Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-31
GLOWING, TURBD
RIVER OF FIRE
Monstrous Stream of Glowing
Lava Pours From
Mauna Lao

Mauna Loa, most picturesque of
Hawaiian volcanoes. again has kind
Jed its votive flames to Pele, goddess
of fire. Streams of liquid fire pour
from its Gaping mouth, join and
rush in a great, swirling, kissing
river of angry red to plunge in a
cloud of rose-hued steam over a high
cliff into the sea.
Great incandescent boulders toss
madly on the churning bosom of the
stream. Lava cools along its edges
and broke off in gigantic black is
lands of "a, which pitch erratically
a few seconds on the crests of the
waves, change from black to fiery
red, and then, melted by the terrlhc
heat, become part of the glowing
river. Pickering, green-white gas
flames lick the face of the swift
flowing bed. Miniature craters open
Flames shoot from them q little
while, then die down, while the "a
about them glows dull red.
A Spectral Forest
Leaves have withered and fallen
IN the ohia forest through which the
stream has cut its way, and spectral
trees thrust their fire-blackened
limbs into a brazen sky. Through
this ghostly forest, the river rushes
"lllOuI SOuh0 oeiNC iOl bAAS @AN'S -
escaping steam and gases, and the
occasional slush of a bursting gas
bubble. There is none of the roar
of waters in flood. Almost ghastly
is its silent journey.
Beautiful by day, the molten flood
is most gorgeous at night. Then the
fiickering green-white flames stand
out more distinctively against their
background of glowing red. Mounds
Of into innllmarah hla in
candescent gems, where the molten
interior is barred by riffs in the
blackened outer crust The country
round is lighted by strange. rosy
diffusion from the burning river,
while puffy, cumulous clouds, float
ing over it, glow in saffron, salmon
and gold as they reflect for mo-
ment it's myriad lights, then vanish
into the obscurity of the horizon,
inky black in contrast to the brazen
sky which overhangs the glowing
stream.
Fire Lights Steam Cloud
Great fields of lava burst suddenly
into white heat as some unknown
force churns them up, and then dull
into the red glow of the main
stream, while the lightning flashes
of Pele play over their surface.
And where the fiery torrent
plunges over the plateau, an i'm
mense cloud of steam from the boil
ing ocean shoots up a full mile into
the heavens, taking on marvellous
colors of rose and gold as the sea
breezes swirl it about and spread its
brilliant cap toward the horizon.
AS the flow continues, the cliff OF
"a at the brink of the sea has been
forced steadily oceanward by the
solidifying lava, until a great pro-
}, hnon n1Shad ten miles
out from the sea wall. At the edge
of the sea the flow is eight hundred
yards wide, but broadens to two
miles before it seethes over the "a
cliff into the ocean. Farther back
toward the crater it narrows to one
hundred yards, then branches into
thousands of tiny rivulets which
lace the mountainside in fire.
Long Has Threatened Hawaii
When the first eruption came, late
in September, the cap was blown
from the bubbling caldron by a
great pillar of lava three hundred
feet in diameter, and thrown three
hundred feet into the air. AS time
passed this column collapsed, and In
the latter days of the eruption the
molten fire has slushed and gurgled
over the edge of the crater.
Mauna Loa has long been high
priestess to Pele in Hawaii. In 1911
it threatened the island. Bearing its
smoke wreathed head 1875 feet
from the center of the island, its
flame spouting mouth holds menace
to the entire land. In 1907 Hawai-
had trembled before its threat, as IN
1905 and in 1899. At frequent but
irregular intervals as far back as
scientists have observed, the giant
ess has threatened destruction to
those who live at her feet.