The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-12-23
BY WALTER G. SMITH.

visit the other day and found him very
and fresh. People ask whether the
eruption is as nne as some previous
ones, but being only able to judge of
the others by pictures of them none
made at the same primary stage in the
development OF the lava flow as that
which L had the privilege of viewing
one week ago to-day, l do not think l
can give a satisfactory answer. But
let me say in summing up what was
to be seen, that there is fire in the bot
tom of the crater of kilauea and that
the display is, to a novice, fascinating
by day and splendidly so by night.
The great eruptionS Of Kilauea usual
ly begin mildly. First is seen a glow
of fire on the floor of the pit, say 500
or 1000 feet below the level of the en-
comprising outer crater, Halemau-
mau; then a gradual filing of the abyss
with q mass of lava from which az
times jets or fountains and even gey-
sers of fire leap fifty feet in air: final
~ the crater full TO the brim, bub-
bling, red pond. spectacular to the last
degree, whether in pyrotechnical throes
or not.
The painters of Kilauea usually
choose this final period of activity in
which to get inspiration for their can
vases and that IS why tourists, who
go there at other times, think they
have not had all that is coming to them.
They want Pele's clock to be striking
twelve at all hours. 1t is not enough
that the spectacle is absorbing at any
time; the tourist wants Pele to throw
continuous fits.
Before 1 went from hotel to pit the
other day, l saw a red signal. There
was a great cry after sunset, The Vol
cano! The Volcano!'' and all the COM
fort-seeking loungers beside the crack
ling wood fires at the Volcano House
ran out to see the show. Away off
over the black plain of Halemaumau,
was the pillar of fire by night sue
ceeding the pillar of cloud by day,
which marked the home of Pele-the
Goddess of the Avernian gate
Several of the party went to the
crater at once. l could not go with
them. The report they brought back
was all but unanimous regarding the
beauty of the scene. A woman, the
inevitable kicker, dissented. She said:
THAT volcano is a bigger fraud than
the Southern Cross Fooled by GRIM
gone to see lakes and floods and tor
rental outbursts of molten rock; his
sing, aerial bombs of red-hot Stag and
all that sort of thing. She reminded
me of a woman who, inflamed by
circus posters, went to the menagerie
to see the Mighty Monarch of the
Jungle, the Majestic, the Ferocious and
the All-destroying Rhinoceros and was
halted before a cage where fat, warty
beast with loose skin and piggish eyes,
hugely interesting but not up to the
showbills, yawned rudely in her face.
That plain thing!" she exclaimed in
dignantly and then to the ticket-sellsr:
Say, you old fraud, give me back my
money"
What the rest of the party admired
in the volcano was a translucent crust
of lava, nearly covering the bottom of
the pit, continually streaked, crinkled
and broken by underlying fires. Pierc-
ing this crust We're small cones
themselves miniature volcanoes-from
which Devils rockets were now and
then discharged. Out of the sides of the
crater steam sometimes burst or cas-
cade of fluid rock. 1t was bright and
busy laboratory of Internal alchemists.
Every moment there was some new ex-
or flame. Now and again the clouds
above would redden as if the Evil
Spirit of the depths had turned his
searchlight on the skies.
On the Sunday night following, a
week ago, the whole sunken floor Of
became like lake of fire. But
it had not risen much.
MY own visit to the edge of the pit
was made on fine morning. Our party /
rode horses, as is usual in the seven
mile journey to and from Kilauea, the |
starting point being the Volcano House
where Pele's nephew, Demosthenes Ly- !
curgus looks after the creature-com" |
forts of his aunt's guests-this time i.
with the help of his brother George. /
Viewed from the hotel there were sure /
signs of great heat at Kilauea. Smoke j
had disappeared and Overt the abyss hung |
a blue, gaseous vapor. Getting nearer,
one saw over the hot spot" where
coffee is made and corn popped, for
bidding simmer of superheated air;
md off among the heaps of firebricks
which reveal the site of previous
these pits change their 10
,ations sometimes-steam was pouring
,ut as if from a giants cauldron near
he surface.
licked with light and tapestried with
and away down on the floor
# the awesome place there was some
hing moving. 1t looked like a snake
made of rainbows, sinuous, hesitating.
nd intent to charm and then destroy.
What one really saw was winding
,rook of lava. touched by interloping
unshine which mingled its tints of
earl and gold and jasper with the red
f malignant fires. Suddenly the scene
hanged. The brook was gone but near
" a pool slowly formed which might
ave been a footbath for tired Satan,
ONE home from far adventures,-a
DOL which creamed and mantled at the
ouch of air and then began to re-
ect the light of a nearby cone which,
8 we looked, cracked wide apart,
bowed what seemed to be filling or
1candescent Goals and then grew black.
We saw a dark cave in the volcanoes