The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-08-19
MAUNA LOA LONG AGO
THE GREAT ERUPTION OF THE
YEAR 1868
An Eye Witness Description o fthe
Great Seismic Disturbance on the
Island of Hawaii.

Island of Hawaii
The following graphic Renaissance Of /
volcanic eruption in what is now an
American possession is from a letter by
Charles G. Williamson, which originally !
appeared in the London Times. 1t is a
curious scientific as well as pathological
fact that after an eruption of Mauna
Loa the crater gives forth finely spun
threads of silica, which the natives
call "Peles hair" after the name of the
supposed goddess of the crater
In 1868 | was an eye witness of the
great eruption of Mauna Loa in the ISL
and of Hawaii. At the present moment
few details of that appalling crcum-
stance may be of general interest Maui
ma Loa (the high mOuntain) is the high
est peak between the Andes and Hima-
laya mountains, and it's great summit
crater Mokuaweoweo had been cold
and extinct for ages. The first indi-
cation of what was going to happen was
an earthquake at a. m. on March 9.
ION March 26 l observed. after sunset
many bright flashes in the sky which
could not be accounted for, as the air
was perfectly clear and no cloud was
visible in any direction. The following
morning my native servant came call
ing me with the cry of fire. Looking
| out, l saw a heavy column of smoke
! rising from the mountain summit, and
| it spread out like a huge fan widening
| and widening until the whole vicinity
was epwrapped in murky sulphurous
Vapor, totally obscuring the sun, and
| causing all vegetation to shrivel up.
! When night came there was no appear
| ance of fire on the mount but the dense
! atmosphere remained.
! Next morning at about 1915 there
began a series of most alarming earth
! qualies, which eliminated in an awful
shock on Thursday Auril , at 3:4O D.
m. The earth rose and fell like waves
! of the sea; and the large native kukui
| trees, with trunks from two to three
| feet in diameter swayed backward and
! forward like brambles in a storm
though not breath of air was moving
! Every stone wall was leveled in an
! instant as the seismic wave passed IN
| der them, and when it reached the sea
the conclusion caused the cliffs to fan
in huge masses, and the waters rose
! and fell six times in twenty minutes.
| overwhelming the palm trees and the
| picturesque grass houses of the natives,
| resulting in the destruction of more
than 100 houses and loss Of forty-six
lives, in a very thinly populated dis
trict. -r-
The earthquakes, l may say, con-
tinued for days after; indeed. the whole
I island seemed to rock about continu-
ously, and ii was months before the
! earth ceased to vibraue. In my diary
of that year there is a record of 157
! distinct shocks personally experienced
in the week before the great earthquake
of April ,, and 12Z shocks in the six
! days Immediately after it, but almost
every day until the end of 1865 there
was one or more slight, but percaptible.
earth tremors.
Shortly after the terrible earthquake
. h.,
ordinary character. 1t is marked in my
diary as on April 7, when at about j..
m the earth burst open with a tFemen-
dous crash on the mountain slope at a
distance of about ten miles from the
sea. Here was the residence of an
! Englishman, at whose house / had been
| Hospitality entertained a short time be-
| fore. The earth opened with a terrific
explosion pouring out streams of liquid
| fire, which in an incredible short space
of time covered the most beautiful grass
| covered plateau of the island. The
house and gardens We're completely sub
merged, and the inhabitants only es-
capped by racing in front of the pursuing
flood of fire, which was about half a
mile wide.
"A fine horse, belonging to the owner
of the buried residence, was tethered
| in a pasture, and made frantic efforts
to break his halter; but when the rush
| ing lava reached it the rope shrivled up
and the beautiful creature bounded
away without any hurt, but herd of
| 200 cattle was overtaken and in a
moment disappeared. Thirty-seven
houses were swept away by the lava
! flow, but no lives We're lost. There was
a house, containing three persons,
which was entirely surrounded by the
flowing lava, which, piling itself up
| above the roof level, left the building
/ ,NV, aI,aI he fVaFp fAg
to be alive and unhhrt when the lava
had cooled sufficient to allow any one
to succor them.
But this was only an incident of the
period. The great earthquake shock
previously spoken of was caused by the
blowing up of another part Of
| mountain. On this occasion great
masses Of shattered rock were hurled
! through the air to a considerable dis
| lance, and streams of hot mud poured
| over the land to distance of three
miles from the source of the explosion.
! 1t may not be scientifically correct to
| speak of it as a mud flow; ii was prob
ably a terrific landslide caused by the
violent upheaval, but in its way it car
ried away magnificent trees and CYCLIC
/ pean blocks of rock. Ten houses were
! destroyed in its course and thirty-One
! lives were lost Needless to say, the
whole neighborhood was rent and
cracked by the volcanic CONFUSION. Had
! it happened i'm any thicky populated
! district the loss Of life would probably
have been as appalling as it is in tie
| Island of Martinique.
Volcanic phenomena are an expert
| enCe which, once felt, can never be
! weakened by time, Possibly these few
details of my own experience of violent
seismic disturbance may be of service
/ to those who make "a study of such sub
] oh ftrst To, Ia 1l
! your readers with these remarks if
| had any reason L. suppose that any
other person in London was residing in
the Islands of Hawaii during the great
| eruption of 1868.
"Kilauea, the permanent active vol
cano of the island, Is known to many
and has often been described. 1t Is
about forty miles distant from the scene
of the volcanic eruption l refer to. The
older crater was singularly inactive at
| the time, indeed the fire within 1t began
to recede on the memorable April 2, and