OCR Text |
Show News From The Sandwich Islands. During the past week the eruption on Mauna Loa has been visible from Hilo several times, yet for the greater portion of time clouds of dense smoke have shut every vestige of the mountain from view. On Saturday night and Sunday, November 13th and 14th, the view was grand; the flow towards Kau being by far the most brilliant. Kilauea also seemed to be more active than usual, as its bright fires were reflected upon the clouds above. A cloud of smoke enveloped Hilo on Sunday night and Monday, and the heat from the great fire was apparent. On Monday evening the fires were again distinctly seen, the flow towards Hilo being very bright, yet, not as brilliant as during the first days after the outbreak. On Tuesday the cloud of smoke all over this portion of the island, occasionally lifting a little and showing a lurid light over the Puna and Kua regions, as also over Mauna Loa. Tuesday and Wednesday were dark days owing to the great clouds of smoke that filled the air. Parties coming from the Volcano House, at Kilauea, report the view from there as surpassingly fine. The whole stream of living fire - from its fountain head near the summit of Mauna Loa, to its terminus near the Government road, leading from the Volcano to Kua, and about three miles from the Kapapala Sugar Plantation, can be seen from the Volcano House. This unbroken stream of molten lava, over thirty miles in length varying from three-quarters of a mile to over two miles, presents a view that never can be forgotten. At its present rate of progress, but a few days will elapse before the stream crosses the road on its course to the sea. The plantation is evidently out of danger, although so near the track of this great flow. The lava is running over worthless land, a large valley-like sandy and rocky depression, lying between the Kapapala plantation and the Volcano of Kilauea, and if it reaches the sea will probably do somewhere between Kahaluu and Punaluu or about the region indicated on the map as the flow of 1823. Now is the time for travelers to see one of the grandest sights of creation. The two extremes, that toward Mauna Kea on the north, and that towards Kau on the south, can readily be reached from Hilo, and the journey is one attended with no danger, and would well repay all fatigue and expense. |