Statewide County HI Archives News.....Letters of Isabella L. Bird Bishop. - Part 10. October 12, 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 October 12, 2008, 10:28 pm Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands October 12, 2008 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 donkeyskid@ msn.com. October 12, 2008 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture A Study in Time, of the Hawai'ian Islands Letters of Isabella L. Bird Bishop " Six Months Among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands." Letter # V - part 3. Transcribed. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Letter # V - part 3. " Six Months Among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of te Sandwich Islands." We had followed a lava-flow for thirty miles up to the crater's brink, and now we had toiled over recent lava for three hours, and by all calculation were close to the pit, yet there was no smoke of sign of fire, and I felt sure that the volcano had died out for once for our especial disappointment. Indeed, I had been making up my mind for disappointment since we left the crater-house, in consequence of reading seven different accounts, in which language was exhausted in discribig Kilauea. Suddenly, just above, and in front of us, gory drops were tossed in air, and springing forwards we stood on the brink of Hale-mau-mau, which was about 35 feet below us. I think we all screamed. I know we all wept, but we were speechless, for a new glory and terror had been added to the earth. It is the most unutterable of wonderful things. The words of common speech are quite useless. It is unimaginable, undescribable, a sight to remember for ever, a sight which at once took possession of every faulty of sense and soul, removing one altogther out of the range of ordinary life. Here was the real " bottomless pit " -- the " fire which is not quenched" --" the place of hell " -- " the lake which burneth with fire and brimestone" ---the " everlasting burnings" ---the fiery sea whose waves are never weary. There wre groanings, rumblings, and detonations, rushings , hissigs, and splashngs, and the crashing sound of the breakers on the coast, but it was the surging of fiery waves upon a fiery shore. But what can I write ! Such words as jets, fountains, waves, spray, convey some order and regularity, but there was none. The inner lake, while we stood there, formed a sort of crater within itself, and the whole lava sea rose about three feet, a blowing cone about eight feet high was formed, it was never the same two minutes together. And what we saw had no existence a month ago, and probably will be changed in every essential feature a month hence. What we did see was one irregularly shaped lake, possibly 500 feet wide at its narrowest part and nearly half a mile at its broadest, almost divided into two by a low bank of lava, which extended nearly across it where it was narrowest, and which was raised visibly before our eyes The sides of the nearest part of the lake were absolutely perpendicular, but nowhere more than 40 fet high; but opposite to us on the far side of the larger lake they were bold and craggy, and probably not less than 150 feet high. On one side there was an expanse entirely occupied with blowing cones, and jets of steam or vapour. The lake has been known to sink 400 feet, and a month ago it overflowed its bank. The prominent object was fire in motion, but the surface of the lake was continually skimming over for a second or two with a cooled crust of lusterous grey-white, like frosted silver, broken by jagged cracks of a bright rose-colour. The movement was nearly always from the sides to the centre, bbut the movement of the centre itself appeared independent and always took a southerly direction. Before each outburst of agitation there was much hissing and a throbbing internal roaring, as of imprisoned gases. Now it seemed furious, demoniacal, as if no power on earth could bind it, then playful and sportive, then for a second languid, but only because it was accumulating fresh force. On our arrival eleven fire fountains were playing joyously round the lakes, and sometimes the six nearer lake ran together in the centre to go wallowing down in one vortex, from which they reappeared bulging upwards, till they formed a huge cone 30 feet high, which plunged downwards in a whirlpol only to reappear in exactly the previous number of fountains in different parts of the lake, high leaping, raging, flinging themselves upwards. Sometimes the whole lake, abandoning its usual centripetal motion, as if impelled southwards, took the form of mighty waves, and surging heavily against the partial barrier with the sound like the Pacific surf, lashed, tore, covered it, and threw itself over it in clots of living fire. It was all confusion, commotion, force, terror, glory, majesty, mystery, and even beauty. And the colour! " Eye hath not seen" it! Molten metal has not that crimson gleam, or blood that living light! Had I not seen this I should never have known that such a colour was possible. The crust perpetually wrinkled, folded over, and cracked, and great pieces were drawn downwards to be again thrown up on the crests of waves. The eleven fountains of glory fire played the greater part of time, dancing round the lake with a strength of joyousness which was absolute beauty. Indeed after the first half hour of terror had gone by, the beauty of these jets made a profound impression on me, and the sight of them must always remain one of the most fascinating recollections of my life. During three hours, the bank of lava which almost divided the lakes rose considerably, owing to the cooling of the spray as it dashed over it, and a cavern of considerable size was formed within it, the roof of which was hung with fiery stalactites, more than a foot long. nearly the whole time the surges of the further lake taking a southerly direction, broke with a tremendous noise on the bold craggy cliffs which are its southern boundary, throwing their gory spray to a height of fully forty feet. At times an overhanging crag fell in, creating a vast splash of fire and increased commotion. Almost close below us there was an intermittent jet of lava, wich kept cooling round what was possibly a blow-hole forming a cone with an open top, which when we first saw it was about six feet high on its highest side, and about as many in diameter. Up this cone or chimney heavy jets of lava were thrown every second or two, and cooling as they fell over its edge, raised rapidly before our eyes. Its fiery interior, and the singular sound with which the lava was vomited up, were very awful. There was no smoke rising from the lake, only a faint blue vapour which the wind carried in the opposite direction. The heat was excessive. We were obliged to stand the whole time, and the soles of our boots were burned, and my ear and one side of my face were blistered. Although there was no smoke from the lake itself, there was an awful region to the westward, of smoke ad sound, and rolling clouds of steam and vapour whose phenomne it was not safe to investigate, where the blowing cones are, whose fires last night appeared stationary. We were able to stand quite near the margin, and look down into the lake, as you look into the sea from the deck of a ship, the only risk being that the fractured ledge might give way. Before we came away, a new impulse seized the lava. The fire was thrown to a great height; the fountains and jets all wallowed together; new ones appeared, and danced joyously round the margin, ten converging towards the centre they merged into one glowing mass, which upheaved itself pyramidally and disappered with a vast plunge. The innumerable billows of fire dashed themselves into the air, crashing and lashing, and the lake dividing itself recoiled on either side, then hurling its fires together and rising as if by upheaval from below, it surged over the temporary rim which it had formed, passing downwards in a slow majestic flow, leaving the central surface swaying and dashing in fruitless agony as if sent on some errand it failed to accomplish. Farewell, I fear for ever, to the glorious Hale-mau-mau, the gradest type of force that the earth holds ! "No more by thee my steps shall be, No more again for ever ! " It seems like a dull trudge over the black and awful crater, and strange, like half forgotten sights of the world with which I had ceased to have aught to do, where dwarf tree ferns, the lilies with their turquoise clusters, the crimson myrtle blossoms, and all the fair things which decked the recipice up which we sloly dragged our stiff and painful limbs. Yet it was but the exchange of a world of sublimity for a world of beauty, the " place of hell," for the bright upper earth, with its endless summer, and its perennial foliage, blossom, and fruitage Since writing the above I have been looking over the " Volcano Book," which contains the observations and impressions of people fomall part of the world. Some of these are paintaking and valuable as showing the extent and rapidity of the changes which take place in the crater, but there is an immense quanity of flippant rubbish, and ould be wit, in which " Madam Pele," invariably occurs, this goddess, who was undoubtedly one of the grandest heathen mythical creations, being caricatured in pencil and pen and ink, under every ludicrous aspect that can be conceived. Some of the entries are brief and absurd, " Not much of a fizz," " a grand splutter." " Madam Pele in the dumps," and so forth. These generally have English signatures. the American wit is far racier, but depends mainly on the profane use of certain passages of scripture, a species of wit which is once easy and disgusting. People are all particular in giving the precise time of departure from Hilo and arrival here, " making good time" being a thing much admired on Hawaii, but few can boast of more than three miles an hour, It is wonderful that people can parade their snobbishness within sight of Hale-mau-mau. This inn is a unique and interesting place. Its existence is strikingly precarious, for the whole region is in a state of perpetual throb from earthquakes and the sights and sounds are gruesome and awful both by day and by night. The surrounding country streams and smokes from cracks and pits, and smell of sulphur fills the air. They cook their kalo in a stream apparatus of nature's own work just bhind the house, and every drop of water is from a distillery similarly provided. The inn is a grass and bamboo house, very beautifully constructed without nails. It is a longish building with a steep roof divided inside by partitions which run up to the hight of the walls. There is no ceiling. The joists which run acrossare concealed by wreaths of evergreens, from among which peep out here and there stars on a blue ground. The door opens from the varandah into a centre room with a large open brick fire place, in which a wood fire is constantly burning, for at this altitude the temperature is cool. Some chairs, two lounges, small tables, and some books and pictures on the walls give a look of comfort, and there is the reality of comfort in perfection. Our sleeping place, a neat room with a matted floor opens from this, and on the other side there is a simular room, and a small eating room with a grass coothouse beyond, from which an obliging old Chinaman who persistently calls us " sir," brings our food. We have had for each meal, tea, preserved milk, coffee, kalo, bisquits, butter, potatoes, goats' flesh, and ohelos. The charge is five dollars a day, but everything except the potatoes and ohelos has to be brought twenty or thirty miles on mules' backs. It is a very pretty picturesque house both within and without, and stands on a natural lawn of brilliant but unpalatable grass, surrounded by a light fence covered with a small trailing double rose. It is altogether a most magical building in the heart of a formidable volcanic wilderness. Mr. Gilman, our host, is a fine picturesque looking man, half indian, and speaks remarkably good English, but his wife, a very pretty native woman, speaks none, and he attends to us entirely himself. A party of native travellers rainbound are here, and the native women are sitting on the floor stringing flowers nd berries for leis. One very attractive looking young woman, refined by consumpton, is lying on some blankets, and three native men are smoking by the fire, Upa attempts conversation with us in broken English, and the others laugh and talk incessantly. My inkstand pen, and a small handwritting amuse them very much. Miss K., the typical American travelling lady, who is encountered everywhere from the Andes to the Pyramids, tireless, and with an indomitable energy, Spartan endurance, and a genius for attaining everything, and myself, a limp ragged shoeless wretch, complete the group, nd our heaps of saddles, blankets, spurs, and gear tell of the real travelling, past and future. It is a most picturesque sight by the light of the flickering flame, and the fire which is unquenchable burns without. About 300 yards off there is a sulphur stream vapour bath, highly recommended by the host as a panaccea for the woefl aches, pains, and stiffness produced by the six mile scramble through the cfater, and I groaned and limped down to it; but it is a truely spasmodic arrangement, singularly independent of human control, and I have not the slightest doubt that the reason why Mr. Gilman obligingly remained in the vacinity was, lest I should be scalded or blown to atoms by a sudden freak of Kilauea, though I don't see that he was capable of preventing either catastrophe ! A slight grass shed has been built over a sulphur strea crack, and within this there is a deep box with a sliding lid and a hole for the throat, and the victim is supposed to sit in this and be steamed. But on this occasion the temperature was so high, that my hand, which I unwisely experimented on, was immediately peeled. In order not to wound Mr. Gilman's feeling, which are evidently sensitive on the subject of this irresponsible contrivance, I remained the prescribed time within the shed, and then managed to limp less, and go with him to what are called the Sulphur Banks, on which sulphurous vapour is perpetually depositing the most exquisite acicular sulphur crystals; these, as they aggregate, take entrancing forms, like featherwork produced by the " frost-fall" in Colorado, but, like it, they perish with a touch, and can only be seen in the wonderful laboratory where they are formed. In addition to the natives before mentioned, there is an old man here who has been a bullock-hunter on Hawaii for forty years, and knows the island thoroughly. In common with all the residents I have seen, he takes an intense interest in volcanic phenomena, and has just been giving us a thrilling account of the great eruption in 1868, when Hilo was threatened with destruction. Three weeks ago, he says, a profound hush fell on Kilauea, and the summit crater of Mauna Loa became active, and admidst throbbings, rumblings, and earthquakes, broke into such magnificnce that the light was visible 100 miles at sea, a burning mountain 13,750 feet high ! The fires after two days died out as suddenly, and from here we can see the great dome-like top, snowcapped under the stars, serene in an eternal winter. I.L.B. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Continued in Letter # VI. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/newspapers/letterso65nnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/hifiles/ File size: 16.0 Kb