, before venturing upon it.
TARTARUs IN A vERNAL FRAME.
What ~incongruity it seems to associate
verdure with such Plutonic sights and yet
there is n profuse mural decoration, consist
ing of vines, ferns, fruits, flowers, sandal
wood and other trees, shrubs, and grass. A
delicious fruit resembling whOrtle berries
abound, and may be plucked by the way
when descending into the crater, but else
where are inaccessible On account of the
great and vertical nature of their habitat.
APPALLING sUBLIMITY.
A night passed in the crater will shake
the stoutest heart, and haunt the soul
throughout eternity. Few there be h
venture, because the long vigils of the night
must be spent alone, neither love nor money
being any inducement to guides for their
company. One or two We're driven nearly
mad, and, after running wildly about in the
vain effort to reach the upper world again,
fell, torn, bleeding, and exhausted, into
some hole, where they were discovered in
the morning, more dead than alive. No
available shelter against the pitiless storm
that usually RACES Is TO be found, and if you
were only sure morning would find you
alive, you would curse your foOlhardiness
for ever venturing within the confines of the
neither world without the usual breath
pilifering summons, even though a grateful
public may stand by, painting fora peepinto
the future, and ready to embrace the one
who returns with accounts of its mysteries,
accepting the evidence of an idle curiosity
that would look into a cannOn's mouth to
see the ball come out as a noble spirit of in
v~estigatiOn based upon rare integrity of
purpose. To be sure, caves and holes in
Vulnerable abound. You could break through