The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-08-06
By MYSTERIOUS WAYS NATIVE HAUAA5 PREDICT VOLCANIC ERUPT0N6
The Hiding Place
Of Household
God Of Dead
KinQ KaIakdud.

tain tops, and there, in silence and lofty
solitude, nurse the hope Of ultimate
vengeance.
But one day a strange and sorrow
full event occurred. Pele, after max
ing one of these unsuccessful battle
expeditions to- the edge Of Akua-
manu's kingdom, returned home more
than usually downcast, and after
period of deepest mourning became the
mother of a son in whom were COM
bined the natures of both herself and
the sea god A being who was the en-
bodiment of the mighty possibilities in
the way of destruction possessed by
both fire and water, and whose very
existence sprung from violence and
wickedness, could not gain the affec-
ton of even such a mother as the
mighty but ENJOYABLE ruler Of fiery
floods.
From the moment of his birth Pele
hated her son with all the strength or
her ungentle nature; and as soon as
might be she drove him forth and.
turning him to stone by Ter magic pow
err, condemned him I" remain forever
a sentinel at the inner doors of her
stronghold, and the guardian of the
sacred pool which, fed through hidden
CnanDelS,
heated by subterranean fires.
This is the native story OF Kuoo-
mauna, and, if it be true. most faith
fully has he obeyed his mothers COM
mands, for year after year. and cen
fury after century, he has stood stern
and immovable where she imperiously
stationed him and hade him stay until
either she or his hated father gained
the decisive victory for which they are
both still struggling.
Silent as he is, however, and harsh
as has been fierce Pele's discipline, he
has found a way to in some small de-
gree revenoe himself upon her by be-
traying to those who have eyes to see
and minds to read his secret messages,
some of the secrets which she tries TO
hide within the fiery underground laby-
rinths over which she holds undisputed
sway.
There are many natives. both kahu-
mas and common people, who, by GER
tain signs known in their entirety only
to themselves, can infallibly foretell
when an eruption is about to take place
from any part of the mountains about
which they make their homes One Of
the principal signs on which they de-
pend. and the only one of which they
will speak to foreigner, is the peculiar
rise in temperature which, when an
outbreak is impending, is observed to
take place in various water-flled fis-
sures along the coast and up on the des-
oIate mountain sides.
From Wai-o-Akua, the Bath of the
Gods, which lies in the Puma district Of
Hawaii at the foot of a lava precipice
that is covered with strange and unac-
countable figures and characters resem-
bling Aztec hieroglyphics, to the pool
over which Kuoomauna holds especial
sovereignty, they all tell-thrOugh the
fact that their ordinarily tepid waters
become without apparent cause, raised
almost tc boiling heat-the story of
coming f1re-fioods.
So it is that Kuoomauna manages
through underground channels to warn
the natives of approaching danger; and
so it is that, chained to one spot though
he be by cruel Pele's imperial decree, he
yet to this extent has both the courage
and the power to defy her.