Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1896-05-06
DANIEL LOCAN'S LETTERS.
Continued from 1st Page.

yards to the right. Most of the
time it was less in the height of
its spray than the first one, but
now and then it would appa-
rently make a tremendous
effort to vie with its rival
in effect, as it certainly par
alleled it in intenseness and con.
stancy of action. These two foun-
tains differ from those that were
wont 10 play in the lakes of XII
lauea, in that they always preserve
the same position and never let mp
in action for an instant. L have
seen Kilauea when you would
have to wait several minutes to
see fire fountain and a general
break up of the lava crust, and
when one big fountain would
burst forth the chances were that
half dozen others would follow
suit. There was one exception
that Mr.. Lee reminded this party
of, which was that of "Old Faith
full" in Kilauea. 1t was not un-
intermittent in its action, although
it always kept its own place. The
lively spouting cone, called
"The Little Beggar," which L re-
member reading about in the
BULLETIN more than ten years
ago, may also be claimed as an ex-
ception. Its shell still stands in
Kilauea and is pointed out by the
I guides.
Kilauea's shifting fire fountains
were grand enough, and probably
as interesting to study as the
stationary ones in Mauna Loa.
That these are stationary is evil
dent from the appearance of the
reflection ever since the outburst.
L think l said in former letter
that different observers agreed on
the appearance being that of two
eruptions in the crater. Some
thing will be said Of the reflection,
as seen from here, later in this
letter. AS we watched, shivering
in the bitter cold on the snow
clad cliff, the atmosphere in the
crater became perfectly clear,
giving opportunity of a better
study of the whole workings. 1t
was seen that streams of red lava
were eating their way in every
direction from the fountains, and
those in line with the fountains
had frequent small but furious
eruptions of their own. Another
thing that after discussion
was agreed upon was that
the fountains were in the
middle of a molten lake, and
that this lake was OVERLOOKING, the
overflow being of aa that was gra-
dually-you could see its move
ment-covering the surface of the
crater inside the line of an old
deposit of pahoehoe. Whether
the pahoehoe being submerged
under the present aa flow was the
product of the eruption now only
about fortnight old was a ques-
ton discussed by the party. 1t
was decided, at least by MAORI
ty, that it belonged to a former
eruption, Notwithstanding that
snow does not lie on it as on the
undoubted old formation outside.
One of the most curious things we
saw, and that responded to an en-
core several times, was the same
as had been recorded of previous
eruptions in Mokuaweoweo. A
brownish pillar as of smoke,
straight as an arrow and symmet-
rical as a Corinthian column,
suddenly shot up at the opposite
side of the crater. 1t was as high
as the cliff on that side, and it
travelled with a spiral-like motion,
AS it whirled along it ripped up
immense slabs of CONCEALED lava
as if it has a steamers propeller
at its base.
1t was when night fell that the
sublimity of the scene was re-
allied. The fountains played
with increasing energy as we
thought. And indeed the energy
was increasing, especially on the
part of the little brother. Not
only the molten lake but the aa
flow was streaked and spangled
with fire in thousands of places
here and there with eruptive dis
plays akin in action but not to be
compared with the fountains in
size. L am sure that there was
fire thus distributed over an area
of a square mile. 1t would be
profanely trite to say that the
snectacIe will always he one al