The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-11-29


quickly escapes from the surface into
innumerable subterranean storage
chambers and into river beds leading tc
the sea.
I In a scenic sense the whole mountain
highway is charming. Queer tropical
trees clasped with the devil-hsh arms
of giant creepers; wild bananas laden
with fruit; ferns that get larger with
each, mile of the ascent: bushes with
edible scarlet berries: dwarf trees with
red aigrettes visited by redder birds
far glimpses of mountain, plain and
sea and of snow-capped Mauna Loa and
Mauna Kea; fields of the incompatible
cane they are raising on the Olaa plan
tation end subsidiary tracts; the cof-
fee growths in homestead yards-all
these are worth the stage ride and even
trip on foot.
And then the air. The higher one
climbs the more delight it is to breathe
Women. robbed of half their beauty by
the heat of ting lowlands. get back their
rudy cheeks in the altitude of the
crater; men feel as III they had taken
some subtle elixir upawares: work
ceases to be a burden and exercise is
play. month at the volcano ought
to work as much physical advantage
as trip to the coast If it doesn' t
seem coyd enough there, Mauna Loa
gives more elevation up to an excess Of
10000 feet.
The comforts Of the Volcano House
are those Of a Iountry hotel. There is
no pretenee of urban accommodations
but who wants to carry such things
with him when ne goes into the woods
and mountains to make his peace with
nature? what the Volcano House offers
are good clean rooms and beds. the
latter WITH coverlets enough to keep
Ghc unacqfimated person warm; we'll
Misunderstanding and billiard room and
parlors Fhere wood fires blaze after
sundow9' and a table where the vege-
tables Gre the best. perhaps in Hawaii.
and the meats at least ralatable. \
sulphur steam bath and ordinary baths
are provided; there is a wep-stocked
bar for those who think they need
stimulants; and usually plenty of fresh
n7i-is'and eggs can be had. The stand
ard dish is roast pig; the favorite vege-
table crisp white celery; the sauce is
appetite-the best that can be had any
where. -,
The viek from the hotel is expansive
and perhaps unmatched on the globe.
From the front porch one looks into
the gigantic outer crater of Kilauea,
black, forbidding, abrupt; beyond. in
the midst of the torn and twisted lava
PLAIN is the profound. circular abyss
from which pillows of sulphuretted
steam are rising to the sky; dominant
over the whole is the volcanic dome.
towering in it's snowy mantle to a
height of nearly $4,000 feet above the
sea and carrying on its mighty curves
the little side-craters from which the
Hawaiian eruptions spout. over all the
country near the hotel jets of steam
fly out of cracks and fumeroIes. Dan
ger? Not bit. Lava flows never come
from such vents nor does Kilauea send
them hey ond its outer crater; and there
can be no Krakatoa explosions in a
honey -eOmbed island. Pele's domain is
crow ned with safety valves.
Whatever its state may be the vol
can Ways worth seeing. Jus. IN
1t Is urbation. One cannot gaze
three own the crater because of
the ste but the tenor call OF the
guide .pes AMI reechoes be,cv yor
until the idea of vast depth comes to
the mind 'Sith awing force. This crater
Is not tbs zone of the pictures. That
was MED ~ at the last eruption and a
new cavity was formed. The surface of
the. old one klooks like the debris OF "a
million gigantic fire bricks and here and
there are strange hues impaired by fus
ed minerals tNear by fire comes almost
to the surEhoe through a crack. at
which the s" eaSi mortal sits and pops
corn In sheer. defiance OF the gods All
sorts OF queer climneys. bubble cham !
bers and frvzen lava cataracts
abound: and the Dantesque vision is I
complete when Aight falls and streakS
Of fire show In the steaming crater and !
the tortured shapes of the old lava can
be viewed in the dull red light which /
rises from The spot in the great circular
plain about Pele's caUidron where the
elemental fires are nearest to the sur I
face.
But the volcano Is not all. Mauna 4
L0a may be climbed and the lava flows .
NJ past years examined; the steaming
sulphur beds may be visited; one may /
gaze into the frightful depths of eX-
tinct craters n mile or two from the
hotel. places like KiIauea-iki. And by ,
driving or riding horseback a few miles .
all sorts of freaky. volcanic places may
be- seen. and Town Puma way is a warm
sulphur pou where one may battle.
Worth W going? Ask anybody +
,,-b., ever "a .rr in good weather and