The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-11-20

jured. In eight days from the out
break it reached the sea and continued
flowing seven months. The day be-
fore the eruption a fierce wind swept
through the Kona district, blowing
down trees and doing a large amount of
damage"
The year 1868 has been marked as
the volcano year of Hawaiian history.
It's record must be added to the account
given in Ka Haze Hawaii. In this year
came the greatest recorded earthquake
of the islands and the most destructive
evidences of volcanic action. We'd
nesday, April Is, 1868, Pacific Com
mercial Advertiser special was issued,
a copy of which lies before me as
write. 1t is a long sheet of paper
three columns of printed matter, blank
on one side. Mr.. F. S. Lyman, now
living in Hilo, wrote journal letter,
which was quoted in full. He writes
as follows about the earthquake:
March 27-31, 1868. A sudden erup-
ton from Mauna Loa, no forewarning
spray of red lava thrown high in the
air, followed by a great stream of
smoke rising up thousands of feet. In
Kau we had quite a sprinkling of
Pele's hair, peculiar earthquakes-first
hard shakes then a sweying motion, as
if the whole island were swaying back
and forth and we with it. March 81
From about 10 p. m. to 2 am. the
shaking was incessant April 1-Se-
we're and protracted shaking with a
great deal Of swaying to and fro of
the earth. Continued nearly all
night with a rumbling sound from
the south. Thursday, April End We
experienced the most fearful of earth
quakes. The earth swayed north,
houth, east, west, round and round, up
and down and in every imaginable di
rection, everything crashing around us,
trees thrashing as if torn by mighty
wind, impossible to stand. We had
to sit on the ground, bracing with
hands and feet, to keep from rolling
over''
Mr.. H. H. Whitney editor of the Ad-
vertiser, says that "the number of
shocks which occurred at Waiohinu
from March 20 to April 10 was esti-
mated at upwards of two thousand.
The heaviest shock, that of April End,
destroyed every church and nearly
every dwelling in the whole district.
This earthquake was felt very sensibly
in Honolulu. Following the earthquake
came great tidal wave at Punaluu. 1t
| rolled in over the tops of cocoanut
trees, probably sixty feet high at least,
driving all floating rubbish inland
about quarter of a mile-taking with
it when it returned to the sea, houses,
men and women and everything NOV
able
MIR. Lyman wrote, I'VE could see the
shore. All along the seashore from
directly below us to Punaluu about
three or four miles the sea was boil
ing and foaming furiously, all red, and
the shore was covered"
Two remarkable eruptions accom-
! panied this earthquake. The lava,
starting from the slope of Mauna Loa,
| sank into some great channel but
burst forth with a heavy roar, sew
eral miles lower down and two miles
back of Captain Browns place. The
lava stream became river of fire,
/ flowing ranidlV toward ond around fba
farm houses. The inmates had barely
time to escape, The path by which
they fed was covered with lava with
in ten minutes after they passed over
it. Animals and even human beings
persisted. The number of deaths were
between eighty and one hundred. This
eruption flowed ten miles in two hours
and continued five days, destroying