The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-03-27
CHE 9ailg 8nllstin.
Pledged to neither Sect nor Party.
But established for the benefit Of all.
SATURDAY, MARCH ~, 1886.
the VOLCANO.

bC NllbCl uillNCu III toNh iiOih ~
visit to the Volcano, yesterday, with
q full account of the round trip by
the Inter-Island Steam Navigation
Company's route to that point, in
Guiding details of the present APP
pearance of the "house of fire."
Owing to unforeseen contingencies
in the mechanical department, how
ever, it is impossible to have the
notes of travel in question printed
in this issue. We shall therefore,
for the immediate information of
readers at home and abroad, attempt
in few words, on this occasion, to
convey general idea of the present
state Of affairs in and about the
great caldera of Kilauea. Halemau-
mau, the main eruptive point; the
New Lake, vigorous adjunct to the
former, and the Little Beggar, an
eruptive cone situated little off
line running between the two fiery
caldrons just mentioned, had built
up around them in the recent term
of activity vast superstructures of
lava rock, towering in places two
hundred feet above the summit of
the vast mound in the caldera. The
latter term, it should be mentioned,
has been given, by Captain button,
to the main crater, or lake of con-
gealed lava formed by successive
periods of eruption in the mountain
side, which has now reached cir
conference of probably twelve
miles. The eruptions have been
constantly adding to the extent and
depth of this stupendous bed of
lava. Where the three great focuses
of eruptive activity formerly reared
their rugged environs in cluster is
now vast abyss with ragged cir
conference of four miles. The ex-
act site of Halemaumau is only to
be judged from bearings, by which
it is supposed to be that part of the
cavity where now there is conical
pit, calculated to be all the way
from four hundred to six hundred
feet deep. A nearly circular PENN
sula, jutting out into the gulf, is all
that is left of the floor of the New
Lake, and that has sunk far below
its former level. AS for the Little
Beggar, a bisected hollow cone, with
the interior q smooth bore we'll pre-
served, constitutes its remains, rest
ing on the side of heap of con.
glomerate debris. At the bottom Of
the gulf, beneath the Little Beggar
the opening of large tubular pas
sage is plainly visible, with an ex'
ternal ridge extending from il
toward the New Lake, showing al
intimate connection between those
two phenomena.
Some of the cliffs overlooking the
common abyss, in which the whole
cluster of vents has been involved
by the collapse of March 7th, arr
perpendicular, while the edges ar,
still falling in. Vast ridges of fallel
material, looking like the ruins of
town dumped through shoot, ex
tend from point to point of the in
terror. There are several larg
caverns-made by the roofs of fir
domes caving Insulated roun
the tops of the cliffs outside tn
gulf, in which the very air seems t
be afiame from the fervent heat cor
served within. In one of these
crimson pool of molten lava coul
be seen, which burned up an oil
shoe thrown into it quicker than
takes to tell it. Gaping cracks a
round the huge cavity are also flu
of fire, igniting a stick thrust int
them almost in an instant. Fror
many points in the awful chao
within the gulf bright blue smoke
constantly curling up, while stear
is issuing from a long crescent
shaped and sulphur-streaked fissur
on the east side, also from point
all over the interior crater and tn
floor of the caldera. When it rains