154 Kilauea and Manna Loa. 



Oh ! the lovely ferns, one moment waving their fresh fronds in the breeze, the next scorched 

 by the heat, the next a mass of lambent flames, and the next ashes and nothing more. It just makes 

 my heart ache over that. The roar of the lava was something fearful, it was as the roar of a flood. 

 Then the detonations, ten in a minute as timed by the watch, and some of the explosions so heavy 

 we felt the ground tremble under us. John was at one time sitting down in the dry bed of the gorge 

 a little before the lava and nearer it than any one else, when there was a burst of steam through a 

 venthole in the rocks that sent little fragments flying hither and thither, and he was spattered by 

 some of the dirt or mud that came up. Had it been one of the heavier explosions he could hardly 

 have escaped being hurt. While we lingered in the gorge another note of alarm from the natives, to 

 the effect that the flow was approaching the spot where the horses were tied and that soon the road 

 would be cut off, caused us to think well of going ourselves to see how much progress the fire had 

 made in that locality. One of the party called it a false alarm, but then the flow was breaking out 

 here and there so rapidly from over the banks of the channel which it had filled up, no wonder it 

 seemed to some that the danger was everywhere. 



It was now noon, and Mr. Coan, wearied, sat to rest on a prostrate trunk, thick green grass 

 under his feet, and verdant boughs of trees above him, but behind him the advancing stream. Here 

 the grouud was very level, and of course the flow was not rapid, but foot by foot, yard b)' yard 

 it rolled forward, and ver>- soon after Mr. Coan had left his seat the burning ruin covered the 

 ground on which his feet had rested and the log was aflame. There was intense fascination in 

 watching all the movements at whatever point we were, and something almost momentarily kept us 

 exclaiming — sometimes it was the quick cooling over the surface forming the corrugated ridges that 

 characterize pahoehoe, and glistening in the sun like perfect bronze — sometimes the puffing of great 

 bubbles that crusted over a moment, then sank back into the fier3' bosom from which they had risen 

 — then it rushed down steep places and filling up the hollows from which wreaths of steam curled 

 up. aud then its progress through the dense grass, where, for a moment the verdure hung like a 

 canopy over the red serpent gliding under, to melt away and be seen no more. We did not want to 

 come away, and yet how great the mercy that we could come and leave it with the prayer that we 

 might never see it doing greater damage than it was doing. The hours had been full of excitement 

 to me, it was all so much more than I had ever seen before of volcanic displays. I was more weary 

 than I realized when again in the saddle, but the ride home was restful. The air was refreshing 

 after the intense heat, which had burned our faces, and from the point in the road where the view 

 of Hilo, the bay and the greatly indented coast line breaks upon the eye, the prospect before us was 

 perfectly enchanting in its glowing beauty. I have always thought it a view of surpassing loveli- 

 ness, but now that there is so much more cultivation, and the waste places are emerald rice fields or 

 taro patches, and the Waiakea mill and plantation are seen on the right, the beauty is enhanced. 

 Must the fiery flood leave a line of black desolation through it all ? How great the mercy that the 

 track it is now on is one so apart from human habitations, and that there is no danger to human life. 

 Our homes are not to be overwhelmed from this side: that seems plain, aud we will still trust that 

 the "hitherto" command has been spoken to the threatener on the right. One breath can quench 

 it as quickl}^ as it kindled it and all our fears abate. A prayer and conference meeting was held that 

 evening at Mr. David L}'mau's, and there was comfort in singing the sweet hymns "Father, whate'er 

 of earthly bliss," "How firm a foundation ye saints of the L,ord," and "Saviour, like a shepherd 

 lead us;" and I think there was some truth in the saying from the heart "The will of the Lord be 

 done." I wish you could have been there as we were thus carrying this care to the L,ord and 

 shared with us the quieting influences of the hour. 



I have qtioted this letter so full}- that my readers, who have not known these 



people as I have, may recognize the noble souls, trusting and undaunted in the hour 



of so great peril, who made Hilo what it was, a town of homes. 



[532I 



