Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1885-09-17
The Crater Of Hateahafa.
-(ConhnneG.l


With the first faint light of the new
day the camp is astir, and the outlines
Of the rugged masses of lava scattered
over the craters floor, the grand slopes
and curves of the picturesque cones,
and the massive walls behind and op.
posite the camp-with huge butresses
on their sides and torn and riven bat
Elements crowning their lofty heights -
are brought more and more clearly into
view as the approaching sun illumines
the clear sky.
The loftiest peaks and ridges are of
a warm purple tint that passes into
brown and black shadows in the deep
hollows. AS the sun rises these
shadows become luminous and the
peaks are glorifed by a crimson flush
and glow while the sky beyond them
changes from cold steely-blue to lovely
azure. The level rays of the brilliant
sun touch each projecting crag Of grey,
basalt with silvery light and fill the
atmosphere with grateful warmth. The
massive cones grouped on the crater's
floor are rich in dusky crimsons and
puppies, and studded over their smooth
sides, and on their rounded peaks with
the bright, silvery masses of the Argy-
roxiphium or ''silver-sword" plant, pc
culiar to this mountain. The dark
recesses of the walls opposite Waipalaua
are filled with shrubbery and trees all
Of stunted growth, with curiously
twisted branches starting from crooked
trunks. The wood is hard and close
grained and breaks up easily into con
venient lengths for the camp fire which,
before the sunarose, was grateful to our
ennervated frames that feel keenly the
change from Honolulus temperature Of
| IS to the chill atmosphere of Halea-
kala where the mercury in midsummer
falls to 40 at night.
Our first expedition this day is to the
Pa Puaa o ka Pele, (the "Pig Pen Of
Pele") where, in Hawaiian mythologi-
cal times, the fiery goddess Pele penned
her pet porkers AS, after short ride
over the black and red scoria-sand, we
approach this legendary spot, we notice
that along the edge of low embank-
ment in front Of US are set many piles
Of lava rock, some made of three or
four stones, others built with more care
to the height of several feet. They
indicate where natives who have APP
preached the spot have paid tribute
of respect to Madame Pele by building
these rude alters on which. perhaps,
we find laid cluster Of berries, or a
tuft of grass as votive Offering, AS
cending the embankment spoken of we
found that it roughly encloses an area
Of twenty or thirty acres covered with
strange, grotesque or stately peaks and
spires, and statuesque figures shaped
from long-ago molten lava The con
fused masses of all forms and sizes are
of deep red color, and in the infinite
variety of their odd and picturesque
shapes suggest the idea that while the
shallow basin that the embankment
encloses was a lake OF liquid lava
lashed by tremendous forces from be-
low into terrible activity, tossing It's
fiery waves into the air and causing
them to clash and plunge one into the
other in wild confusion, the whole has
been made solid ere it has had time to
lose single line or curve of its multi
tudinous waves and pillows.
There are spots in this area where
the liquid lava has raised up masses
Of gigantic blocks into great mound,
and make itself the rugged foundation
of the ponderous pile, There are other
areas where, in cooling, the lava has
arangeditself in OVERLAPPING folds, huge
rope-like masses, and graceful lines of
inky blackness Here and there are to
be seen rude chimneys and yawning
6re-vents glazed with bright red lava,
and amidst the wild forms are smooth,