A GREAT LAKE ON EIRE.

Waipawa Mail, Volume I, Issue 5, 28 September 1878, Page 2

A GREAT LAKE ON EIRE.

Mrs Brassey, in her striking book “ A Voyage in tho Sunbeam,” graphically describes the great Volcano Kilauea in the island of Hawaii, which she visited :—“ The grandeur of the view in the direction of the volcano increased as the evening wore on. The fiery cloud above the present crater augmented in size and depth of colour; the extinct crater glowed red in thirty or forty different places; and clouds of wdrite vapour issued froin every crack and crevice in the ground, adding to the sulphurous smell with which the atmosphere w*as laden. Our room faced the volcano ; there w*ere no blinds, and I drew back the curtains and lay w r atching the splendid scene until I fell asleep.” The next day a visit to the crater was accomplished. “ First of all we descended the precipice, 300 ft. in depth, forming the wall or the old crater, but now thickly covered w'ith vegetation. It is so steep in many places that flights of zig-zag wooden steps have been inserted in the face at the cliff in some places, in order to render the descent practicable. At the bottom we stepped straight on to the surface of cold boiled lava, which we had seen from above last night. Even here, in every crevice where a few grains of soil had collected, delicate little ferns might be seen struggling for life, and thrusting out their green fronds towards the light. It was the most extraordinary walk imaginable

over t hat vast plain of lava, twisted and distorted into every conceivable shape and form, according to the temperature it had originally attained, and the rapidity with which it had cooled, its surface, like half .molten glass, cracking and breaking beneath our feet. Sometimes we came to a place that looked like the contents of a pot suddenly petrified in the act of boiling ; sometimes the black iridescent lava had assumed the form of waves, or more frequently of huge masses of rope, twisted and coiled together ; sometimes it was piled up” like a collection of organ pipes, or had gathered into mounds and cones of various dimensions. As we proceeded the lava became hotter and hotter, and from every crack arose gaseous fumes, affecting our noses and throats in a painful manner; till at last, when we had to pass to leeward of the molten stream flowing from the lake, the vapours almost choked us, and it was with difficulty we continued to advance. At last we reached the foot of the present crater, and commenced the ascent of the outer wall. Manv times the thin crust gave way beneath our guide, and he had to retire quickly from the hot, blinding, choking fumes that immediately burst forth. Hut we succeeded in reaching the top ; and then w hat a sight presented itself to our astonished eyes ! I could neither speak nor move at first, but could only stand and gaze at the horrible grandeur of tho scene. \Y r e were standing on the extreme edge of a precipice, overhanging a lake of molten fire, 100 ft. below us and nearly a mile across. Dashing against the cliffs on tho opposite side, with a noise like tho roar of a stormy ocean, W'aves of blood red, fiery, liquid lava hurled their billows upon an iron-bound headland, and then rushed up the face of the cliff to toss their gory spray high in the air. The restless, heaving lake boiled and bubbled, never remaining the same for two minutes together. Its normal color seemed to be a dull dark red, covered with a thin grey scum, which every moment and in every part swelled and cracked, and emitted fountains, cascades, and whirlpools of yellow and red fire, while sometimes one big golden river, sometimes four or five, flowed across it. There was an island on one side of the lake, which the fiery waves seemed to attack uneeasn'giy with relentless fury, as if bent on hurling it from its base. On the other side was a large cavern, mlo which the burning mass rushed with a loud roar, breaking down in its impetuous headlong career the gigantic stalactites that overhang the mouth of the cave, and flinging up \ i liquid material for the formation of fresh ones.’ ”