The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-06-23
insufficient lantern light. Groups of


safe for the one carryins the light.
but altogether a different matter for
those trailing behind. The trail twists
and turns around. through AID over
the curious lava formations. The one
ahead with the light would often be
two or three turns ahead of the last
person of the party. leaving him. if
not in total darkness, puzzled as to
which way to turn. If he was so I'M
fortunate as to unwittingly choose
''cross lots" course to catch up with
the guide, there was apt to be a fall.
with a bruised knee or hands to talk
about afterwards.
| A SERIOUS ACCIDENT.
One rather serious accident occurred
soon after the start to mar the pleas
ure of the people who were aware of it:
and it was especially distressing to the
victim. 1 happened to be the last of one
! of the little groups. and we were fol-
lowing an amateur guide. Immediately
in front of me were two ladies, I'M
known to me in the darkness To our
discontinue, our guide discovered that
/ he had lost the trail. and suddenly
struck off at right angles to find it.
leaving US in total darkness with I'M
known dangers in the shape of yawn-
! ing crevasses to contend with. One Of
the ladies lost her footing and seemed
in danger of falling, and l called for
the lantern man to return and show
us the trail But he did not come, for
just then a woman's piercing cry of
"Help!" rang out on the air in the
and I reached the light some way
without disaster 10 ourselves, in fear
full anticipation of what awful thing
had happened. There the group were.
at the edge of crevasse perhaps fif-
teen feet deep over which a bridge had
been built, peering down. Some one
was at the bottom. dead or alive we
did not know OF course there was
neither rope nor ladder at hand: and
when I arrived on the scene, W. w.
Thayer and think A E. Bailey of Day
& Cos, were hanging by their hands
to a cross timber. so that whoever it
was at the bottom, if there was life
enough left in him, could clutch their
feet and thus be drawn UP. 1t was a
man, and alive. and though dazed he
succeeded in climbing up far enough
to reach the rescuers' feet. 1 was of
help in reaching down and hauling up
the unfortunate man who, when the
lantern was brought to bear, proved
to be VIM. L. Eaton of the Bulletin
office. We diagnosed his injuries as
being principally a badly sprained
ankle, which later proved to be cor
rect. How he escaped death seems
miraculous, the only solution being
that he went down the hole head first.
struck his shoulder on some timbers
left in the hole from the bridge work,
and had. his fall thus checked. We left
him sitting near the scene of the acct
dent, and meeting some of the Gov
ernor's party returning, told them of
the accident and asked them to have
Mr.. Eaton taken back to the hotel on
a horse. DR.. Cofer, fortunately, was
at hand, and gave the injured man
what relief the remedies at hand per-
mitted
AT THE PIT OF THE CRATER.
Nothing further of a serious nature
happened, and soon the entire party
had gathered at the pit of the crater.
1t has been easy enough for me to
convey the party thus far with my pen
but how shall describe the marvel
GUS sight that met our gaze, and held
us as in a trance? Kilauea in action
has been written about so many times
by famous pens that it seems an old
story. And yet it is ever new. always
as hell!
My people were Baptists, of the
hardshell kind. As a small boy, 1 re-
member listening with awe to the good
man in the pulpit expounding a doc
trine of hell fire and damnation, with
a pit of seething birthstone wildly pic
tured as the future abiding place of
the wicked. l had no idea where that
awful place was, and I see now from
my maturer reasoning that the preacher
had no idea of its exact location,
either. If hell or heaven were con-
ditions, and not places, he conveyed
no suehN idea to my mind; and l was
left for years with dread of rather
than love for God.
As I stood at the brink of the fiery
pit looking down, perhaps two hundred
feet, to where the unfathomableness Of
nature was at work, making everchang-
ing pyrOteehnie pictures -grander, more
sublime in an ineomprehensible degree
Z han auz-f bfunr man oo,,TJ