The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-12-12
Close to a Burning Lake.
From the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

The following extracts are from private
letter to his father, in this city, written by
w. |. Wells, Il Government teacher on the
island of Kanai, Hawaiian Islands, de-
scribing a visit to kalauca, the volcano
near Hilo:
"a strange-Iooking cloud hung over the
spot, but nothing else showed us where to
look for the great wonder. On we went
over lava rock, through volcano sand, now
and then stopping to strip bush of ohela
berries, till at last we reached the summit
and could look down into the great crater
of Kalauca. What did we see? First, u
hole of seven miles in circumference and
three to six hundred feet deep, the bottom
covered with black, shining lava, which
looked in the distance nearly as level and
smooth as a floor. Near one side of this
large opening was another whose bottom
we could not see. But We knew from the
clouds of thin vapor that rose up, that here
was the great burning lake We had come 50
far to see. Six months ago we could have
seen the fire from this point. At that time
the inner hole did not exist. In its place
were two lakes, joined by hard lava, like
the rest of the crater floor. One of these
lakes was at the level of the lava, the other
had thrown up around itself a cone of
broken lava 200 feet high. Numerous
cracks were to be seen over the bed of the
crater. throuah which could be seen the
burning lava below, while an occasional
overflow from one Of the lakes sent fresh
stream over the surface All this was sud
denly changed. In February while party
of tourists was visiting the crater they sud
denly felt the floor give way beneath them.
The guide cried out that they must return
as soon as possible, and the party was quite
willing to obey. All that night earth
quakes shook the ground and the next af-
ternoon the floor of the crater sank down
700 feet. The fire entirely disappeared,
while at the same time Vesuvius burst out.
For several weeks no lava was in sight.
"Since that time it has been rising grad
ually, until now it is about 300 feet below
the surface. After lingering ON the edge
of the crater for some time we went on to
the Volcano House, which is built near the
edge of the crater, on one Of the highest
points. From here we went down into the
crater On reaching the edge of the small
hole we got our first glimpse of the burn
ing lake | confess the first thought that
came to me was not one of wonder nor of
awe. 1t reminded me of the time when we
used to sugar off and the kettle of yellow
syrup threatened to boil over. But as the
daylight gradually came to me, and felt
as if could stay there indefinitely, looking
down at that great boiling cauldron of melted
rock. The hole itself is about mile in
circumference, the sides being perpendicu-
lar or sloping quickly down to the bottom.
The burning lake is about one-half mile
in circumference 1t was not all alive when
we were there. The outer edges had hard
ened, presenting black surface, scanned
and broken. There were about six concen-
trio circles of these cracks, rough and irreg-
ular, crossed by other cracks, breaking up
the surface into irregular blocks of brown
rock with fiery threads of lava running be-
tween. All these blocks, except the outer
row, were continually moving toward the
crater, slowly at first, but with ever-increas-
ing rapidity, the cracks growing wider until
they themselves cooled over, their edges
forming two bands of fire instead of the
one at first. In the centre no brown stone
showed itself All was glowing hot and
terribly active, a seething, kissing, boiling
mass of fire, tossing from side to side, fling
ing the huge blocks that foated in from the
sides high up in the air like so many peb-
bles, and occasionally sending up great
masses of fire fifty or seventy feet into the
air, while the constant roar was like the
distant booming of a storm-beaten beach.
'Now and then little whirlwinds would
pass over the surface, breaking up the solid
crust and throwing showers of fiery sparks
in all directions, while as the light of day
faded the whole surface appeared covered
with bright, starry points, where the melted
lava below shone through