Foreign Correspondence

Honolulú, H. I, Feb. lltli, '87. To the Coukikk : My letters about the volcanoes of Hawaii seem to have stirred thetn up ; perhaps my statement tliat they were near the end of their activity aroused them to niake un emphatic denial of such an Infa uious -lander- at any rate, tbe steamer carryiug my letters liad ucarcely left Honolulú, when the newa carne tliat Mauna Loa was in eruption. Before the news reached Honolulú, there were ominous signs of some kind of tmospheric or othcr disturbance; a smoky haze filled Um air and enveloped the inountain topa back of Honolulú, reminding one of Indian summer; the sunsets were of a startling blood-red color; and the air feit heavy and oppressive. Those who had lived hei e a long time predicted that we sliould soon hearthat there was a volcanic eruption on Hawali, and thls prediction was fulfllled by the lirst steamer oominy from the Island of Hawaii. The eruption was flrst noticed at 4:40 p. in. on Sunday January lUth, when a cloud of smoke was Been well up on the soulh lope ot Mauna Loa. At 8:30 that eveninga bright light ippeared ut the saine place, reinainiug visible tintil 11 p. HU, wlun it suddenly disappeared. The lava first appuaring up on the uonntain slope soon fouud an underground passage throtigh which to flow, for after disappeitrlng Sunday night, it reappeared on Tuesday the 18th at 7 p. m., sevtral miles down the mountain. From this point it flowed aboveground about twenty miles, when it reached the sea on the 19th at 11:40 a. m. The llow was one to three miles wide, and wher. it poured into the ix'c ui it must have heen not less than a inile in width. At lir-i the streatn of lava moved quite slowly, perhaps a uiile and a half er hour, but later it was seen flowiug at the rate of twenty-five miles uu houi'. The place in the mountain slde from which the lava Ho wed was ürst reported as a crack abuut three-fourths of a inile long aul tweuty-fi ve feet wide, but later the crack extended up the mountain several miles. Along thls crack Hiere were, at one time, as inany as tifteen fountains of inolten lava playing into the air as high as two hinidrcd feet. The side of of the mountain was one vaat sheet of inovinjr, gory lire, fornlng a rushiiif; river of eiiorniuiis power and awful grandeur There were constant explosión of pent up gases, sending up column ol spray and smoke, at times tive hundred feet in height. An eye witncss remarked that it seemed as if' heil itself hail diaiigéd its gcographical position. For miles uround Dlgill was turned iuto day, the light reüected from the flow enabling pcople to read line print at Dtghl twenty and thirty miles away. Possibly one in ii li t. in some ainall degree, imagine bow the tide of tire and rock poured for several d.iys over the ibra into the deep and sui priscd ooeau ; liut it is next to impossible, even for the most imaginative mimi, to conceive ttie reality of the terrible grandeur ol' the duwnward charge of that inile-hiuail flood of tin', the tumultuous horror of roar, and ahriek, and hiss, with whiih it pressed forward and with disturbing fury leaped in the deep, blue Pacilic. A inighty contest between two such giantic elementa on ascale so ;r.ind is one ot t In: most sublime and awe-inspiring sights mortal eye could expect evi-r to ee. Thia flow was accompanied by iiuiiu-ioiise irtliqu.ikes. Between 2 a. m. Sunday the Kitli, and 7 p. m. Tuesday the 18th, there were no lesa than 618 earlhquakes in the viciuity of the flow and to sonie extent throughout the Island of Hawaii. The ground was in an almoat constant treuihle, hut the shttklng was lilit. However, on Sunday evening, Jauuary 2M, there occurred some very heavy eai thquakes doing some dauiage and cau8in}{ any amount of terror. Two of theae quakes were feit in Honolulú but but did no danuge here. I was awakened by the lir-i shock and tuought some one was trying to push my house over, but I soon becume sulliciently awake lo kuow what was happening The second shock came about fltteen minutes later and tossed me aboul on the bed quite coinfortably. Except a sliitht quake on New Vear's day, these were the llrst tliat have occurred in Honolulú slncw I have been here. It was not my first experience, aB I feit a mild shake in Hilo last summer. Kau is the name of the district which received the feil benerlt of the lava flow and the earthquakes. It is the southernmo8t district of the Island of Hawaii. A large portion of U Is covered with old lava flows and U decidodly barren , but the eastern part is quite fertile, coutaining some line sugar plantations and stock ranches. Kortunately the recent flow has gone over a worthless tract of land and has caused little or no loss of property. The llow continued quite active until January :ilst, when it began to subside and by Fitln uary 2d was pructically tiuished. I left Ilonolulu January lilst to visit the dcene of action and arrived off the tlow Tuesday even Ing February Ut, but I wal too late to witness anything more than the eNpiring ellbrts of the eruption. Instead of an immense rlverof living flre, I beheld only lts dead nud dylng remains -black, desolate, sllent and awful. A real live lava tlow leaves but little of its likeoeJf in lts corpse, but the viait was full of interest, however disappointing at ürst. When we arrived off the flow in the dark, we could Bee little flery eyes peepDg out here and there, and up the niountain side there was a fnnt reflectlon of li glit against the overhanging cloudi. All else was black. When niornlng came, we aw a massive black cloud overhanjtingtlie flow and indicating its location up the mountain side fur a dlstance of tweuty miles, 'fhis was our pillar ot cloud by day but the pillar of lire by night had not waited for us, much to our regret. Along the shore In several place1, jetg of steam wcre rlsing from the water. The water ltself near shore was 80 tho that one could not hold thelr hand In it and it was perceptibly warm a long distaace out, although the water is very deep here close iu to shore. The recently cooled lava flow looked like an enonuous pile of grayish black coal twenty to forty feet high, one to three miles broad, and twenty miles long, imlescribably rough and ragged. Climbing upon the f rozen riverof lava, I found it still very hot. In one place there was a hole red-hot to withln a foot of the surface, into which I thrust my walkinstick and instantly set it into a blaze. At nother point was a rent tifty feet long, when, some Mfteen feet bclow, was an intense glow of alinost white heat along lts leiifith. Here and there smoke was rising from the surf une of the fliw. This lava flow has built out the coast line inlo the ocoan from two bandnd to tive liundred feet, inaking some thirty acres of new land. Hou nd in ga showecl the oceiui along close to shore to be from one hundred to two lumdred feet deep, so that the lava, wliere it ran into and fllled up the ucean, must be any whcre from one hu uil red and fifty to two hundred and fifty feet in depth, fooe it rises nbout forty feet above the oeean's level. hen one eonsiclurs the enoriuoii! ainount of material that must make up this flow, a niass twenty miles lonjr, one tu three mlleajbroad, and twenty to two hundred feet or mure indeptli; when. also, one considera that this ;reat mH8S of mitter was put in its present position insiJe of two weeks, then one can begin to form some faint conception of the tremendous forcea that were engaged in doing tliia work I doubt if all the rallways in the world could begin to do the sanie amrnint of work In the same length of time, It would more likely require years. The last lava flow that occurred In Kan was in 1868. This flow broke out lower down the mountain, just east of the present flow two or three miles. It lasted only three days, but the earthquakes altendlng it were probably the worst ever experienced on these Hands. The flows oecurriDg in this district have generally been of short duration, have gone direct to the sea, have been accompanied by more or lesa severe earthquakes, and have broken out quite low down on the mountain. Eruptlons that start near the top of Manna Loa are very quiet and of long duration, as the flow of 1880-1 whieh ran for nine months or more and came near destroying Hilo, but was entirely unaccompanled by earthquake?. The flow of 18(58 was doubtless from Kilauea but the present flow is generally believed to come from Manna Loa, si nee the place where It flrst broke through the mountain side ia very much above the level of Kilauea. The eruptions of the Hawalian volcanoes oceur with a certain degree of reLUlarity. Tbr periods are either from four to six years or from ten to twelve. Between the" eruptions the lava constantly rises in the erator, until the pressure of the liquid column becomes so great as to cause the mountain side to give way at some weak point Then the lava is drawn off, after which the filling up procesa recoiuinences. An event connected with this lava tlow and illustrating a peculiar characteristlc of the Hawaiian race, is the death of Her Koyal Hltjhness. Princess Likelike, a younger sister of His Majesty. The connection betweeu two such events may not be readlly apparent, especially when It Is known that the Princess was safe n her own home two hundred and fifty miles from the place of eruption. But I will explain. According to Hawniian mythology Pé'é is the Uoddess of Fire and has her favorlte abode in the volcanoes. Whenever she becomes angry, she manitests her divine displeasure by a volcanic eruption and can be appeased only by the death of some persou of hi;;ii rank. Accordingly, the eruption continue until soine one of royal blood feels it their duty to lie down and die, when Pélé generally relents and stops the flow of lava ;md anger. Sometimes, on second thoiifcht, the wrathy old lady deerns onc death insufllcient, and out breaks the lava again witliin a few days and a second s:tcrilire is demanded. Well, the Princess Likelike had been ill sonietime but was convalescent. About the time of tlie eruption, she took the flrst rldc after her illness and it proved too much of an exertlon, mulng a relapse, which, however, was not necessarily serious in itself. The news of the eruption coming about this time, the lontr, dormunt, heathen instinct was aroused and at once her sickness becume associated in her mind with the aner of Pélé. She said she was doomed todie and froiu that time refused all care, nourishment, and medicine. She sank rupidly, and died February second ; just about the time the flow ceased, at least near enough to satisfy native superstition. Those of us who hastened tosee the flow wished that Pélé had not relented so soon. This sad event illustrates tlie tenucity witli which pagan superstition willcllng to and inhere in a race once heathen. In spite of careful training, christlan education and asso:iatious, in spite of intelligence and reflnemnt, the heathen instincts may still be gtrong and come to the front if occasion offers. However, in this particular case, it may be said that the parents and grand parents of the present ruling dynasty were persisten tly heathen, and were perhaps never moved from puganism. His Majesty is Intensely superstitious and the superstitons heindulges are are heathen. Perhaps the Princess Likelike's previous long illness had produced an extreme degree of weakness, wliich mlght have leesened her power of selfcontrol.' Tliere prevalls a quite general impression that the erupüou has ceased only for a short time and will soon be renewed. In casu this sin ui ld prove truc, it is [robable that either the King or his remainiug sister would feel called upon to joln their departed ancestors. If His Majesty wen; in any way likely to be aftVcted by such an eveut, tliere are not a few who earnestly hope that Pélé will get up a tremendous blow out. I might theu have the opportunity of describing to yon a roval funeral: which. I am told. is an