Mrs. Coan'^s Description of the Flow. 151 



above us. The whole sky overhead was liued with the light of burning trees and shrubs. About 

 2 A.M. we made the attempt to reach the scene of the great activity, and succeeded by going up the 

 south side of the gulch some quarter of a mile. And what a scene lay before us as we ascended a 

 slight elevation ! The oncoming overflow had swept over the banks of the narrow gulch and was 

 flowing like water into a dense grove of neneleau [sumac] and guava trees. There they stood in a 

 sea of liquid lava over a space of more than an acre, while the fires were running up their trunks and 

 burning the branches and leaves overhead. The flow was so rapid that the trees were not cut down, 

 for more than two hundred feet from the first of the flow. In one place we saw a huge dome of half 

 melted lava rise up fifteen or twenty feet high and twice that in diameter and apparently remain 

 stationary, while the fiery flood went on. 



The reasons of the quick advance of the flow the past two weeks have been the increased 

 activity of the fountain head : the junction of the streams mentioned above, and the fact that this 

 narrow rock bed gulch has formed, as it were, 2. flume to pass the liquid lava along in a solid, narrow 

 stream, without any chance for spreading out laterallj-. 



Extracts from letters of the Rev. Tittis Coan : 



Hawaii is still on fire, and the smoke and sanguinary glare appear like a line of soldiers in 

 battle. The northern wing of the line is less than six miles from us, and the southeastern is less 

 than five miles distant, while the centre of the line appears the most sanguinary. From the south- 

 east wing the seething fusion has fallen into a rough water channel, twenty to fifty feet wide, which 

 comes down from the main bed of the flow almost direct to Hilo, entering into the Waialama stream, 

 which cuts the beach about midway. In this way the lava at white heat is fast approaching the 

 shore. It is now only two and a half miles from Volcano street and it is very liquid, running much 

 like water. It has, some part of the time, run at the rate of half a mile a day. Our town is greatly 

 moved, and some have suspended all other business to watch the fires. The main body of the fire is 

 moving slowly down upon us in sufficient breadth to sweep our whole town, while the small stream 

 is like advanced pickets on a skirmish line. We are in the hands of our All-wise and Gracious God, 

 and would not be elsewhere. Let Him do according to His pleasure, while it is a comfort to call 

 upon Him in the hour of trouble, and hope in His mercy. 



Ttiesday, 5 p.m., fune sS. — Mrs. Coan and I have been to the lava flow today and returned. 

 We were a little over an hour in reaching the flow, walking our horses slowly all the way. A native 

 with a good horse will reach the fires in forty minutes, and return in thirty. We call the distance 

 three miles. We found two streams of liquid lava coming down in rocky channels which are some- 

 times filled with roaring waters, but nearly dry at this time. These two gulches are tco tmall lo 

 hold the seething fusion, and the fiery flood overruns the 1 anks, and spreads out on either tide. 

 The united width of these streams may vary from fifty to two hundred feet. In going down the steeper 

 parts of these rocky beds the roar is like that of our Wailuku, or our surf, and often like thunder. 



The visit to the flow which Father Coan dismisses in so few words, Mrs. Coan 

 describes in a letter written the evening of her return, and I quote portions of this letter : 



This has been the darkest day that Hilo has known in connection with the flow of 1881. We 

 knew by the glare of the sky last evening that there was increased activity, and we both said that 

 at no time had the look been more threatening. There was such a broad belt of light, and it looked 

 so near. Before breakfast this morning a native came who had been at the Waiakea flow and told 

 what he had seen — a startling story ; but we have become so distrustful of all the native reports that 

 we could not allow ourselves to be much alarmed until we could hear further. Mr. Coan, soon as he 

 could, went down town to get more reliable information, and when he returned, I asked eagerly: 

 "How is it?" and he answered, "Well, // is all true I " He had seen several who had been to the 



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