Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-25
MAUNA LOAIN ANGER,
The Great Flow of 'S0-'S1 Re-
called by the News of
Recent Activity.
TALE OF AN EYEWITNESS.
A Night in Grass Hut Within Sight
Of the Molten Stream.
PATHS OF FIRE In THE FORESTS.
Miles Of Black Upon Which Steam and
Fire Fought Each Other.
PATHS OF FIRE IN THE FORESTS.
TIE DANGER THAT THREATENS HILO
WRITTEN FOR THE D1sPArcH.I ]

been threatened In the same way before
many times before. Yet the dreamy little
town goes on sedately smiling, parting its
life into Bryon bay, showing its pearly
white teeth as the embers break on the
sandy beach, while the waving grace of its
fringe of coccanut trees fascinates like the
curling tendrils of a maiden's hair on her
brow and neck. The palms bow a stately
welcome and an invitation and whisper a
lullaby to all care and all trouble.
That is the impression Hilo makes upon
the observer as he comes into the bay on the
little steamer from Honolulu, 800 miles
away
The last time the great crater held its
flaming fate over the little town was in
1887. But the narrowest escape it ever had
was in the great flow of 1SSO-S1 The
writer of this was in Hilo during the con-
Hnusnce Of that eruption. At that time the
landing from the Honolulu steamer had to
be made by means of boats. Byron Bay is
without the customary coral reef or bar
across its entrance, and is directly open to
the waves of the Pacific, which have been
gathering force all the way from the Amer
ican coast So the steamer must anchor in
tue open TOdOBt6dO Willie DOaIS are IOWeQ
alongside near enough so that passengers
can count on hitting them with some degree
of accuracy W hen they jump from the COM
pSnion ladder and are caught in the arms of
Italwart native oarsmen. The scrambling
out at the wharf is almost as difficult and
uncomfortable.
The Effect of the Trade Winds.
The respective sides of these islands are
distinguished as the windward and the lee
ward. The trade winds blow almost per-
petually from the northeast SO that the
northern and eastern shores are the
wIndward sides Where the interior
mountains are very high the passage of
rain clouds is almost entirely prevented
In such cases the leeward side OF the island
is bleak and barren looking. But the
windward side seems to spring enough YER
dure for both sides This is why Bilo is !
90 supernally green. In this month of MAY,
1881, there were patches of snow on both |
Msuna Kea and Mauna Los, the twin peaks |
which tower up Il, 900 feet cut of the sea
There was snow, in spite of the tropical |
warmth of the air we were breathing, and
in spite of the frery and passionate heat
which had torn an outlet from tie bosom
of Mauna Loa, from whose summit arose a
thin wreath of smoke and down whose side
wandered the sinuous and destructive
course of the lava flow.
Visitors to Hilo are met upon landing on |
the wharf by the white residents, upon
whom they must depend for shelter and
entertainment while they are in the little
town, for hotel or inn there is none A
plunge bath IN q great cement lined SWIM
ming pool with a natural stream of water
rruuinO fbrohrh If folIOrvad hv n hot nj / 4
full meal are wonderful invigarators after
Ttutfy sea voyage across choppy channels |
a nights sleep completes the work of re-
ireshment and renewal of a man and
leaves him ready to enjoy all the good the
world has to give him. The eruption of
1880 broke out in the fall of the year 1t
had been heralded by earthquakes and in
ternal rumblngs such SIS reported in the dis
patches Of ihe last few davs by way of San |
Francisco to have occurred on December
and on the island of Hawaii on which |
Hilo is situated.
The Volcano at Its Worst,
One night there was q tremendous de-
tonating report which shook the foundation |
of the whole island and made the people at ,
the Volcano House, part of the way up the
side of the mountain, think the crack of :
doom had sounded. When they rushed ont
OF the house they saw a bright stream of !
living fire gushing from the summit of the d.
mountain, only II miles away, and poprinp
down the side. People in Hilo could see :
the fiery burst, though they were 60 miles
from the crater, and could see the vast A..
cloud of smoke that lowered over the | =
mountain and then drIfted away with the
wind. The eruption had continued now for
many months and the flow had been eating .
Its destructive way in an ever widening =
course down the mountain side and toward !,
Nha hxrr oF |
summit fires glowed and the wrlcglinp
thing came slowly onward-always more
slowly, to be sure, but still coming steadily :
forward, and not much further to come to a
wipe out the pretty little struggling town. !.
with its sugar mills, its few stores. its
homes and churches.
Hilo Is practically the only seaport on ',
that aide OF the island, nearly the whole \
coast terminating abruptly in bluff, from :
which the streams that flow through the :.
plain above leap into the sea. The cues :.
ton of the hour was: Would the eruntions a
cease before the flow reached the sea and :"
i not could anything be done to convert
The how from course through Hilo and
Eiping it out of existence? In this copdi-
lion OF the public mind the first suggestion | n
10 visitors was, of course, to inspect the a
present terminus of the flow. So we sought A
% procure horses to ride the few miles nm Ii
through the woods A Kanaka horse is one W
'f the most curious creatures in creation gl
'nly exceIled in that respect bv a Kanaka b,
himself A Kanaka horse is liable to pause fo
It any time to titivate his iowl or neck with CO
be hoof of his hind foot A Kanaka is
Tot unlikely to call upon another member m
# his family to perform this Office of ST
and devotion for him. Tne an CT
'etite of the Kanaka horse is closely allied h,
o that of q Shantytown goat A straw hat m
) not safe within his reach and he NAV til
smper with q rubber rain cost. Some th
ines it is cheaper to buy an outfit for a tu
sy's trip than to hire it-that is buy a tn
addle and bride. The horse is, in effect ar
brown in. 1t depends entirely on what dI
lood the Kanaka is in. ii
Riding Back to See the Lava, ra
We started from Hlilo about 8 O'Clock in "
le afternoon, intending to spend the night oe
the neighborhood of the flow. Back of
he town we made across a marshv plain, eE eEr
otted over with branches of sour, coarse "a "a
-ass; bnt the path soon led into the dense IA IA
rest It had been cut to afford means n n
getting to the flow. Otherwise il wonId N N
ave been impossible to get through on eI tn
orseback. 1t was a rough, toilsome ride ~ -
it was The ground was in many places a. o.
veritable mine. In such places the trunks ",
ID limbs of the tress cut from the path had y, !"
,en thrown into the mud so as to make a -, AZ
,ry rough sort of corduroy road. A ~ "
,rse with his front feet bemired on one side ~ ~
d his hind feet on the other side of a ga