THE GREAT ERUPTION OF MAUNA LOA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 260, 24 December 1880, Page 4

THE GR EAT ERUPTION OF MAUNA LOA.

A EIVER OF FIRE THIRTY MILES LONG. Honolulu paper* . received by the lasfc< mail ete&cner contain accounts of the great eruption of Maun a Loa, the grend volcano of. the Sandwich Island group. Wb moke the following extracts :— " We pitched our tent under, the lee of the bill, end alongside some fine mamani trees, where We could see the whole elope of Mauna Los, but not the whole plain. Clouds and fog had sow enveloped tbs whole plain and mountain, and not a light could we see. We climbed the hill-Bide, however, and Bat down under the lee of some bushes and awaited the clearing up of some foga and clouds. It was not long before old Mauna Loa lifted its bald head above the tops of the snowy clouds, and a brilliant light burst on our vie* from the summit. In a few minutas we could see (he whole line of fire along the summit, down to the terminal crater, where an intense bright light showed us that o!J Pele was true to herself, and was prpparioga sight for all, seldom to bes.een. As the fog gradually cleared from off the sides of the mountain, we saw n tremendous river of fire pouring down the steep Bide?. We could s»e it distinctly dov.n the elope, till it ran iato the fog bank, which had settled like a huge snow bed all over the lowlands. The fire was an intense white light, and wns running furiously downwards. After waiting till eleven o'clock, We went back down to the camp, and Watched the magnificent ehow. About half-past twelve, the fog lifting, two of as went up the side of the hill towards Puna, to see the Bight, and what & sight it was. Almost under our feet lay the end of the flow slowly pushing its way along through the scrub mamani. The whole stream lny before ue. Soon the moon sef, and etill it wt# light enough to see to read. Away above us in the heavens shone the brilliant fountain-head, and from tbetce to the end was, a continuous stream of liquid lava, brighter by far than fire, aa we could see bow pale a fire looked in comparison whenevera bush took fire and burnt up alongside. .There lay a river of fire before us at least thirty miles long, every inch of which was one bright rolling tide of fire. There was not a- single break in the whole length. It divided about a mile from the top and ran down forming a parallelogram, joined again, and ran five miles below. The whole front edge being about three-fourths of b mile wide wes a most intensely brilliant light, and es it slowly advanced and rolled over the small trees and scrub, bright flames would flash up and die out along its whole edge. As we sat there in the cool still night watching it, every now and then a report as of a cannon broke on the stillness, all along the line of fire, caused I suppose by the heating of the air under the' new lava in the old lava caverns and bursting up through the erust. Then too occasionally a deep but loud rumbling noise would almost start us from our seats, evidently coming from the deep recesses of the old mountain, bb if it was spouting forth its fbry flood: The cannonade was very frequent, now right close to us and again coming from a distance away tip the side of the mountain. I oould compare the whole view with nothing but a Btreak of chain lightning frozen in its tracks, as the fire seemed to come out of' Ine Heavens, it was so far above ns. Ab we eat there watching it, all at once a huge dome of molten! lava Wftß thrown up about half way. up the Mountain side and continued to flow over \ike an immense fountain, as long as we watched it. We also saw another Btream of lava start from the fountain head and run right along the top ridge of the mountain f° r about two miles sfhd then apparently stop. There was do fountain throwing up lava on the top of the mountain, only a steady rushing stream. About half-past two we f descended to camp and turned in for a' few hours' sleep. We took the track from . Kalaeeha to Kipukaahina and then followed down the Hilo road from the old Bullock's Head to where it> turns down into the big Kipuka above Halealoha at the foot of the d'escent (not far from where we find the oheloa so thick). We crossed the old flow for about 1000 feet and then stood on the very edge of that flowing river of rock. Oh, what a ! sight that was! Not twenty feet from us was this immense bed of rock slowly moving forward with irresistible force, bearing on its surface huge racks and immense boulders of tons weight, as water would carry a toy boat. The whole front edge was one bright red mass of solid rock incessantly breaking off from the towering mass and rolling down to the foot of it, to be again covered up by another avalanche of white hot rocks and sand. The whole mass was at its front edge from twelve to thirty feet in height. Along the whole line of its advance it was one crash of rolling, sliding, tumbling red-hot rock. We could see no fire or liquid lava at all, but the whole advance line of red-hot stones and scoria. The latter would frequently run down the slope like water, only all seperate in red-hot grains.' There were no explosions while we were near the flow, only a tremen- ! dous roaring like ten thousand blast furnaces all at work at once. The flow here was only '*aa/ and was so as far as "we could see it. What a tremendous heat arose from its surface !"