The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-09-25

DAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1908
had been told, the pit seemed prac-
tically dead, and we could only see a
little point of fire near the lowest point
of the great funnel We could see
the "hightwater' mark around the
walls of the crater about fifty feet
from the top, which marked the point
to which the lake had arisen, and had
dropped back only two days before.
The loose rock in the bottom was part
of that which had toppled in
when the lava subsidized. These rocks
were still falling down, and every lit
tie while great avalanches would break
from the overhanging walls and go
laundering down to the bottom in a
cloud of dust. Where we stood the
walls did not overhang, and we were
not alarmed for our safety.
But we were to see the sight of our
lives, and one which I'll wager every
one who saw 1t will be able to see in
their minds eye till their dying day.
l can shut my eyes and see the whole
picture so wildly that it seems real,
yet to describe 1t is quite another
| thing We had been gazing into that
awful desolate chasm for perhaps ten
minutes when someone suddenly de-
clared that the faint spark of fire be-
fore seen, was growing brighter. Every
body was skeptical, but we didn't have
much time for argument for suddenly
there was a coughing and spluttering
sound and with 1t a yellowish white
column of lava, apparently the con-
sistency of heavy dough, and about
the diameter of a barrel, arose slowly
some four or five feet, pulsated up and
down for a moment, and then dropped
back out of sight leaving only a glow
ing hole where it had disappeared. But
the choking sound came again, this
time stronger There seemed to be
great commotion down in the fire hole,
and in an instant a great molten mass
half as big as a hogshead was shot
entirely out of the hole and dropped
down at one side where it almost i'm
mediately changed from incandescent
white, to yellow, orange, light brown,
dark brown, and then black like the
masses of cold lava around it.
And then things began to happen
fast. The ebb and flow of the unseen
forces continued, and with increasing
violence at every pulsation, until with
in half an hour a continuous stream of
lava was being pushed out as by some
tremendous pump 1t ran in a sluggish
little stream down to the lowest part
of the pit, but soon the surface cooled
forming a dark crust over the flow,
through which we could see the I'M
dulations of the fluid lava beneath. We
could also see it spreading out into a
little lake at the bottom
From that time on Chat was about 8
O'Clock Sunday afternoon) until we left
the pit for a little sleep at O'Clock the
next morning, the activity seemed to
increase steadily-by jerks. The ORR
ginal little exit for the first flow was
soon pouring out a veritable river of
, fire with a regular pulsating movement
that constantly suggested the action
of a pump, as | mentioned before.
Great masses of rock weighing prob
ably hundreds Of tons, which formed
the uneven surface of the pit, would
tremble and fall as the fearful heat
of that white hot stream touched them,
and as they were swept away would
melt and disappear within few Sec
onds time, as a handful of snow toss
ed into boiling water.
Every half minute or so, with tre-
mendous fuss, a great geyser of lava
would be projected fifty or seventy-fve
feet in the air, scattering a rain OF
, fire in all directions, and then it would
settle back and continue its regular
pumping business. Always these eX-
blossoms seemed to increase in violence
, and by dark we were treated to fire.
works display that would put to shame
, anything human hands ever produced
ADOuL udIh, lIOll hSdl IllO SShtOi vi
the glowing lava lake which had been
steadily growing and now covered APP
, parently about an acre,a violent COM
motion began, for all the world like
the boiling of great pot of mud. Two
, centers seemed to form through which
the molten material appeared to be
) bubbling up from the bottom, and
, great waves and rings chased each
/ other to the sides of the lake and broke
, like thick luminous molasses on the
rocks. These boiling places seem tc
J have been new vents just formed, anc
; they increased in size until they were
almost constantly throwing lava one OF
two hundred feet in the air in greai
nd N ,