Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1907-11-01
A Weekly Letter From the Orient
FURNISHED BY THE RECORDERS SpaC-
IAL CORRESPONDENT, Who is
MAKING A Tour OF THE EAST
ERIN COUNTRIES.
Especial to RecCrder.)

to tie Internal Regions and back.
That is hayebeen about as close to
them as | care to go. | might say
| ir this connection that it is one of
the most beautiful end interesting
trips | ever expect to take. The
ElittIe inter island steamer Kinau is
not snch a boat as | would choose
to ride in were in the least adict-.
ed to sea sickness, but as am
never troubled with NAL de mere |
enjoyed every minute OF it, even
when the waved from the storm
tossed sta were encrusted tie tops
of the smokestacks with salt.
The coast Of the island Of Hawaii,
largest of the group, and the one
which is located the volcano, is a
precipitious bluff, rising more than
a thousand feet sheer from the sea
Over this cliff tumble hundreds #
wondrously beautiful waterfalls,
S me If them reaching clear to the
ocean, but most Of them simmer
ing away 70 mist before they touch
the water below.
Rounding into the barber of
Hilo the steamer stopped in water
so clear that We could see the fish
on the bottom 100 below. We had
to make our landing in small boats
and lighters, as the steamer could
not get close to the shore, and thi,
was the only part of the voyage
That was at all dangerous. Once
on shore the charm of Honolulu
was forgotten in the greater charm
of Hilo The little village nestles
so closely in the dense tropical foil
age Of vine and palm that it can
scarcely be seen. 1t is just such a
place as one could lie in and dream
his life away with never All effort
at support. Fruit of all sorts and
fiayors abound and is to be had for
the taking. | entered a little store
and wanted to buy some bananas
and was looked upon with suspicion
by the proprietor who asked why
did not pick them from the trees
if | wanted them.
But il is of the volcano that
started 10 write. The trouble with
this country is that there is 80
much to tell about that ones pen
goes wondering off into all sorts Of
tangents. We went to the volcano
in stage driven by an old time
California Stage driver, and he re-
called us for the entire thirty miles
with tales Of early California STAGE
driving DAYS. When we reached
the Volcano House it was dark, and
except for the glow coming from
the pit of the crater two miles away
we could not tell that anything un-
usual was around MS. except for
the fact that the grourd was in
a constant tremble. But when
morning can and | looked out of
my window, / felt that must b.
mighty close to the jumping off
place, for in every direction little
Jets of steam were coming from
the ground while in the distance
rose the smoke of the volcano.
Near the hotel was a lot Of little |
houses, and If one wanted hot
sulphur bath all he had to do was
to go into one Of them and Nature
would do the rest. He got it
fresh from the lower regions.
A party Of us tramped across the
lava bed to the mouth of the era
ter, and it was considerably hotter
under foot than over head. The
ground in some places was so hot
that we had to walk fast to keep
our feet from getting scorched.
In one place the guide took as
down into hole in the lava and it
was so hot that we had to keep
to prevent the heat from
taking off the soles of our shoes.
The volcano was not active at
the time of our visit, consequently
we not only went to the edge OF
the crater but went down inside a
short distance. There We could
wee the vast lake of fire. boiling and
bubbling, all the world like pic
lures in Dante's Inferno. Pieces
Of wood thrown down into the pit
would catch fire and blaze up,
while the awful cauldron continual.
l. ho;ioJ n,,J ,;tkoJ :.ts re OIL |