Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1891-07-22
A LAKE OF LIVING LAVA.

1t is Situated on Mount ki1auea in the
Sandwich Islands.
There is on the Island of Hawaii a
a lake of living lava. 1t is on Mount
Kilauea. 1t is a pit about three miles
and half miles wide, nearly elliptical
in form, and surrounded with cliffs al
most inaccessible to human foot. Capt
Dutton thus describes it.: "The object
upon which the attention is instantly
fixed is large chaotic pile of rocks sit
uated in the center of the amphithea-
ter. rising to height which, by the eye
estimate, appears to be about $50 to 400
feet. From innumerable places in it's
mass volumes of steam are poured forth
and borne away to the leeward by the
trade wind. The color of the pile is in
tensely black, spotted and streaked here
and there with red. 1t is so shattere
and broken thatit has a craggy, ominOus
aspect which may be called hideous.
Around it spreads out the slightly I'M
dulating floor of the amphitheater, as
black as night. To the left of the steam
ing pile is an opening in the floor of the
crater, within which we behold the
ruddy streams of boiling lava. From
numerous points in the surrounding
floor clouds of steam issue forth and
and melt away in the steady flow of the
wind. Desolation and horror reign SUI
preme. The engirdling walls every
where hedge it In. But upon their
SUBMITS and upon the receding plat
form beyond are all the wealth and lux
uriance of topical vegetation, heighten-
inc the contrast with the desOlatiOn be-
low.
The pool of burning lava is about $50
feet long and a little over 800 feet in
width, surrounded by vertical walls 10
to 20 feet in height. When we first
reach it the probabilities are that the
surface of the lake is coated over with a
black, solidified crust, showing rim of
fire al around its edge. At numerous
points at the edge of the crust jets Of
fire are seen sproutins upward,
throwing up spray of glow
ing lava drops and emitting a dull,
simmering sound. The heat, for the
time being, is not intense. Now and
then fountain breaks out in the mid
die of the lake and boils feebly for few
minutes. 1t then becomes quiet, but
only to renew the operation at some
other point.
Gradually the squirting and fretting at
the edges augment. A belch of lava is
thrown up here and there to the height
OF uVe or SIX I0oI, anu IallS DacK on the
crust. Presently, and near the edge, a
cake of the crust cracks off, and one
edge of it sliding downward descends
beneath tie lava, and the whole cake
disappears, disclosing naked surface Of
liquid fire. Again it coats over and
turns black. This operation is repeated
edgewise at some other part Of the lake.
Suddenly network of cracks shoots
through the entire crust. Piece after
piece of it turns it's edge downward and
sinks with a great commotion, leaving
the whole pool single expanse ofliquid
lava. The lake surges feebly for while
but soon comes to rest.
The heat is now unsupportable, and
for time it is necessary to withdraw
from the immediate brink. Gradually
the surface darkens with the formation
of new crust, which grows blacker and
blacker until the last ray of incandes-
cence disappears. The alienation of the
freezing of the surface of the lake, and
the breakup and sinking of the crust
goes on in continuous round at regu-
lar period of about two hours.-Our
Earth and It's Wonders.