Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-03-07
HONOLULU.

hOo "A NdELES, SAL., EeD. "a, 1870
In my last letter we were about to
leave Honolulu for the islands of
Hawaii, where the volcano of Kilauea
is situated, which is about 200 miles
from Honolulu, which lplace we
left January goth, arriving at Hilo, is
land of Hawaii, January 3lst. Had
very pleasant trip by steamer KHAN.
After breakfast took a ride by stage
of thirty-two miles over a fine road
built by convict labor at an outlay of
one hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars by the government, and through
labarynth of ferns and wild bananas,
and various kinds of trees. Ferns
grow here from two to twenty feet in
height and from six to twenty feet
broad. Considerable of the land is be-
ing cleared and put in shape for the
cultivation of coffee, which seems to
be the coming industry. The coffee is
of a fine flavor and called Kona coffee.
We left the town of Hilo at s o'clock
a. M, and arrived at the halfway
house about o'clock; took a lunch and
rested an hour then resumed our Jour-
ney, and arrived at Volcano House at
o'clock p. m, after change of horses
three times. The elevation is 1900
feet, and you can see steam issuing
from the ground in all directions.
We had dinner and nights rest and
in the morning started to visit the
crater, which is not in active operation
at the present time. From the house
we descended to the lava beds, a
declivity of 500 feet and a distance of
one mile by path, then a distance of
two miles across the lava beds where it
is in all manner of shapes and arrive at
the crater, where smoke and steam
arise, and where you look down about
800 feet or more and across chasm of
1900 feet where below, it looks like a
mass of broken rocks and lava and from
which comes rumbling sounds as
though it might break forth at any
moment in a fiery mass. The assures
and seams in the lava for a distance Of
quarter to one-half mile in places be-
ing hot enough to burn pieces Of paper
which we inserted. We gathered a few
specimens of lava and left the inter
esting place after having spent about
two hours at the crater and in whose
depths one might imagine the inferno
was. We returned to the hotel to
lunch after spending pleasant fore
noon. In the afternoon we visited the
sulphur banks, about 800 yards from
the house, and where the steam arises
from them in places ten feet or more in
height and where the ground is yellow
with the sulphur and where if there
was purgatory on the island one
might expect it to open up at any time.
The steam is conducted in pipes to the
hotel, where one can enjoy a hot
sulphur bath.
The next day we visited an extinct
volcano which was cone shaped and
600 feet deep and one-half mile across,
the sides being lined with vegetation
and the bottom with lava. The view
from the Volcano House is grand, the
extinct VOLCANOES Mauna Loa and Maui
ma Kea being in sight, their tops COW
cred with snow and are respectively
1860 and 1896 feet in heigth. We re-
turned to Hilo February Sd, stopping
on our way to gather some coffee Der
ries and other curisoties. On February
4th we took the steamer for our return
| "trip to Honolulu The scenery along
the island is line, numerous sugar plan
tations with their green Foliage ard
numerous buildings and mills is II
pleasing view. The help employed on
the plantations is almost all Chinese
and japanese, and are hired at twelve
and fifteen dollars per month.
We passed by the islands Of Mani,
LAM and Molokai, the last being where
the lepers are kept. We then returned
to Honolulu and attended the trial of
others of the rebels, among whom was
the ex- Queen Liliokalani, which was
interesting to hear. This trial ended
the day we left for California. We had
very pleasant passage home and ar
rived the 10Th. ID. III. WALKER.