The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1909-09-14
HAWAII VISIT D
MUCH ENJOYED

X Y
7 HILO, September 11.-Hilo's splen-
did hospitality to the Congressional
party was ended Saturday evening at
ten O'Clock by the call to board the
steamer for Maui, the last island over
which the party will roam before re-
turning to Honolulu Tuesday morning.
Hilo's hospitality has been unbounded.
Her best citizens have entertained
members of the Congressional party in
their homes.
ri The trip to the volcano was full of
deep interest, and some members ex-
pressed their belief that the neighbor
ing country should be turned into a
national park. The spectacle which
Y Madam. Pele offered them on the two
tnights of the visit was wonderfully
impressive, for the lake was seething
caldron, with mighty fountains playing,
and the elements all at work to awe
the visitors.
A gay cavalcade fled down the
slopes of the outer rim of Kilauea from
the Volcano House to the pit of Hale
maumau on Thursday, but it was very
1 bedraggled and forlorn looking crowd
of Congressman which returned over
\ the lava path, by night, in a rainstorm.
! After hours of enjoyment at the brink
4 of the pit, the party turned toward the
4 Volcano House.
Explicit directions as to the distri-
Y button of the lanterns among the long
ifile of men and women were given by
IilW. o. Smith, who was solicitous for
the welfare of the visitors, fearing
4 that without lights, and being un-
4 familiar with the almost indiscernible
. pathways, some might go astray and
sbecome lost in the lava fields. AT the
corral the horses were brought out and
+ found to be one short, and later it was
discovered that one of the guides had
taken this animal and gone post haste
10 the Volcano House to get milk for
he coffee boiled over hot lava crack.
Then came the long trudge back
f along the mysterious trail. Lanterns
ooked like fireflies, so often did they
become lost to view as they passed out
of sight behind hummock. For the
irst few hundred feet the visitors were
solicitous about the presence of Ian
erns, but as they went on they discov-
,red that the best light was afforded
l)y the reflection from the volcano
tself The glare shot high in the air,
lighting up clouds of smoke which rose
above the crater. But the way was well
marked, because of the occasional
vhitewashed stones on the right of the
path, which Mrs. Hollyday, wife of
Admiral Hollyday, U. S. N, declared
looked like the jag-line' at naval
station or army post roadway.
Then came a drizzle and presently a
IS heavy fall of rain. The rain drove
through clothing and wet the lightly
J1ol 20 Tho do
cooked like a bedraggled exodus of a
Il desert, or flying from burning city,
anxious to get anywhere away from
he great blaze behind.
Now and then a group from the rear
would catch up with another, to find
chat woman riding horse was
Dalighting to give foot passenger a
N lift. And so they trudged> on, and
when the foot of the cliff upon which
"A he Volcano House stands was reach
s I'd, shout went up as if the promised
and were just in sight. Up the steep
rail they climbed and finally drifted
INTO the house, weary. wet, bedragglei
md all eagerness to dine.
In the famous old fireplace room
# the House. one in which many men
nd women prominent in the affairs of
many nations have sat during the long
old evenings, wholesale dryingout
f clothing began. There were some
Who had no change of clothing,
nd these went to bed and sent
heir clothes to the fireplace to be
Tried out for nse the following day.
The start for the crater was made
It $3.50, Representatives Dawson and
scott being among the first to lead
IF on foot. Their first view of the
Tres of Halemaunlau caused them to
become enthusiastic and they walked
aster to get the finer view afforded
the shelter-house on the very brink
f the pit. One after another the
MEMBERS of the party arrived and all
lassed upon the edge as close as safe
Y and the fierce glow would permit.
They gazed into a wonderful pit
where a lake of molten fire roared
nd howled and dashed itself into a
ury. The spectacle was one of awful
lystery for it seemed, as some of the
congressman said, that the very bowels
f the earth had been rent loose and
orced into that horrible furnace.
Old Faithful gushed and roared and
ngulfed black islands of surfacecool-
d lava as they fioated ever from the
fest to the east side. 1t was mael-
from where Old Faithful held sway
nd every atom of living and dead fire
loved with irresistible impulse to-
5ard that ravenous NAV. On the OPP
osite side of the lake from the brink
which the visitors stood, lava gush-
d apparently from cavern. For hours
he stream flowed and broke with a
oar from the mouth of that fiery
AIDES, and threw up splendid foun-
aims until it was dubbed Miss Frisky
one of the ladies of the party.
he ever changing panorama held the
ttention of all until after dark
hen the spectacle became even more
lagnifcent.
Several made tour of the crater
rink, gathering "Pele's hair' which
'as source of deep interest to the
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