The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-07-28

1909:
With the soft afternoon sunshine
about us, we stood in the little garden |
of the Volcano House, below whose rim
we could see the vast black basin pf
lava that stretched between US and |
the tabled Kilauea. The walls of this /
older crater were high, wooded along
the top, but stark and precipitous be-
low The whole pit might have been ,
a weird lake. whose waters were thick
and black, and still. with the stiffness
of Death. Far across the lava, oppo-
site and on a line with us could be
seen an undulating curtain of whitish
smoke. That was the volcano.
As night fell soft glow tinged the
smoke-curtain, and as we plunged our
horses down the beautiful wooded trail
below the garden, the sudden tropical
dark was upon us. Ferns as high as
our horses heads bordered the way,
and criekets droned sleepily. Surely
this graceful descent through lovely
tropical verdure was in strange con-
trast to the harsh terminal walls that
imprisoned the lava-lake in all other
directions 1t was like fair open
approach to a burnt out lower world.
Soon all this beauty was left behind
and the crunch of cinders under the
horses hoofs told that the long lava
trail had begun The night wind blew
over the black desert, whose distant
rim circled in majestic lines against
starry sky; above the rim the
| fesouthern Cross'' shone in brilliant
beauty. The trail ended at last at a
stone corral where we were glad to
leave the horses and walk up the short
rough path that remained; glad to ap-
proach SO threatening and mysterious
light, on our good two feet.
At first the high lava boulders crowd
and the bottom of the glowing pit; a
cautious scramble by the light of
lantern gained us footing nearer the
rough lip and with a gasp we leaned
over. A pale red smoke lowered in
| the cavern; then as a Whit of wind
blew it to the opposite side, the boil,
ing lake below was revealed.
| What had I read into the stories Of
this "World Wonder that / should
have expected to see flames and fire
blazing waves and high dashing break.
| ersa All these things have been seen
in years past; what we saw was
huge rocky cauldron holding heavy
molten substance as of hot iron. This
moving body over two hundred feet
below us, skinned over perpetually
with a cooling bronze crust, which was
as constantly reft by blood red cracks.
Only against its walls the lava chafed
in angry jets, then recoiled, the whole
i mass converging in one central vortex,
where as we watched, geyser played
| in living fire, filing the pit with wild
light and heatl
Feeling slight choking from the
sulphur fumes, we drew back into the
cool night, standing bareheaded in the
wind until breathing became easy;
then we approached and knelt against
the Jagged rim with elbows upon the
top and chin in palms, determined to
face firmly this orthodox hell" as
John Burroughs has but recently epit-
omized it.
There were three lodges around the
walls of the pit, representing the. diff
| ferent levels at which the flow has
stood for we already knew that up
through the subterranean chimney OF
vortex whose location in indicated by
the geyser sold Faithful, - sudden and
untraceable floods of lava sometimes
crowd, raising the surface hundreds of
feet only to subside as mysteriously-
in the lower of these lodges, the one
Immediately over the lake, were occa-
!, sional openings like caves, and into
these blind reservoirs the molten stream
either boiled or flowed or spouted
These proved fascinating beyond meas
ure to watch, for the agitation of the
lava at these points broke up the dark
crust Of the cooling surface into
bright masses of ivid color and glory
= y kissing sound, too, assembled from
tHeH4. from Inc SeySer winch SpouLeu
periodically there issued a roar as OF
distant surf.
All this fiery activity was on our left
as we faced the southern horizon; the
, right side of the lake presented al
altogether different picture. Quietel
and as though it lay slightly higher i
moved thickly and smoothly down to
ward the geyser, cooling in large spaces
Of bronze that were bordered by fam
ing designs of incredible beauty; curry
ing lines, yet of themselves sharply
}. toothed and jagged These glowins
e borders slid majestically into eve
changing patterns as in kaleidoscope
here bronze pool was rent across thu
center, there it was cracked into small
= er pools in rosy ares of beauty; nov
R the pools looked like lustrous Persian
| enamel work, again some loom of tn,
Y under world was weaving a fabulou!
k rug of fire, or tooling an Illuminated
/ book. cover, or painting a jewelle6
leather strip; or we beheld satin,
brocade of bronze and fame unrou be
fore MS; in truth all the treasures Of
= the worlds greatest craftsmen were
Mt