The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-12-09
LAVA FLOWS AND THE
DREAD THEY INSPIRE
One Naval Officer Who Would Not
Approach the Lava---Danger
in Sudden Outbreak.

may break out in a new spot lower down
in the crack.
The crack from which the 1859 flow
came was at least four miles in length;
that of the 1899 flow about two and one
half or three miles; the 1901 flow three
fourths of a mile; that of the 1868 flow
being also three-fourths of a mile in
length. Ihe crack of the 1868 flow is very
Well marked, extending down through the
woods and ending on a hill side. The
lava poured from the lower end OF this
crack on to the lower land below. thus
forming no cone. There is no sign that
the lava flowed from the upper part of
this rent. but that it had merely oczed
up AT the very head of the crack there
is but little lava to be seen on the sur
face. but by scraping away the soil the
ground is found to be filled with frag-
meuts.
LAVA TUNNELS.
Lava hardens rapidly when exposed TO
the air; so crust soon forms over the
surface of flow beneath which the lava
goes on flowing. After a time it W IL
melt down deep in the rock below, form
ing regular tunnel It is from this
central channel (of which there may be
more than one) that the lava flow works
ahead, to either side, and by overfiows
buries itself yet more deeply. Through
openings in the crust one may look down
upon the molten stream of lava below,
or after the flow has ceased, one may
scramble down through these openings
into the tunnel and explore it, The Kau-
mana caves near Hilo are different sec
tons of the same lava tunnel-that of
the 1881 flow. They are well worth a Wis
1t.
THE 1868 ERUPTION
The outbreaks from the side of Mauna
Ioa have usually taken place very. quiet
ly. The first sign that there was such
an outbreak has been a bright light far
up on the mountain above the forest line.
But this was not the case with the 1858
eruption, for two weeks before this oc-
Cured the whole of Kau was rocked and
shaken by most fearful earthquakes.
These earthquakes were TO be counted
only by the thousands. The ground was
almost constantly quaking. and at the
same time there was a rumbling sound
deep down in the earth.
Finally there was a great shake which
threw men and animals from their feet.
At the same time thousands of tons of
earth and boulders were torn from the
cliff and hurled down into the Waiohinu
valley; above Kapapala this same thing
took place TO water soaked pail, max
ing the great mud flow; and a long crack
opened, extending from the crater of
Kilauea to point near the sea between
Punaluu and keauhou. This rent Is now
called the 1865 crack. 1t is a bottomless
crack. being but short distance from,
and running parallel with the road from
Pahala to the Volcano House. All of the
fire disappeared in Kilauea at the time
this crack opened Shortly after the
great shake a tidal wave came in upon
the land. sweeping away the village OF
HOnUapo Forty people lost their lives
in the tidal wave at Honuapo alone.
y few days after the great shake the
lava burst its way through the side of
the mountain not far above Kahuku. A
long rent was made in the mountain
from the lower end of which the lava
poured in an overwhelming flood reach
ing the sea in two or three hours. The
1865 crack ended on a hillside; as the lava
spouted from this spot. falling upon the
low land below, it must have presented a
magnificent spectacle. All the hillside
above the break is deeply covered with
fragments of pumice. The 1865 flow ran
pahoehoe first but soon changed TO typi-
cal Though it has been cold and
hard for SO years yet the lava OF this
flow has all the appearance of having
moved with fearful velocity in its upper
part. This eruption lasted but four days.
-Chas w. Baldwin in Hawaii's Young
People