The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1917-02-08

supplicauts with images Of saint ant
virgin have not always been equal!
successful In arresting the Laws
streams on Aetna and vesuviusc ii
their destructive paths. lam told tina
even today, II an native Hawaiian
visits Kilauea he will generally maxi
some first offering to the volcano.
he takes his lunch on the crater-rin
he will first throw piece of the meat
a piece OF bread drink or whatever
1t is, into the boiling lava--or If ht
has nothing else he will take out hi
handkerchief and sacrifice that.
Land at Thriving Town.
We landed at Hilo, a thriving towI
Of some 5000 inhabitants and started
in an automobile up through the sugar
fields and then through forests ant
endless groves of fern treets, for some
thirty miles to the Volcano house al
the edge Of the crater. AS we rode or
someone In our company asked
Where is the mountain" for there
was no evidence Of any in the vicinity
1t seemed rather to be one vast plain
But without noticing it we had riser
gradually some 1000 feet-now We
began to see steam rising from the
bushes and rocks around us and q
smell OF sulphur and then, suddenly
emerging from the woods we found
! ourselves at the Volcano House on the
i edge of the largest active crater IN the
world, nearly eight miles in circumfer
ence, and on an average 900 feet deer
enclosing an area of some $3.50 acres
the floor being made Of hardened lava
partly smooth and partly rough and
often wrought into all sorts OF gro
tesque shapes. Steam and sulphur
! are pouring out from many places.
But within this great crater, a little
southwest OF the middle, there is an.
other one, something over thousand
feet in diameter filled with the boiling
lava. This is called Halemaumau.
"The House of Everlasting Fire" At
ter lunch I'VE drive thither, ride of
seven miles still in our automobile,
| passing on the way Kilaueaiki and
| Keanakakoi, two extinct craters (of
which there are many hereabouts),
splendid natural amphitheatres with
smooth brown lava floors and YER
OulO 5AO"Au6 Qp luS SAOco.
Descend into Crater
When at last we descend to the
great crater, cross it and reach the
rim of the smaller one within and
look over the edges of that, a scene
Is presented which surpasses belief
or description. l think nobody can
quite form an idea Of it who hasn't
seen 1t. With many OF the wonders
of nature, Niagara, for instance, or
the Grand Canyon. I have heard peo-
pie say, well, this is great; it is ire
mendous, but it is not quite as great
as I expected" l certainly did not
feel like that in looking for the first
time on this terrific sight, visible
and boiling he'll right at my feet. The
wall of this inside crater is generally
GOO feet deep. 1t was that deep last
May. But the lava has been .gradu-
ally rising since that time till the fiery
lake is now less than hundred feet
below the rim, and it is rising still,
though higher now than it has been
for many years. In the middle of this
lake is black rough irregular shaped
promoutory which looks like an island.
/ LAG IVY VI ~ ID uOW 0OOuI dS ulSu do
the rim Of the crater But the pro-
rrtetor Of the Volcano House "a Greek
who rejoices in the combined glory
of the names of Demosthenes and Ly-
curgus) tells me that a few months
ago this island was 500 feet lower
than ID is today, that it has gradually
been pushed up by the molten mass
below.
Would Not Like to BE Near
would not like to be near when it
topples over like an ice-burg, which
it may do If the lava keeps on rising.
Around this island and against the cir
cular walls of the crater, the fiery
food RACES and seethes, sweeping gen.
orally toward the left (while I was
watching IT. as it circles within this
tremendous cauldron. Now, there is
no actual flame as you see when a
house burns down or a forest is con.
sumed It is not like that at all. But
if you have stood near the door of a
blast furnace and seen the molten
metal run out and gradually become
black from contact with the air and
then more white and red metal fol.
lowing, you can form better idea Of
this molten lake. Yet that cqmpari.
son is inadequate. You would have to
multiply the furnace thousands Of
times and then you would not see
half the things going on in this crater
The lava that floats around is dark
with fringes of bright red. Then from
the midst of it leaps up great foun-
tain of bright red liquid FIRE and scat
tiers in all directions sending it's CLEAN
ing spray thirty or forty feet high,
then another fountain rises, and then
third, then the fountains begin to
move. approaching the rim of the
crater and dash against it like waves
of the ocean. and you hear a roar
like the breakers on rocky beach.
Then more red lava boils up, then
more, then there is quiet for few
seconds, then all breaks out again.
We spent the whole afternoon here at
the crater and then staid on into the
night. If it be terrible in the day.
time it is doubly overwhelming at
night when all you can see is the
fiery embroidery of the black floating
mass, then the outbreaks. the foun.
tains of fire and the great waves
dashing on the circle of rocks around
the pit. $50.
Has Not Taken Great Toll
Yet this volcano, so dreadful in ap-
pearance has not taken the toll of hui
man lives, which has made the names
OF Aetna and Vesuvius so frightful.
JA fNf1 hit