Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1933-02-02
Mrs. Margaret DHbin Watts Writes
From naaalalu, !. L., Giving Interesting
Description Of Some Wonderful Sights

in December that there was al
| eruption. While / was in Hilo WI
felt small earthquakes quite often
However no one ever became alarm
ed, because they have never beer
serious.
i The National park is about rs
miles from Hilo. There is a very
good improved road all the way. Il
/ is a steady climb after leaving Hilo
until one reaches the region of the
/ Volcano. rising to an elevation oil
/ 1000 feet in that many miles, The
difference in the atmosphere is very
noticeable. Up near the volcano
the people have fires at night and
in the morning. OF course down in
Hilo, people don't even have an,
facilities for fire with which tC
keep warm. The drive is very beau.
tiful up to the volcano. AS one
nears the region there are huge
tree ferns that line each side of the
road. These ferns are just beauti-
full, and some of these giant ferns
are 40 feet high, with single fronds
rs feet long arching gracefully over
I the highway. There is a regular
Jungle. and one can easily get the
| impression of being back in a pre-
historic era when the entire earth
was covered with plants of similar
appearance.
There are certain locations in the
park where there is steam rising
from the ground continually. Even
| the ground is too hot to touch, in
one of these localities There are
also sulphur banks in the region of
the volcano. The raw sulphur is
very yellow and looks like small
crystals. These sulphur banks are
very hot too.
There is hotel in this Hawaii
National park, that is called the
Volcano House. This hotel is To-
Gated in the Kilauea section, on the
outer rim of the volcano. The SUI
perintendent of the park lives near
the Volcano House, and there are
quarters furnished for the rangers,
SO there is quite little community
up there. Also in this Kilauea Sec
tion there are two recreation camps
established for the use of the Off
GERS and enlisted men of the United
States army and navy. = Each year
thousands of service men spend
their vacations at the Kilauea mil
ifnr nVs hn to-
camp.
There is an observatory located
on the high point of Uwekahuna
bluff, where it oyerlooks the entire
Kilauea crater region and the Kau
desert. In this observatory there
are all kinds Of exhibits of volcanic
rock and formations, and an oper.
ating seismograph that enables the
visitor to secure comprehensive
knowledge of volcanic action.
There are 25 miles of highways
within this park, and one. can drive
almost to the very brink of Hale
maumau. Do you remember Of
reading about that Portuguese boy
who killed girl and then jumped
with her body into the pit Of Hale
maumau? 1T happened last sum-
mer, and I remember of reading
about it when was at home. Well,
we saw the exact spot where he
jumped, and from where the bodies
were recovered. There is one road
within the park which is seven
miles long, and which passes by
nine large craters. This is called
the chain of craters. There are
lava tubes that tourists and travel
ers can enter and explore. These
tubes were caused by the under
ground flow Of lava at one time.
We walked to the end of one of
these lava tubes, and | have never
seen such darkness as in this tube.
1t is all very interesting and ed
ucationaL and liked being in Hilo
and on the island of Hawaii. How
ever I was over there for three
months, and did certainly see lot.
Honolulu is more of city, and
quite up-to-date. From Honolulu
to- Hilo it is 1872 miles. BY road
that doesn't seem SO far, but by
boat it takes fourteen hours or one
entire night. II the volcano be-
comes active, hope it will be pos
sible for us to make the trip back
over to Hawaii.
1t certainly didn't seem like
Christmas to us down here this
year. 1t was SO warm, and about
like day in June in Ohio. 1t is a
very peculiar custom, but the peo-
Pile celebrate Christmas and New
Years by shooting off fire works
and firecrackers. I had never heard
so many firecrackers as I did this
year. There were 102 injuries,
just from fire works, here in Homo
lulu over the holidays. You would
think something would be done
about it, wouldn't you?
Well I must close and dash off a
letter to mother. / wish you could
take enough time off to come over
here, Uncle Ray. You would enjoy
this weather much more than the
snow and ice. We get our Dem
ocrat regularly and really wouldn't
know what to do without it. Our
address now is Box 2,521. Honolulu,
/ u