The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-07-14
BY SOL. N. SHERIDAN.

BY SOL. N. SHERIDAN.
VOLCANO HOUSE. July S.-The frs,
impression of the man who looks down
into the crater of Kilauea as 1t is in its
present stage of activity is of the APP
paling nearness of the fire. 1t is as
though the tongues of flame from the
active cones in the pit reached up, hun
grily, to lap his feet. The fire seems.
indeed, so close. that there is an in
voluntary shrinking backward. 1t APP
pears to be Immediately under your
feet, and to open a terrifying red depth
that reaches down into the burning CEN
ter of the earth.
And that brings the second impress
sion. The man who gazes for the first
time into the House of Everlasting
Fire shrinks backward because the FIRE
is so close. He shrinks backward the
second time because he feels that he is
the man who has seen the thing too
much.
1t was not intended, when a flaming
hell was conceived. that any man should
see 1t and live. Yet it was because men,
prehistoric men. had seen such things
that the flaming hell was conceived.
Prehistoric man could imagine no fate
more horrible than to be hurled into
such a Pit as Halemaumau. Neither
can modern man, for all his cultured
imagination. Standing upon the brink
you can fancy no fate more horrible
yourself.
And because he could imagine no fate
more horrible, prehistoric man shrunk
back from the brink, even as you do.
and gave to his gods the awful pbwer
of hurting him down for his sins. So
the superstition has come down to us.
1t is an inheritance from chaos, an inn
preston deeply craven upon humanity
| in the formative stage by a world in
the formative stage. We have only be-
gun to outgrow it now that the craters
are closing and the crust of the earth
enough of an opening into the under
terror to awaken the old inherited fear.
II do not believe in literal hell after
looking into the crater-but can
understand how the belief came.
! OUT OF THE DARK.
The display in the Pit, as / saw 1t
last night, was terrifying. I came upon
it suddenly, out of the dark. There
had been. long stage ride from the
Kau side, and i did not reach the Vol
cano House until near dinner time. Far
out across the black lava that lies like
a bed of asphalt that has run and
cooled and cracked, the floor of the
main crater, a lazy column of smoke
arose and rolled away toward one OF
the spurs of Mauna Loa- do not pro-
pose to describe the great crater, here
This is but my first impressions. They
Will arrange themselves later when ]
have seen the crater oftener and be-
come as much accustomed to it as a
man may.
After dinner, and before 1t had be-
come quite dark, 1 was on horseback
the trail. l shall reserve a description
of that ride, likewise. AS the party
rode across the lava bed, the feet Of
the horses crunching the black lava
sand, the night came down, dark and
overcast, although there was a young
moon. 1t was altogether black night
when the corral where the horses were
to be left was reached, and the guides
had lanterns lighted.
| Thence, walking over the lava which
crunched under foot, II seemed that I
was entering a world of darkness COM
plete and utter. There was a dense
quality of it that deepened the dark of
the night, and which the feeble rays of
The lanterns were utterly unable to
penetrate. All at once a hot wave
swept upward from directly beneath
my feet and. swinging the lantern a
little to one side, I saw wide crack
frcm which cloud of vapor was ris-
ing, gustily. I could not put hand upon
the lava here. so hot was it. Then, a
little further on, something white loom
ed suddenly out of the dark, and I
saw the twinkle of a light
1.-THE crater!" / exclaimed, meaning
the Pit of Halemaumau.
1T is the lantern of a man ahead"
said Alex the guide, very calmly.
But the white placer" I exclaimed,
interrogatively.
"a sulphur bank" said Alex. See!
You are crossing part of it now"
WHITE IN THE NIGHT.
And, as a matter OF fact, the lava
rock under foot had become white for
a little space. This ended. presently,
and I went on into the darkness for
what seemed an interminable time. the
trail grew rougher and rougher AT
last what looked in the darkness Ike
a cairn of rock appeared on one ,land
and passing this, 1 grew, aware of a
formless pit ON the left hand from
which came dull. red glow.
Still walking on. 1 stumbled across
a chasm cut upon a kind of platform
of smooth lava bounded by broken rock
masses and found myself looking into
the Pit. 1t seemed a glimpse. literally,
into the mouth of hell. The whole in
terror was alight, dull radiance that