The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-07-11
THE HOUSE OF THE SUN.
4 visit tn the Worlds Largest Elk
finct Volcanic Crater.

u
tinct Volcanic Crater.
On the Island Of Maui. sail Of ninety
miles from Honolulu. there is the largest
volcanic crater IN the world Il is on the
summit Of HaIeakaIa, which, interpreted
means the House Of the Sun" Few
Americans have ever seen it It is the
crater Of an extinct volcano, and not
even a shadowy native tradition recalls
the time Of its activity Still it is a
young mountain, as mountains 60. for
its sides have not as Yet been scanned and
broken into valleys by the action Of wind
and stream Nor is it easy to realize
that it IS two miles high. for it raises its
huge bulk from the level Of the Pacific
in smooth and gradual slopes
All day our horses had tOiled upward
over the desoIate lava At an altitude
OF about 1900 feet q rich sugar planter
has built a cottage as q refuge from the
heat Of the plain and there We and our
horses had lunch In his garden we saw
growing corn and potatoes. things al
most unknown :. the islands. and even
an apple tree Spread out before Us lay
the plain that encircles the vast base Of
the House Of the sun bending into
graceful curves the blue line of the Pa
cific. and clothed with the varying green
Of the cauefieIds forming the great plan
tatious of SpreckelsvilIe- Paia, Haiku
and others. From there We could see
that what is now the Island of Maui was
in past geological time two neighbOring
volcanoes. whose lava flows met and
filled the intervening space.
At the altitude of a mile We had passed
through the clouds that had somewhat
screened US from the sun, aRG for the
remainder of the day We We're exposed
to all its tropic fcTvor- At about 5000
feet. where we left the last of the sparse
and stuuted growth. the guide gathered
a large bundle of the small dried
branches. ana added it to the burden Of
fodder that his horse had aIready-to
carry, for Ut the summit there is no
living thing. and no firewood is obtain
able. We now no longer saw the beaUti-
( full, waXeU-rinI ohel0 berries, which
grow Iuxuriantly even from the dry and
/ scarcely disintegrated lava of the lower
/ slopes When We dismounted and walked
beside our horses We were soon painting
from the exeTtiOn in the thin air, and
were glad to mount once more
1t was late in the afternoon and the
sun was low in the west when, lettering
my tired horse in the shelter of a lava
Q
/ jagged edge of the crater and there burst
/ upon my view sight that was benumb-
/ ing in its awful desoIation- Two thou
/ sand feet below me, in q vast abyss many
! miles in circumference, lay the black
| cold Iava-fiOor of the crater. and from it
1 rose great red cindeC cones. through
/ which had burst the final fury of the
! eruption. To the right and left were
/ two huge gaps in the preciritOus sides
/ through which the awful flood of molten
/ lava had escaped to the sea, and through
/ these gaps, for centuries, the mists from
/ old ocean have been creeping stealthily
/ into the burned and blighted arena
striving to Clothe its nakedness with YER
! dure. But the parched cinder and dead
/ lava resist stUbboruly, and for centuries
TO come the crater will turn this same
/ burned and barren face to the blue sky.
1t was no time or place for speech
/ felt that by chance I had stumbled upon
; the abandoned workshop where the world
was made. All was now silent, cold, de