224 



EAKTHQtTAKES. 



water. Lofty precipices were levelled to the 

 ground, and, in places where the earth had 

 been formerly smooth and unbroken for miles 

 around, the surface was rent asunder and up- 

 heaved, and gigantic chasms and cliffs left. 

 The entire topographical appearance of the 

 country round about was so completely 

 changed, that those who lived in the desolated 

 district could not afterward recognize or point 

 out the localities with which they were former- 

 ly familiar. Fortunately, that part of the island 

 was but sparsely inhabited, and the lands were 

 not under general cultivation. The new crater 

 of Mauna Loa, formed on the 27th of March, 

 was over two miles in circumference. In ad- 

 dition to the one mile of land formed (as al- 

 ready mentioned) by the lava driving back the 

 sea, another stream poured down the moun- 

 tain, striking the water with a tremendous 

 shock, and extended into the sea to a distance 

 of about three miles. At this time a very 

 severe shock occurred, and immediately after 

 an island nearly four hundred feet in height 

 rose above the water, and was soon joined to 

 the island of Hawaii by the stream of lava. 

 The base of the volcano presented, after the 

 shocks, a most barren and desolate aspect, the 

 gases arising from the rent earth having com- 

 pletely destroyed all vegetation. The shocks 

 were felt in all of the Sandwich Islands, but 

 only in Hawaii were the effects disastrous. 

 The violent and dangerous period of the earth- 

 quakes lasted about twelve days. The loss 

 of life was reported to be as follows : In the 

 village of Paliuka, thirty-three; at Mokaka, 

 thirteen ; at Punalua, four ; at Honah, twenty- 

 seven ; at Varulo, three total, 80. All of the 

 persons killed or injured were native Ha- 

 waiians. The loss of property was estimated 

 at about $500,000. Animals especially suf- 

 fered by the poisonous gases emitted during 

 the eruption. At Keaiwa a thousand domesti- 

 cated animals were killed by this cause. 



Some of the details presented in the fore- 

 going account are calculated to tax the credu- 

 lity of readers, but they are confirmed by the 

 testimony of eye-witnesses of the catastrophes, 

 and others who visited the scene after the oc- 

 currences to gather the facts. One visitor, 

 who ascended a ridge of the mountain, April 

 10th, says that the valley itself was floored 

 over with a pavement of fresh lava, from ten 

 to twenty feet deep, which appeared to have 

 been the first thrown out, and came from a 

 crater about ten miles up the mountain, which 

 burst out on Tuesday, April Vth. This crater 

 and stream had ceased flowing, and the lava 

 was rapidly cooling, so that the visitors ven- 

 tured to stand on it, though at the risk of burn- 

 ing their boots and being choked by the sul- 

 phurous gases. Tour huge jets or fountains 

 were continually being thrown up out of this 

 great crater, ever varying in size and height, 

 sometimes apparently all joined together, and 

 making one continuous spouting a mile and a 

 half long. These four grand fountains were 



playing with terrific fury, throwing blood-red 

 lava and huge stones, some as large as a house, 

 to a height varying constantly from five hun- 

 dred to a thousand feet. From the lower side 

 of the crater a stream of liquid, rolling, boiling 

 lava poured out and ran down the plateau, 

 then down the sides of the pail (following the 

 track of the government road), then along the 

 foot of the pail or precipice five miles to the 

 sea. This river of fire varied from five hun- 

 dred to twelve hundred or fifteen hundred feet 

 in width, and when it is known that the descent 

 is two thousand feet in five miles, the state- 

 ment that it ran at the rate of ten miles an 

 hour will not be doubted. The shock of April 

 2d, says the same writer, destroyed every 

 church and nearly every dwelling in the whole 

 district. From ten to twelve o'clock of that 

 day there had been service in the large church 

 in Waiohinu, and it was crowded with people. 

 Only four hours after they left the heavy shock 

 came, the walls tumbled in, and the roof fell 

 flat all the work of twenty seconds. At the 

 same instant every man, woman, and child 

 were thrown from their feet. Horses and cat- 

 tle dropped down as if dead. A man riding 

 on horseback had his horse stumble under him 

 so suddenly that he found himself and horse 

 lying flat on the ground before the thought of 

 an earthquake entered his mind. The earth 

 opened all through the district, and in some 

 places caused dangerous fissures, while in 

 others it closed up again. An incident which 

 ought not to be omitted is the shower of ashes 

 which preceded the eruption. During Mon- 

 day night, prior to the eruption, the ground 

 throughout the district was covered with a 

 coating of fine sand and light pumice-stone, 

 of a light-yellowish color. "Where this shower 

 of sand and pumice-stone came from is un- 

 known, but probably from some vent-hole 

 near the crater. The sufferings and alarm ex- 

 perienced by the residents of Kau, during the 

 two weeks that the earthquakes and eruptions 

 continued prior to their leaving, appear to 

 have been great. Night after night they were 

 compelled to sleep on the mountain-ridge back 

 of the village, exposed to the damp winds and 

 rain from the sea, subsisting on taro and fishes 

 when they could get these, or fasting when 

 they could not. 



Another observer visited the crater of Ki- 

 lauea (the summit of Mauna Loa) after the 

 earthquakes were all over, and describes the 

 changes which had been wrought in the ap- 

 pearance of the mountain and crater. He 

 says that on the west and northeast side, 

 where the fire had been most active before the 

 great earthquake of April 2d, the falling masses 

 probably had been at once melted by the lava, 

 and carried off in its stream, for the walls there 

 remained perpendicular, as they were before ; 

 but that this part of the wall had lost portions 

 of its mass was shown by the deep crevices 

 along the western edge, and the partial detach- 

 ment in many places of large prisms of rock. 



