The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-05-19
THE VOLCANO.

Where visions grand entrance the
soul.
At the Volcanoes rim we pause,
To ponder much on natures laws.
Both brush and pen here lose their
power,
For the scene changes every hour,
While all around, both far and near,
Columns of sulphur's steam appear,
Kissing with heat from out the rocks
(Fractured by thousand earthquake
shocks),
Swayed by the breeze, mingling with
clouds,
Which oft the scene in gloom en-
shrouds.
When breeze and sunshine clear the
sky,
Scenes strange and weird still greet
the eye.
A million crevices, some small,
Some large and deep, engulfng all
Within their reach, noble and slave,
Thousands might find common
grave,
Depths hot in death, some breathing
still
Their sulph'rous fumes, turn where
you will,
Cracks in bare lava, gaping wide,
Others in steam their chasms hide;
Others by ferns and flowers concealed,
But to our weight they quickly yield.
More wondrous still, three miles
away
Volcanic fires maintain their sway:
There Goddess Pele "holds the tort"
In waves of fires she holds her court.
Pilgrims gather, from lava there,
Silken locks of the Goddess's hair,
And this token given to all,
We're grateful still for favors small.
In steam and fire she hides her face,
We do not long for her embrace.
All through her kitchen then we
roam,
The DEVILS too, they're not at home.
In second place the Devils seen,
For Pele reigns, yes, reigns supreme.
"Our God should still woman be,
She must so much forgive, you see."
Far, far below lava bed,
Spreading for miles, still warm, but
dead;
A mile and more by zigzag trail
Down, down we go, but no hearts fail.
And then two miles DER lava bed,
Oer waves and chasms dark we tread,
To grim Kilauea's awful brink,
We gaze in awe. and back we shrink.
Nine weeks ago, grand ard complete,
The crater rose three hundred feet.
Then sank five hundred feet below,
Why, none but Pele e'er can know.
Four weeks of rest, but miles away,
Earth shook and trembled night and
day.
Then Pele wakened from her sleep,
Kindled her fires in chasms deep.
Not all the time she shows her power,
Sometimes exhibits, once an hour.
In the vast chasm, near one side
A cauldron held the fiery tide,
And when at rest, all dark and grim,
Fire only showing round the rim:
Then at the edge crater found,
A toy, compared with those around,
But when the monster vomits fire
Ten thousand rockets, higher and
higher,
The depths and heights were all
afame,
City fireworks seemed very tame.
The fire shot up hundred feet,
A molten stream of whitest heat,
And as it fell, twas widely spread,
A glowing crimson lava bed.
Then nearly all the molten tide
Surges into the cauldron wide,
Three hundred feet across, or more,
The lurid waves illume the shore;
And while the lake is being filled,
A thin dark crust seems somewhat
chilled.
The sea of fire is not concealed,
Through thousand cracks it's still
revealed,
And while the flow still swells the tide,
The cracks are curved, from side to
side,
And checks and crossings we admire,
1t seemed a crazy-quilt of fire.
We gaze entranced, supreme delight,
| The world affords no grander sight,
Until at length the floods subside,
And then the torrents backward glide
And Pele's throat, still gaping wide,
Welcomes again the fiery tide.
The first eruption seemed to say,
Pele defies the God of Day,
And grander far, two more at night,
Flooded the heavens with lurid light
These scenes, engraved on heart and
brain,
Must, all through life,. for aye remain
Each with lantern then retrace
Our steps, and leave the wondroul
place,
Ger lava beds, up weary heights,
Oft looking back TO Pele's lights, e.
And when we reach the upper air,
A midnight dinner waits us there.
Volcano House gave welcome rest,
Weary, we then were doubly hlests
And all through life, volcanic gleamI
Will many times illume our dreams.
As we look back for fifty years,
A priestly hell of fire appears,
Nearly all children God had given
Were there consigned, few TO
heaven.
The Christian hell now shiinks Il
Hades.
Like Peles fires, the glamor fades.
But smould'ring fires are burning
there,
At times belch forth in splendor rare
And the black rocks, they surely tell
OF far-of but wondrous spell,
When many miles were all aglow,
Broad rivers vast Of lava flow,