The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-31
A N%ATURALIZED VOLCANO.
PRESENT DOINGs IN N PIT WHERE
PRLE ONCE ABODE

innS-SceneS by tho way, ana the sudden
Revelation of the Spectacle ofthe Volcano
So far II had been necessary TO take the vol
cnno ;or granted. The ticket for the trip called
for n visit TO KIlauen. and tho man IN Honolulu
who sold IL had spoken OF the volcano MS an ex-
isting geographical and geological fact. Evon
the slgnbonrd Of the hotel road Volcano
House." no there must DO such q thing In the
neiahborhood. Yet there was not the faintest
vestiRo OF the boiling lakes OF flame and tho
crash OF nature In hottest commissions which
we're written about. page after page, by people
who had seen Kilnuoa and given Il a pun In the
visitors book at which tho traveller had
glanced before going 10 bed the night before.
All the day before had been given to thirty
odd miles OF staging steadily up the mountain.
There had been a sight OF dense jungle whore
rnayhs grew along the roadside, whore every
great trunk seemed TO servo as q botanical
hotel for a lodging population Of ferns and or
ohids. where tho ferns themselves we're trees
ten and twenty feet high. Just out OF Hilo
the road began In the cane fields. whore
every breath OF tho trade wind showers q
sitting haze OF goldcn-brown pollen. better to
look at than TO breathe. Then IL led into the
clammy dampncss of tho Jungle. spiccd with
the odors of the wild ginger and II score Of
blooms known hitherto only by learned names
in dollhouse setting. How the senses reel
where choice exotics are the wayside weedsl
Here was a group OF cabins with queer
red daubs trailing snakewise above the door
and probably conveying interesting Asiatic
information. homes OF the small Japs. whom
one passes staggering along the way. and
making clear that the future Of Hawaii II not
American would be surely Japanese. More
modestly set in hooks OF the forest, richer in
local color. here and there was a grass house
OF the native Hawaiian. Then came the lands
where fortunes arc looked for In the cultiva-
ton OF coffee. The planters come to meet the
volcano stage. for It carries their mail. Al
every stop before each OF these trim little
orchards OF fifty or n hundred acres tho planter
bids you look at those cherries; did you ever
see anything finer ?" and you learn that there
is u stage Of the coffee when 1t is a cherry.
Or from his pocket he brings out a hand
full of something that has the coffee shape but
the silvery drab of gentle Quakeress, and as
he talks about the bean In the parchment skin
you come to know that coffee has its own his
tory before 1t comes even to be roasted, and the
history begins very prettily indeed on both
sides OF the road with the cream and red OF the
cherries and the two shades Of green on the
leaves. And all these young planters speak so
confidently OF the estates they are building UP
In the finest and most wholesome climate in
the world that you try to forget the sad history
Of those other young planters who were Just as
confident in Ceylon until they met their
troubles.
Beyond the coffee the road plunges again into
the jungle. but you begin to notice that you can
see further along the vistas. and that the ferns
are getting less treelike and the brake is be-
coming more bushy. Soon you pass out of the
forest and find yourself on barrens Of brake
and Raunt streaks of bare rock, and the driver
ro" hon,1 wn'rIasn d i. !. anu says lava; anu
you uesin 10 WONDER ohat you can discern
nothing of the volcano which you have trav-
Ill
elleo thousands OF miles to see. And that lava.
90. lpoks ilkeany other ways,ue rock surely
barrens vow WOW can anD see st the a eternal n'Sa sr "p on ~ f% M, ,9pa
Kea. which looks so out Of place within the
torrid zone; you can see the crest Of Mauna
the pronunciation OF the summit crater of Mo-
S Hu SyeeH ". which the guldeoook spells for you
S anisb 1s%T, wn sO" o Mrs"p ro,, %sS,S' atorto IN IS se enane
about it, And when the SIM eoes down bebind
the great mountain the eye can see nothing
nothing to indicate that I YOU are within five
miles Of the giant hidden forces ~ nature +"
"the central fires Of the earth; odd. isn't it
how the Old phrases Of the schoolbooks cling
lauea and he answers " Why. that's where I'm
.akins yer ana the disappointment con-
tlhues. NOW you feel Mt intervals upon your
cheeks a breath OF warm and clammy vapor
with the reek Of birthstone, and there is some
comfort in knowing that the stories OF volca-
noes hereabouts have at least that much of
toupuatloh. IN inc arr oil the evening the
stage draws up at the Volcano House and even
It by saying: % u ~ "
You can't see the volcano at night, cause
It is rather nnnsatisfactyor~y to- know that n
great volcano is within thirty yards and vet in
Visible. The trouble is that everybody has
On ideal volcano. a smooth and pointed cone a
ehaft Of smoke, and a monstrous cloud filling
does not rear its head an inch above the sur
face; II Is a place where for many square miles
the bottom has dropped out OF things and has
sunk 500 feet. No wonder that It is vain to look
for 1t on the road. But both our newly natu-
rallied volcanoes on Mauna Ioa, Kilauea on the
slope and M9%kuaweoweo on the summit, are