SUBTERRANEAN FIRES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 126, 29 May 1891, Page 2

SUBTERRANEAN FIRES.

„ Soni? idea of ll?o tenor of 'VoloV&Oßif'mayf J be gathered 'irojn;ttft:«Mdiiy'6t>(^ir^iiloii^ iQ,sn«fjpf the: mm m\WM?i ' aj graphiqV^ ally daswrited ipvtPiLw % M^<i,Cwlieii:ihi'^ brat er,, .was filled from flrf hundred to B?xWi tifaiifi fee? de«j^ith||6Uan lavil} th|ll imuiEujl weigh); of whioMbroks through jfif Bubtettapaad,paa9aga^6ipwenty«g9Ved miles^ ain^ rt^bhed tha B^p«tJ ; inila« distant, iaSS| two day p, flowing for three waek» aad ■hti&#s m(» the water twenty miles distant. ■ . -.W'vvJ Rooks molted Uka wax in its pa'.h } toniliv'% oraokled aud bazedbofore its tarvflnt bejtli'i^ the works of man ware to it bat aa a adroit '<} in the flames. : .". . ' Imagine Niagara's stream above *the brink of the falls, with its dashing, whirling madly raging watew, tfarryiutf oa to their plunge, instantoueoußly converted" into firp-agory : hued river of fused minrJtl7°? meß ot "team arUingj amokejdarling upwards from ten thousand Vents, whioh give utteranoe to many deeo-« toned mutterings, and sullen, confined olamounnga, gases detonating and shrieking a£they,burst:froai their 4ot [prisoa.hoage. the' heavenC Idrid with the atmosphere., dark.,, and s oppressive, the horizon murky ,witU f apourt attd- gleamlnflwith the refleoted^oontesK U p %^ ■ /.Quohj^jras the scene, a£fche fiery^attkraot. leaping a preoipioii of fifty feat, BourM its flood upon the qdaan.v The old^ilftMbf coast, a mass of oom^acli, induratif*l»a, whitened, oraoked, aud fell. The waters recoiled aud sent forth a tempest of spray j they foamed aud laßhed around and over the melted rook j they boiled with white hoat ; and the roar of the conflicting agen* oies grew fieroer and louder. ' The reports of the exploding gases were distinctly heard twenty-five miles distant, and were likened to a whole broadside of heavy artillery. Streaks of che iinteqaealii light glanced lika lightning in all direotious ; the outskirts of the burning lava, aa it fell, cooled by, the shock, were shivered into millions of fragments, and Boattered by the atxpng wind in sparkling showers far into the oountry, rfix weeks later, at the base of the kills, the water coutinued scalding hot, and sent forth olouda of steam at every wash ot the waves.