The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-07-19


have been elected from the crater in
times past
1t is entirely possible that this rag
ged hole was blown out by some ter
rife explosion within the body of the
mountain. Ii is a so entirely possible
that the lava flow burned it's way
through the hill and found an outlet
without violence. I do not know. But
it looks violent. The crater anyway,
is something over three miles across,
and over ell the floor of it is a black
| lava flow, both the rough and the
smooth kinds, which I have heard
compared, POLITICALLY, to a sea of stone
frozen into silence, but which looks to
me good deal more like gigantic
asphalt pavement that has been heated
/ in the sun and that has run in waves
overlapping each other, as asphalt will
when molten. And has then cooled.
could think of nothing so much, in
seeing it. as a bit of asphalt pavement
/ saw once in the city of Washington
put down before Boss Shepherd learned
how. and consequently put down crude
ly. The pahGehoe lies exactly like that
and the IA stretches might be where
some giant beast had stepped in the
molten stuff and had let it drip from it's
feet carelessly.
THE PIT OF HALEMAUMAU.
The asphalt is cool now-but it is not
all cool. Over toward the side farthesi
from the Volcano House. there yawns
the Pit of Halemaumau. I saw it,
first, in the night time, with the fire
that is in it directly beneath my feet.
Then, it was fearful. The flow of lava
that stretched across the floor of the
Pit, red hot, although it was more than
six hundred feet straight down, seem
ed frghtfully close, and there were
spouting up from a cone below me
gouts of red hot lava that came out
with a beating of the sea of fire be-
meath that shook the whole floor of
the crater. This sea, liquid fire liter
ally, could be seen beating back and
forth under the black crust that had
formed on the floor of the Pit. black
crust that was lined and seemed with
jagged cracks through which the red
cleaned luridly.
l saw it, for the second time. in the
broad light of day. And it was scarce
ly less fearful. 1 do not see how any
human being can sit on the edge of
that Pit and not feel that, although it
is certainly great effort for the ac-
complishment of so little a thing, the
fires of Halemaumau were kindled
especially for his destruction. Kilauea,
it is true, is a very we'll behaved
crater. Nobody has ever been killed |
there, at least within historic times. |
But still, but still, volcano is a VOL
cano, and the forces of nature are
Nature, because she ere
ates, also destroys without compunc-
ton and you are a mighty small fac |
tor in her economy. However, you are
important to yourself, about the most
important thing there is-and if you !
are like me. you feel certain hest |
fancy in trusting yourself around |
where there is volcano loose. Be |
cause, if the crater were to begin to |
act up, you could not do anything 70 |
stop it. You have three miles of lava j
between you and the real earth. when |
YOU stand on the brink of the Pit, and |
you could not even get out of the way. |
1t would not do you any good to try. |
THE. PIT CHANGING.
And so, while you go about from the |
Pit to Pele's kitchen, and Little Beg
gar, and visit the caves, and even take
your heart into your mouth and descend
into these, hurrying over the hot
places and not lettering particularly
over the places that are lass hot, and
while you are drawn back to the brink
OF the Pit again and again to look at
the fire, which fascinates you, there is
a sense of unsafety with it all not
strong enough to make you wish that
S..9.S-.9-.-0.9.9. 9.S-.-e.9.6.-S