The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-03-31

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this lava floor before one reaches the
great lava lake, Halemaumau, or the
House of Everlasting Burning, Great
cliffs surround the pit, up which one
must scramble, Once at the summit,
he gazes down into the awful ehasm,
| for hundreds of feet, into the seethinE
mass of boiling lava below. For more
than year prior to the Sd of January
the great lake had been quiescent, The
great mass of lava had sunk away,
| down the vast shaft until scarcely a
vestige of it was to be seen. But upon
that date it began to rise In the SMART,
boiling and tumbling as 1t came.
| Within twenty-four hours 1t has risen
| to the top of the shaft and had begun
to overflow upon the floor of Halemau-
mau. In few hours lake, two hun
bred and fifty feet in length by two
| hundred in width, had formed within
the pit, and this was hourly increasing
| its area until at the time of our visit 1t
had reached fully double these dimen-
sions. BY the time that this letter
reaches its readers the lake will doubt
| less have reached its normal size, when
| the volcano is in full action, which is
about fifteen hundred by one thousand
! feet 1t is impossible to describe ade-
quately, the tremendous sight Stand
| ing upon the crest of the cooled lava
which surrounds the pit, we gazed
down four hundred feet into the cav
ernous depths, upon this enormous lake
of fire, its surface covered with boiling
fountains of lava. In places the lake is
covered with thick, black crust,
through which the fires glow with an
unearthly CLEAN. Now and then, from
| the center of one of the fountains jet
of molten lava, mingled with steam, is
| thrown up, but not with tremendous
violence. It's force spent, it falls back
upon the crust where the glowing mass
remains for a. time until 1t gradually
fades from a brilliant red to rosy
glow, and at last to the dull black of
the crust. This crust is not continuous,
| but is formed in detached sheets,
which, from time to time, are upheaved
| by some great commotion below and,
turning, pitch downward and disappear
below the glowing red surface of the
| lake A period of great activity then
ensues, the floating cakes of encrusted
| lava being tossed violently about, like
| cakes of ice upon a stormy sea, pitch
| ing and plunging until the whole sur
| face of the lake is a glowing mass of
| fire, from which the onlooker draws
back and shelters his face from the in
tense heat BY and by the lake, little
| by little, becomes more quiet, the in
tense agitation ceases, and again the
sheets of black crust appear upon the
| surface.
| When these ebulltions occur the air
| is filled with curious substance, to
which is given the name of "Pele's
Hair" In the mythology of the an
Client Hawaiians, the goddess Pela
made her home in the House of Ever
lasting Burning, and to her the priests
were wont to offer nominations and
sacrifices, to appease her wrath. Pele's
| hair comprises masses of minute
| threads Of lava, drawn out, it is popu-
larly believed, by the action of the wind
upon the sprays of boiling lava Sci
entists, however, find another explana-
| ton of the phenomenon in the sudden
| liberation Of the watery vapors which
are mingled with the molten lava, be-
meath the surface of the lake. What
ever may be the scientific cause of this
curious formation, it remains that
great punches of Pele's hair, resem-
| bling finely shredded asbestos, are al
ways found clinging to the rough lava
| rocks to the leeward Of Kilauea. and 1T
is gathered in large quantities by tour
| lists as souvenir of the visit to the
| volcano
| l am aware that this description of
| the gorgeous terrors of Halemaumau is
| painfully inadequate. l wish that |
might picture the tremendous intensity
| of color upon the surface of the lake. /
would be glad to be able to describe the
varying forms of the rugged lava wall,
which rises for hundreds of feet above
its surface, and forms the enormous pit
| in which 1t seethes and boils, to the in
terest and terror OF the beholder I
should like to picture the varying
shades of brilliant red, yellow, orange
and saffron with which the rugged
| walls are here and there. despatched,
and by which the dense blackness of
the surface is intensified. And, above
all, [ should like to be able to show to
my readers that pail of translucent va
por which forever hangs over the sur
| face, and through which the remoter
| wall of the crater is indistinctly visible;
and, too, that light, billowy cloud
which ever hovers, high in the air.
above Kilauea, and which is tingei
with rosy red, for beacon light to
seamen miles distant upon the ocean.
| Kilauea is fascinating. yet terrifying,
! to him who gazes into its depths; but
the longer one gazes, the more does the
| sentiment of awe and of wonder over
come that of fear We We're loath to
| leave it, and we fingered long upon the
| brink of Ealemaumau, returning again
and again to gaze into it's awful depths.
| But the time came when we must bid
| farewell to the abode of Madam Pele
| and return to the haunts of men. Re-
| gretfully we turned away, returned to
| the hotel, mounted our horses and be-
gan the descent It is one of the Curl
| Gus characteristics of the Island Ha-
wall that the great mountain range
| which forms its backbone governs, to
| great extent, it's climate. During the
| rainy season the north or Hilo side of
| the island, is visited with frequent
rains, while the south, or kau side, is
| almost absolutely dry. On descending
| from the mountain we found that the
rain was falling heavily upon the Hilo
side, and it was, therefore, determined
to make the descent upon the south
side and return to Honolulu by the
I