The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-01-28
Pub lily Man For Hawaii Says
Spectacle Never So Wonder (
fal Before
GREAT CRATER SETTLING
MASSES OF LIQUID STONE
View From Rim Of Pit Is Like
Looking At Birth Pangs Of
World

Now il the best time TO see the great
eiHtel Of FIalemaumau, the House Of
Everlasting Fire, for now the pit is
hotter, fercer, more spectacular thar
eyCr, according to l.. w. de Wis Norton
publicity representative Of tho ISLAND
o. Hawaii at the Office of the promo
tion committee. In an interview given
yesterday, Mr.. de Wis Norton, who has
just returned from visit to the wen
ders OF Kilauea, said:
''When Is the best time to see the
v0,eanoF | suppose, more often than
@'l other. / am asked that question,
and truly il is hard one 10 answer
To most tourists the volcano means
hoC 90 mueh the whole area OF :he
vast craterbed Of Kilauea as the Inighty
spectacle 10 be witnessed at all times
within the grim, stern walls of IlTie
manman, the House of Everlasting
Fire And, therefore, in answering
tile oft repeated question, refer more
to the latter than to any other part.
Boo Volc ano Now
Some few years ago, after the
great earthquake, Halemaumau was
actually only hole in the ground with
some smoke in it, but 1 have met many
who have told me that a journey right
around the globe was not enough for n
sight of that hOle and all that 1T con-
veyed to the mind. If this he so, what
ran be said of il now-4today--w men
the subterranean fires have returned TO
the surface and the whole area of that
a 4 l,u
eye of the visitor; when he may sit
IN perfect safety, and, dangling his feet
over the T;m of eternity, watch the
creation of the world in full blast, lit
tie more than four hundred feet below
him. A few days ago | sat on that
rim, as / have done before, for several
hours, and only the thought of aL auto
mobile and an inpatient chauffeur
fifty yards away, induced, me to tear my
islf away from that terrific spectacle.
Most unhesitatingly | say TO every one
Of the visitors now in Honolulu, if
you want TO see the valcano in one of
lin grandest moods, see 1t now; take the
first boat to HilO, and, above all, do
not be content to see Halemaumau
nlly once, hut ut least stay for a few
DAYS and visit it every day and every
night during your stay.
Many Visitors Indifferent
E.lnleed to me il is incredible that
so many people can travel thousands
Of milesato see this greatest wonder of
the world, and come away after o per
frncto"y glance Mt it. One night last
week three of use were at the edge
dui ing a smoky interval when only the
Care Il ON the fires beneath was wish
Bile. We were joined by two visitors
who TODD for a few moments gazing
at he sw!rling smoke wTeaths and then
wcm back to their automobile loudly
EXPRESSING their disappointment. And
yet, not five minutes after they had
left, we three were the sole witnesses
Of one of the subIimest spectacles the
volcano has provided for many months
aud certainly the grandeSt | have seen
during my many visits.
HWords are but poor hating things
when one tries to describe that sight,
and when one realizes that though one
NAV see il in thi present day ii yet
belongs TO a IeriOd anteh at srical when
nature first made up her geological epO-
pee, when the glowing mass of the globe
uplifted the mountains and when the
earth ia the pangs of titanic child
birih 6Fst hurled forth those marvellous
incandeseent fountains Of molten rock.
Whole LaSe Lies Clear "l'F
n, As 1 hive already said we had
been waiting patiently through a smoky
interval, ;. but presently the dense cloud
rwirIed upward and in q moment the
whole Pit was clear and the entire sur.
nee Of the lake with its jagged banks
~ unfolded beneath ms. The lake
.tself WAS almost free from scum and
was in pioleht motion. o Faithful,
the most constant Of all the fire foun
tains, was tremendously active, sending
crimson and golden waves dashing
aeain't the overhanging banks; several
other fountains were playing and the
entire lnL g was streaming Taridly from
Fonth west to north east, Close against
the southern bank row of slIa Ter founs
taiEs gushed aud tore at the imprisOn
ing wall, while opposite them appeared
n White hot cavern whose irregular
18th was thirkly hung with magnif-
Gem stalactitcs many feet in length
Ilith on the southern bank were, three
D. W v formed spatter cones, volcanoes
in miniature, which, every few seconds
shot great elots of molten lava high
ir air, with n mite like that of bat
ter s<-quiel firing guns. =, <5E j.
fgIt was mae nifrent sight indeed
7 - even. az we watched in spell-
! ouad silence, there appeared a glow,
isg pput between those comes aud the
like itse'f. The spot quickly wideped
Into = rift, apd the rift into a chasn
aud then with q mighty roar a great
lava flow burst from that awful throat
,hooting hieh above the rim and pour,
ing in a wondrOus cascade into the
laFe which seemed to spring to meet
Il 3 iqyi'sh plee 49, (
rFonT hundred and odd feet below
W ns ire s1t there. we watched this
rdhrirg Inferno. but presently, from
tls heat and all the might Of II we
hid our faces as from the glory of the