The Monte Vista journal., 1899-08-05
At HAwA,,.s VOLCANO.
Es..tai. Ns.ray Tee. As..ass-I..s,
Streams Il LAW uooa.

3s1Ataia Nearly Toea As1nass-InDsaso
Streams sf Law 1sea.
Chicago, Aug. 2.-The correspondent
OF the Record, writing from Honolulu
ON July 2Srd, says:
The eruption Of the volcano Of MaunA
LoA on the island Of Hawaii continues
TO feed . mighty stream Of lava that
10 steadily flowing toward the town of
Hilo, which will be destroyed should
the dow continue for any extended
time. The main crater At the summit
sf the volcano has ceased to belch any
thing but smoke, but the other crater,
two miles down the mountain side,
continues to feed the great lake of
liquid nre. The eruption Is accom-
panied BY roars from the depths Of the
earth that are almost deafening even
miles away from the scene.
The earth trembles. The scene IL one
30 grand that those who have braved
awful hardshlps to look down into the
lake Of fire believe nothing In the his.
tory Of the world ever surpassed 1t.
Daring tourists tell OF great stones of
white heat heaved hundreds Of feet
into the air. only to fall with terrible
roar and splash into the lake whence
| they were vOmited. The natives, filed
with superxtltitious terror, believe the
end Of all time IL Mt hand, and return
Ing tourists tell OF sights that filed
them with such awe and fear that they
would not for fortune witness them
again.
The correspondent says:
II have seen. at a distance of not
more than ten yards. the white-hOt
nrOaten lava thrown up into the air 100
feet above the table Of the crater, fall
Ing In glorious fountain effects OF fire
back into the mighty caldron within
the newly formed cone and then rush.
Ing like Niagara OF flame through u
break In the side of the cone. falling
hfty feet and tearing nway In n torrent
dfty feet wide aud going thirty miles
m hour.
Il have followed that stream down
the mountain, sometimes on Its very
brink. sometimes warned farther away
by Its spreading out In n lake of living
| fre for ten miles. Throughout that en-
tire distance 1t maintained itself as u
liquid stream, not blackened over by
,akes OF cooling lava. but red and fiery
glowing In the open day. Its channel
was ns well defined ns that of n water
course Its width became gradually
narrowed and Its velocity slackencd as
i;s volume was decreased by the ma
tcrlnl that branched or into smaller
flows OF the same liquid fire. or spread
out to form square miles OF lava. cool
ing and blackening into great banks Of
rlinkcrs and cinders. But for fully ten
| niles II was u stream well defined in
| its channel.
-Four miles from its source the
stream still maintained velocity Of
ten or twelve miles an hour. and where
It began TO lose the characteristics Of
definablc stream. where Its surface
beEan to yield up It's heat and to sue
.umb to the caklng. blackening process.
some ten miles from where IT gushe,i
| out geyser-like from the side OF Mnuna
IOa. II still had velocity OF n mile or
4 mile and half an hour.
From the foot Uf the mountain look.
ing up the whole side Of the slope at
night seems aflrc. II is not n blaze. not
q confiagrntion. but great lines OF glow
Ing Hight. zlgzagging across the face Of
the mountain. the turns and curves and
ietcurs OF the stream Of lava broken
where some activity hides the view.
Crowning all. ut the extreme limit Of
vision In this night scene from the bot
tom of the mountain is the active vol
inno flashing It's mighty fountains Of
hre against the background Of dark
ness. its effect heightened by mnsses Of
light reflected from the smoke rising
from other hut less slcmoiisirntive cen.
terr OF activity Ia right and left"