The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-10-01

fell ton after ton OF raw red rock from
the walls.
The hours passed without notice; there
was no thought of food or even of the
world without And as the day slowly
waned and the wondrous spectacle be-
came lighted up by It's own fires 1t was
seen that they were on the shaking rim
of a vast pit, more than a mile in cir
conference and fully a thousand feet
in depth, with, dimly seen now, a jum-
bled mass of red hot rock piled up in
chaos.
Grent Niagara of Fire.
At 7:15 that evening occurred the
greatest wonder of that day Of marvels.
With an appalling crash an enormous
section of the wallis of the pit caved in
ward and roared down In a mighty ava
lanche, 200 feet in width at least.
For three hours poured tho tumultuous
torrent while the lake level appreciably
rose. Gone were the familiar massive
crags and islands; gone the well known
features of the upper walls, with their
yawning caverns and slopes of debris
of former rockfalls. The interior of the
pit now presented absolutely perpendic-
ular walls, and as the three men rose
slowly to their feet they realized that
the whole of the observing posts, save
only that by which they stood, had van
ished also, hurled into the terrific depth
below. And only then did they UNDER
stand their miraculous deliverance from
nm appalling death, and they shook
hands in silence.
But what of Kilauea since that day7
Let me say in a few words that the lava
has not only recovered its former level
but is at the time of writing at the high
est elevation in all its known history.
And I want to tell you about this, for
the mighty pit of Kifauea has been lit
orally turned inside out and the bowels
of the earth are to-day being spewed forth
in wondrous revelations of volcanic
power, pouring from far above the level
Of the former pit away over the floor Of
the great outer crater whose circum-
ference Is hard upon eight miles.
Lava Overnows Pit.
Early in February, 1918. for the first
time in over forty years. the lava
reached the rim of the pit and COM
menced to pour in It's burning foods out
ward over the floor of the surrounding
main crater. 1t began quickly and
within ten minutes had buried section
Of the automobile road, with the park
ing place, fifty feet deep beneath a
glowing, kissing mass of rapidly solid
flying rock The trails and an instru-
ment house were destroyed. and for
many weeks thereafter there were sue
cessive flows from the south and south
east sections of the inner pit while
hundreds of visitors dipped out the
molten mass and, embedding coins
therein, waited until 1t cooled and then
took it away as souvenirs.
The overfiows died down after hav-
ing considerably altered the crater floor.
The massive crags began to sink in
sympathy with the lakes, and soon adj
venturous parties were being taken
down a crazy trail to walk upon the
summit of the now descending lava
column.
1t lasted but a short time. however,
for with the June solstice the tide turned
and thereafter the history of Kilauea
has been that of a monumental rise
without parallel in the history of the
worlds great volcanoes Overfows
again commenced in September. 1918,
and still the gigantic column rose. The
several islands had now become merged
into a vast homogeneous mass whose
summit was domed and rounded and
bore cups or depressions in which were
now four lakes with their accustomed
boilings and fountainings and spectac-
ular displays