The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-10-21

only am lett to tell tnee. Another comes
to me saying. i was eating with my
family in my house by the seaside, when
suddenly great wave struck the building,
and, of six | am left alone to tell thee
The next messenger says, MY husband
and sons were fishing on the shore, when a
wave took them out to sea, and | am left
alone to tell thee. Another hurries in
and says. L was in the field catching my
horse, when lol the earth rent and dis
gorged vast masses of mud swallowing up
my house and my lands and my family of
thirteen, and alone am escaped to tell
thee. And | might repeat indefinitely
their tales Of parents made childless, child
ren made orphans, husbands and wives
sundered or buried with their families and
houses in a moment"
THE LATEST GREAT ERUPTION.
The eruption Of 1SS0-S1 was gigantic,
but not so destructive of life and property,
as its predecessors. 1t came down almost
to Hilo, but stopped, curiously enough, at
a stone wall about five feet high, which had
been hastily thrown up in hope of saving
large and valuable sugar-mill. "The lava
stream" says an observer, "came within
from two to six feet of the stone wall, and
fell asleep under its shadow. At one point
only the viscid mass, about two feet deep
struck the wall. There it rested little,
until, being urged forward by fresh sup
plies from behind, it heaped itself up against
the barrier, poured slowly over it little,
and then stiffened and solidifed, where it
now hangs, sheet of pendent drapery in
stone, The impulse from the mountain
source fifty miles away had brought the
stream accurately to this artificial limit and
no further.
advancing four miles up the stream,
We find it rent with deep crevasses, con-
gealed in swirling hummocks and shattered
ridges, as if mad sea, in the height of the
storm, had been solidfed by some enehant-
ment Here the flaming river rushed
down the steep descent at fearful speed,
shattering and melting the rocks in its
way, and sweeping every obstruction before
it like cavalry battalion in charge.
Just above this steep descent there was a
beautiful and fertile plot of land, where
some twenty years ago there nestled quiet
village, with school house, rich patches
of kalO, potatoes, bananas and fruit trees
among scenery of enchanting beauty. But
the people have passed away; and of late
years only one house was left on this lovely
spot. Its occupant was reputed to be an
inveterate heather, belonging to the an
cient caste of doctors or medicine men.
When the burning food set the deep forest
ablaze behind the house of this man he
hoisted his flag in front of this slowly com
ing fiery column, and forbade it, in the
the name of the ancient gods of Hawaii, to
pass that flag. But onward came the lava,
regardless; while the heather doctor, from
time to time, was compelled to move his
flag nearer and nearer to his house. At
last the great food rolled over his dwelling
and his garden, destroying everything ut
terly, driving him out with his friends, and
leaving deep stratum Of black lava over
all. In this case a curious occurrence is
noteworthy. The lava stream surrounded
one stalk of green kalo, growing on an islet
of eighteen inches in diameter, and on
another twice as broad single banana
plant; and these plants have survived the
beat, and are growing finely, memorials of
the garden from which the idolater was
driven by the FIRE.
HOW THE LAVA FLOWS.
The manner in which the flow is effected
is thus described "The roaring blasts of
the mountain furnace are terrific, and the
rush of the river of fire down the noun
tain side, from height of nearly 1900
feet, is sUhlime. For a long time this
high mountain channel will remain open
and allied with lava of great fuidity, so
that the whole track of the lava, whether
fifteen or thirty miles in length, may be
seer. traced TpoR the dome of Mauna Loa
from it summit to its base. All this river
Of FIRE is thus visible throughout its whole
extent, at single glance and from euor-
nous distances. At sea the light Of an
eruption from the summit crater may be
seen for more than $50 miles Mauna
Loa, said Humboldt, is the most striking
example with which | am acquainted Of
the visibility of mountain at great dis
tance. This flow, like others, was at first
uncovered, or sVh-aerial, But its surface
soou hardened, forming thick crust like
ice on u river, and under this crust che
lava rushed downward, as water under
heavy ice, retaining most of il. heat during
its course Of fifty miles. Thus the fiery
stream may flow down the mountain for a
full year or more. in this pyroduct, and
flow unseen, except at few points where
openings in the roof of its covered way re-
veal the stream rushing down its burning
track, and carrying destruction to she for
ests, the gardens, the green meadows, the
shining villages and the coasts of the great
sea beyond,
rWhen the molten river yeaches the
great plains at the base of the mountains
dome it spreads out into lakes Of two, three
or four miles wide. Its movements now
become slow and intermittent. and here it