Washington sentinel., 1898-08-06

LAVA ERUPTIONS IN HAWAII. =
Lava is the chief eject OF these ISL
and volcanoes, and is so thin al
most like molten glass-that when
the wind catches it up, it is drawn
into slender flaments, which go by
the name of "Pele's Hair" Pele
having been, in the Hawaiian my
thology, the goddess who presided
over the action OF these Ere foun-
tains, and had her seat in the
crater. Some of these are of pro-
digious extent; for instance that OF
1881, which proceeded from an
eruption of Mauna Loa, formed an
unbrohen fountain of lava 200 to
100 ieet high and 900 fest broad,
though It did not burst out of the
crater, but from the base Of the
cone. The first eruption OF which
we have a distinct record occurred
In 1889. 1t was accompanied by
fearful earthquakes, dense dark
ness and terrihc thunder and light
ming. An island war vas waging
at the time, and a body OF men
marching from Ailo to Kau were
encamped by the volcano when
the outburst began. Terrified, they
halted for two days, and on the
third divided into three companies
and started at short intervals. Of
the foremost company some were
burnt to death by sand and cinders,
thrown to an immense height, and
overwhelming them. The third
body escaped almost uninjured,
but on coming up with the centre
party they found only corpses OF
men, women and children. Con-
trary to the rule, the eruption con-
sisted solely Of sand and scori9,
with volumes Of steam and sui
phurous vapor. In 1898 the lava
stream was thirty miles long. In
I84o the bed Of the crater OF Kill
auea sank about 800 feet, and her
fires vanished underground with
roaring and much commotion, till
they broke open a passage in the
district of Puma, whence they
rolled onward, burning woods, viii
lagos and plantations-a terrific
flood, from one to three miles wide
and from IL to 200 feet in depth,
varying with the extreme irregu-
larity of the ground, and having
travelled a distance OF thirty miles
in four days, it entered the sea I7%
miles from Hilo, leaping basaltic
precipice about 50 feet in height,
and forming a magnificent FIRE cat
aract a mile in width" All The
time the surface was so clouded in
steam and smoke that those stand
ing on one side of the lava river
could not see to the other shore.
Sometimes this mississippi OF
molten material" widened like a
great lake, then narrowed as it
rushed through deep valleys,
finally leaping into the sea in a cat
aract like Niagara, in a raging
blood red torrent" For three
weeks, we are told, the flow con-
tinued. The sea boiled and ragged
madly as the torrent mingled with
its waters. For twenty miles along
the coast the waves were warm,
and myriads Of dead fishes floated
on the waves. So intense was the
glare that at places torty miles dis
tant a "fne print could be read all
night bv its lurid glow, and ships
a hundred miles at sea beheld the
strange light" On January 10
1887, after violent earthquake
shocks, which continued for sew
eral days almost without Interrupt
ton, Mauna Loa broke forth in a
lava stream which coursed down
the southwest side of the mountain
and entered the sea two miles
north Of that Of 1868, though the
fissure from which 1t flows is IA
miles farther up the mountain, or
al miles from the ocean. 1t was
extremely copious, rising in sew
eral large fountains, from 100 to
zoo feet high, and reached the sea
in 20 hours in current averaging
about three-iourths OF a mile in
breadth, leaving behind it hid
eous embankment OF clinkers,
through the assures in which, for
several days subsequently, the
fiery interior was disclosed orr
Earth and tie StcYY.