Evening journal., 1900-03-28
VOLCANOES.
Views of Young Lady Who Has
Lived Long In Hawaii.

oolle OF tne ndppleSI days or my
life We're spent on a table land looked
down upon by the three great noun
tains of Hawaii, Mauna Loa. Mauna
kea and Hualalai, in height 1860,
l3,SO5 and S,275 feet. / wonder If there
is another place in the world more
beautiful than those great ranch lands
whence one gets a view Of rose-col
, ored kea, somber and ghostly I.Oa,
and the lower crags of Hualalai. Ter
haps Mauna Loa, from the Volcano
House on the brink of the crater of
hilauea, is better. One does not real
ize at Kilauet that one is on the side
of Mauna Loa, is 1000 feet above sea
level, for the summit is miles away,
and seemingly, miles up in the clouds.
From the hostelry Mauna Loa looks
quiet and ghostly; unless touched by
the red light of the sun, when it be-
comes a mountain of fire.
Late news tells us it is now a YER
table mountain of fire; that n noise
heard at the Volcano House, twenty
miles away, announced a terrific eX-
plosion had occurred, and that the
light Of the fountains of fire can be
seen for forty miles around. We wait
further news with much interest and
some anxiety; three great lava streams
travelling in different directions, down
the sides of that huge mountain, sure
ly will work havoc to some of the smil-
ing country that lies on its sides. as
well as cover the ruined land that
marks the old flows. When one thinks
Of the fine growth of young coffee
trees; of the wide ranch lands, where
roam wild cattle and sheep; OF the
wonderful tropic forests jungled with
fern, chua and pandanus trees; when
one thinks of friends that live on
these coffee and ranch lands, one
wishes there was a cable to bring
daily news from old Mokuaweoweo,
the summit orator of Mauna Loa.
In the olden time whenever an erup-
ton took place it was the custom to
pick the ohelo berries, which grow
in great quantities near the volcano.
and throw them into the crater as an
offering to Pele Hogs and other prop
erty were often thrown into the
streams of lava. 1t is rumored that
modern mOnarchs tried this latter
method of appeasing the wrath Of
Pele; and, strange coincidence, the
day after one of such ceremony the
lava flow ceased to advance. A ma
tive girl, with wide-distended eyes
and in a hushed voice, told me Of
Pele's recent appearings; how the old
people tell of seeing her flying about
the country at night, sometimes hay
( ing the form Of a very ancient woman,
, sometimes very young and beautiful.
1 could not decide whether the girl.
who lived in a primitive part Of Ha-
waii, believed the stories or not; the
! Hawaiian of to-day, while ashamed
to acknowledge faith in the old super
stitions, of course, has not wholly de-
I parted from the beliefs of his fathers.
Alexander in his Brief History of
the Hawaiian People," tells how one
superstition was broken down by Kap-
iolani-not the dOwager Queen. who
lived about seventy-five years ago. In
her youth she was intemperate and
AAeaNAuAff DuN AAANA IL AAAt nEAAAAAt alA
example of virtue to her country-wO-
men. Up to her time it had been tab,
coed for any woman to ascend the
mountain to the volcano, or to pick
the OhelO berries, sacred to Pele. dread
goddess of the place. After her conver-
sion to Christian beliefs, Kapiolani
determined to break the spell of be-
lief in Pele, and teach the supersti'
tious natives TO worship the true God.
She made journey of $50 miles, most
ly on foot. On approaching the vol
canO she met the priestess of Pele
who warned her not to go near the
crater, and predicted her death If she
violated the taboos of the goddess.
"WhO are you?" demanded KapiOlani
zone in whom the goddess dwells.
was the reply. In answer TO pretend
ed letter of Pele's, Kapiolani quoted
passages from the Scriptures, setting
forth the character and power of tho
true God, until the priestess was ST.
fenced and confessed that Keakua
the deity, had left her. Kapiolani and
her company Of eighty persons descen
ded over five hundred feet TO the
black ledge. There, in full view OF
the grand and terrific action of the
inner crater. she ate the berries cou
secrated to Pele, and threw stones in
to the burning lake. saying. "Jehoval
is my God. He rules all and
fear not Pele. If / perish by her anger
then you may fear Pele; but if 1 trus
in Jehovah and he preserve me wher
breaking her taboos, then you mUsi
fear and serve him alone" This has
been called one of the greatest acts OF
moral courage ever performed. Mis-,
YOnge well described the scene in a
chapter called "An Hawaiian Chic.
tess" After Tennyson's death among
his papers was found poem in honor
of this same heroine. 1t was published
in the Illustrated London News ant
afterward i'm a late edition of Tenny
sons poems. He wrote:
Noble the Saxon who hurled at hi,
idol
4 valorous weapon in olden England
N