The National tribune., 1890-04-24
of thunder. Louder and louder it grew, and
now there was

of thunder. Louder and louder it grew, and
now there was
TERRIFIC CRACKING
beneath us. | felt the floor shake and undulate
like huge wave. The whole house creaked
and rocked violently, and we were all thrown
to The floor in an instant. What had happened
Wore we to DO swallowed up2 The house
ceased to rock and / regained my feet and
looked about. We heard bump, bump on the
stairs, and down rolled the Kanaka, his face
almost white with terror, and he lay fat on
tho floor. Hargr0ve was on his knees clingng
to Il door post. But our landlord There he
stood in the middle Of the floor, calmly relight-
ing his pipe, with his legs wide apart to keep
his balance, aud in moment more was cody
pulling away as if nothing had happened.
AS was about to say, when interrupted"
he remarked earthquakes are very common
here. Indeed but here another shock broke
my hold on the window, slammed me up against
tho wall, and rushed the tables and chairs
across the room again, but our host grabbed for a
post and went on:
" Yes, we have them every night, and almost
every morning, too It's nothing when you
get used to It, You see, the earthquakes allow
the escape of the gases and so relieve the over
charged condition of the ground. We feel
safer and should look for real trouble did we
not have these slight shocks regularly"
Half an hour later all was perfectly quiet,
and we retired to our c0uChes, to dream of
wandering with shadowy forms through the
Internal regions, and floating over bottOmless
pits. In the morning we could see the full ex-
tent of the crater, set like an immense lake in
the side of the mountain, and while grand aud
awe-inspiring, it was not nearly so terrible to
gaze upon rs during the previous night,
We started early for the top Of Mauna LOa.
For 10 miles we made our way up through
tho black lava, but by noon reached the fertile
1If,F,n 1 IL. Il
aud great plantations spread over miles. A
lourishing village Is sandwiched IN here be-
tween the lava flows. The soil Of the section is
rich and two crops year are matured. Push
ing on, We came TO an immense grassy plain,
and all over it were to be seen great herds Of
cattle and horses. The ascent became more
abrupt, and soon we struck into a belt Of luxu-
rant forest growth. Passing out of this over
winding trail through the woods, we came to
another lava stretch. We spent the night
In wooaman's hut, and in the morning set
out again. The way was now steep and rugged,
and lay through and over great piles Of lava
aud huge boulders. Hard travelling was that.
The sun was reflected from the hard ground
benenth our feet with intense heat, which would
have been unsupportahle but for the breezes
that swept across occasionally. We were OBJ
lged to leave our horses and continue on foot.
We piofided on hearing not sound but our
FOOTBALLS on the hard lava that cut our feet
terribly, aud seeing no living thing.
The black waste spread around into the sky
in all its desolatcnoss. Above our heads the
GREAT CRATER LOWERED
At last we struck the snow-line, and the air
was cold and bracing Up, up, up, until at
last late in the afternoon the great crater
yawned beneath Us.
Approaching the cdge. we gazed down a sheer
precipce of 900 feet to tho great fire basin,
4 81.
In this basin the liquid fire rolled and boiled
and spouted. Red clouds, In shape like water
spout9. eurled upwards, and were dissipated by
the wind as they reached the top of tho crater.
Here aud there the cooled lavas had formed
thin crusts over tho tossing fires like cakes of
leo on mountain lake, aud these heaved and
writhed aud broke with loud cracking Small
cones poured forth from their bowels white hot
cinders lava and combustible gases. Suddenly
a change OF wind swircd the ascending vapors
in our direction, euyeloping and nearly sulfoca-
ting Us with the sulphurous fumes and we
hastily moved farther around the craters edge
The rarhcd atmosphere made every object not
already hidden by the thick vApors very dis
tinct and tho forms and movements in the
abyss were plainly seen. The great fire floods
are never still. Some Of the lakes will boil
more fnriously than others, aud the sputteFiug
and crashing will b0 terrific. reminding one
of the noise OF ice-g flows. Then these will sim
mer down. and for whIe ali will be quiet
Then "A ripple will appear on tho surface OF q
pool, followed by huge wave, and in mo-
ment more 10 will be- lasbed into most violent
ebuliition. Tho crater does not often overflow
from the summit; when it becomes full the
lsv.g inds ma opening in the side. and winds
d0s*u in long rivers that look in tho night
like
HUGE RED sERPEsTs
kissing. creeping curling their way down the
mountain The fiery floods cover u wide path
with masses of scoria and black lava and bury
whole villages aud forests
On the top Of q Q mountain we stood in the
snow. One thousand feet below US WAS the
heat Of hades Halfway down the mountain
lay the deserted lava wastes, and below them
the peaceful white villages surrounded by rich
tropical bloom. glstoned in the setting sun,
while on the shore the mighty ocean roarcd and
broke. The sun went down, the stars began to
twinkle. and with one last look at the raging
foods below, we turned from the summit OF
Mauna Loa.
]. n ISaRAM.