Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-07-07

good weekly paper, in which case ho
must have seen half dozen descriptions.
will only say that of the many | have
read since leaving the islands that of
Mark Twain seems to me the best, and
then go on to mention few points
which astonished me and are not gener-
ally mentioned in the accounts.
The first is the course of the lava. l
had an idea that it dashed down the
mountain side in mad torrent" but
it doesn't. AT any rate it never does un-
less when the quantity is enormous and
while it is still so hot as to maintain
great huidity. Almost always-always
in small streams-it maintains n sluggish
flow, like warm tar or thin mush, and
as it flows the surface is rapidly cooling
and forming a sort of case. The molten
interior bursts up through this, and the
outflow cools again, and this is repeated
so often that moderate stream of lava
often assumes the appearance OF great
cylinder slowly creeping down. Even
when the outside seems comparatively
cool the thing is really an enormous
tube, down the interior of which the hot
and pasty lava is slowly forcing its way.
And this is the reason few or no lives
are lost in an ordinary eruption. Ono
can walk up to the advanced end of tho
stream, gather little of it on an iron
rod, press it into mold of any desired
shape, and all without danger, and this
though the cylinder or tube may be 10
feet thick. The second fact that aston
ished me was the location of the crater.
Mauna Loa is the mountain and kilauea
is the crater, and Kilauea is not really
on Mauna Loa-that is, not on top of it.
1t is indeed but one-third as high, and,
so far as sea level is concerned, no higher
than Salt Lake City. 1t is, so to speak,
a boil on the flank of Mauna Loa, and
vet the crater itself docs not overflow.
When the lava pressure becomes toe
great to be restrained, it breaks out some.
where away down the mountain side.
BY aud by, the crock sharps" say, it will
burst out away off shore, and then we
shall have an addition to Hawaii
Another fact, and a very surprising
| fact indeed to me, was that tho nearer
one gets to the volcano the moro heath
enish the natives are. This little fact
"stumps my philosophy" rs they say n
| Harvard, but it certainly is a fact. In
the islands of Kauai. Oahu and Maui
did not sec sign in the common life OF
| the people that there had ever been idol
airy there, but with every miles travel
/ toward the volcano | saw more signs
| till, as we emerged from the forest on the
] a., al "a, ot
| tendants showed themselves regular PclC
fanatics. Even "Old Antony" the guide
recommended to us especially for hi:
! Christian character, "backslid' when hC
saw the smoke and limited that it might
be as well to gather some berries to Offer
as n sacrifice. This comical rctrogres
sion in faith equally with progression il
use in Texas when | was there in 1867
There is no Sunday west of the Trinity
no law west of the Brazos and no Coo
west of the Colorado"
They say that the topography is tn
cause of this local backsliding, Maybe
So but it is almost impossible to de
scribe the topography. In truth, a yer,
iuISc par. vi iId"'h SoiSiSi9 VA h!5
tableland inclosed in Il sor. of triangl
between the three great mountain peak
of Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea and Maun;
Hualalai, and this plateau is dreadful
wilderness of tropical vines and gian
trees, growing among and hiding I'M
mense rocks and crevices. with here an,
there bare field of splintercd lava o
loose ashy stuff and more rarely fcrtil
little valley. In this region the cattl
introduced by early voyagers have left
progeny as wild us any buffalo Of tn
oldcn time and much more dangcrou,
But along the borders of the island, tn
north especially, are some wonderful