The Hawaiian gazette., 1902-08-05
HAWAIIAN VOLCANOES ARE
FRIENDLY AND HARMLESS
The Unsensational Truth About the Old voIcan.
ic Apertures Which Have Grown
Ferns for Centuries.

the d'ep outer Ut OF the volcano. With
absolute serenity. which was shared by
large numbers of fellow inmates ~ "The
Volcano House" Two miles away ana
below in the great inner PIT of Halc-a-
mau-nau were fuaming aud crashing the
whitc-hUt rock fountains We had spent
many afternoon aud evening hours In
watching their fiery spray breaking
through the rcd-hot crust OF the great
fire lake, which was n thousand feet In
diameter We had stood on the very
brink of the pit without fear not n thou
sand feet from the fiery pillows All
night long as We slept at the hotel. two
miles away. their glare waNed and waned
ON the clouds above them.
II was all perfectly safe. During eighty
years of frequent visiting, and thirty
years OF hotel maintenance there. not
single casualty has occurred which was
due to volcanic action. Guests would
sometimes be foolhardy. but the expert
enccd guides usually succeeded In re-
straining them. l knew of one young lady
tsoon after married to q son OF a United
States PresldenO who climbed peak
ovorhanging a fire lake. which peak fell
In the next day. Occasionally there have
been narrow escapes in times OF high
activity. from small lava streams sudden
ly breaking out across a path. Common
ly, one can approach close to openings In
end Of a pole, fashioning 1t into cups, or
embedding into 1t coins or buttons while
soft. Here and there, however, on the
great floor of the main caldron. seven
square miles in area. were vast black rag
geo Hoous OF new laNa, wnlch nad eNl-
u'h'ly sursed OUT OF the lake IN resist
less torrent.
CAUSE OF SAFETY
This entire safety of Kilauea is due to
the fact that for more than a century this
volcano has remained In what may no
termed a tame condition-that ia non-ex-
plosive Eruptions ar. of two general
classes. explosive and nou-explosiye our
Hawaiian eruptions both from Kilauea
and Mauna I.oa are habitually of the lat
ter class. The lava simply wells IN from
its deep plutonic sources. and flows abroad
with little violence or commotion. The
eruptions of Krakatao and Martinique on
the contrary We're violently explosive and
consequently destructive The greater
part OF their elections were shot violently
aloft to height of many miles, falling
with absolute ruin over the surrounding
country. Such eruptions appear to have
been extremely rare in Hawaii. In the
huge ravines which expose the inner
structure of our mountains we see them
to have been built up almost entirely OF
floods of flowing lava. The proportion IL
tAtitHHtls VI tlHutTS Out ny
explosions
NV studies of this subject have led to
the conclusion that great and violent ex
blossoms OF volcanoes usually follow very
protracted periods of auiescence during
which the outlets become Thoroughly
sealed, and often large bodies of water
accumulate III the ancient craters When
the time OF eruption arrives the merry
eoiuiiih encounters the water ana Vio-
rent tNplosioh ioIoWs Such was the case
AT MI I.i.e' Al hraka'ao IN 1880 sue
ctSsl"h Oh EXPLOSIONS pieW the Island 10
pieces hhaily admitting the ocean INTO
lhe chasn III enormous FORCE and the
iihal explosion followed which hurled bill
hons OF cupic rect OF matter from forty
W elShtN miles aIolt'
Our kilauea, until last month had been
quioscent for more than six years. Con
sequently when this crater resumed ac-
ton month ago there was a very slight
explosive action. No doubt considerable
moisture had accumulated in the debris in
the bottom of the old pit, and the rising
lava encountering it, generated a force of
steam which drove up considerable body
OF ashes and cinders,. Since that first
commotion, very slight one, the lava has
been yelling up steadily and quietly, after
Its old-time custom. There seems every
reason to expect repetition of the very
exhibitions Of former years
we leei entirely confident in inviting the
traNelhs publlc 10 see our unique show
WIN an absolute sense OF security. There
are no eNp'osions on the program Those
peiohS whoily 10 the preliminary eXer-
cises' "hlch are throuSh with.
PROCESS OF ERUPTIONS.
NV own observations and reflections
have convinced me that the ,eneratiop or
steam by the rising lava encounteripp
surface water IL only an attendant cir,
cumstance of eruptions. and not the cause
of them. The primary impelling force
which drives rho ,,v, ~ ,,,.ar,a a., g.,
the interior depths is the expansion of
the gases originally occluded in the in
terror matter Of the globe. The fiery in
terror of the earth is weighted down by
the pressure Of twenty, or thirty miles in
depth of solid rock. That enormous pres
sure holds the gaseous constituents of the
fiery interior magma completely com
pressed and condensed If any cause re-