eruption to the very walls of the pit may masses are thrown upward in heavy, sullen, be followed. There is something about lazy jets, falling back into the cauldron this which is fascinating to degree, and cooling and heating into innumerable whether it be followed in its wonderful piles of red and yellow and white and colorings with the eye of the scientist or black folds and masses. Except for the simply as on onlooker, sated with the lack of noise, there is nothing to prevent grandeurs of Nature. To visit the Ha- the imagination from conjuring up the waiian Islands and not see this gaping idea of a great smelting furnace for Jove; wound in the crust of the mountain which in which he fashioned the thunderbolts bears the name of Halemaumau is to have of the ages. Noise there is, but it is a failed in a mission.

hiss and roar and drop, without percus“At night the pit with its acres of living sion. fire, is an awe-inspiring spectacle. Here “Sometimes the breath of Hell comes the red glows like a magnificent molten nearer the surface than at others, and ruby and the quivering shafts of an in- then one feels the pulsing of the ribs of ferno light up in gigantic respirations the Mother Earth as she strains to hold in whole floor of the crater. It seems as leash all the destructive elements that though some great creature were changing boil and travail within the thin crust upits hues in fearful colors, a chameleon of. on which crawl and live the units of blood and black coiled about the bottom humanity. There is a feeling of insigof an immense cauldron, and from among nificance, of utter powerlessness that the coils, ever and anon, shoot forth the comes to overcome even the most egotistiflamed tongues of a million ruddy ser- cal onlooker, and all depart impressed

, pents. From between the red and the with the smallness of man, the limitations black, the glow of the white hot liquid of his power, and the meagre knowledge shines as the scales on some great burning he possesses of the globe he inhabits. salamander. Words are not expressive of “The volcano must be seen in daylight one's thoughts as one's gaze is plunged in- in order to fully understand the wonders to this seething abyss in which the world that have so dazed the imagination reveals its inner workings, the workshop of night. the universe in miniature.

"By day the flow and the counterflow, “There are ebullitions and the boiling the swish, swirl and ebullition, and the great fire geysers, elements of the night molten matter. It is more than probable spectacle, may be best understood. It is that, as I stand and look into the mass, I not that daylight spells away the mystery am standing over a great cone of fire, and surrounding the night spectacle, bụt that that the base is much larger than the top, some of the movements, at night, are and that the cooling process has made this simply Titanic pyrotechnics. The great rim and that the whole of the mountain crater of Kilauea is irregular, but nearly cap is undermined by this melted lava. circular in form. It is something like The fresh supply of molten matter comes three miles in length, in its longest diam- up so constantly in the center of the pit eter. Its walls rise approximately a thou- that it leads one to believe that the ebulsand feet. The floor of this crater is a lition is not of new matter, and that the great black mass risen gradually from the myriads of spouts and geysers are but the sides toward the center where it is highest. manifestations of boiling, just as in min

“The highest point is rather to the iature the sides of a pot of mush will give southeast of the center, and the elevation evidence of boiling when the flame of the is perhaps two hundred feet more than the stove strikes but the center of the pan. The edges. It is in this highest spot that the middle part of the pit, with its constant pit of Halemaumau drops, when the vol- discharge, has been called 'Old Faithful.' cano is inactive, to a depth of a thousand "It is reasonable to suppose from what feet. The pit of Halemaumau is also an may be seen that the source of supply, or irregular circle, a miniature of the greater the channel through which is blown up crater. Its diameter is estimated at froni the lava, is of restricted area. In the cen1300 to 1800 feet. The walls rise almost ter the supply is so constant, that, alvertically, and, in some parts, overhang though it covers one-third of the surface the awful abyss. At the northeast, there of the pit, it is never wholly blackened, is a part of the wall, which is broken, as but always at red heat. The blackened though some giant upheaval had broken spots are constantly changing and broken the rim of this great cup, filled with liv- up and remelted into the fiery glow by the ing, molten, white, red glow!

movement of the lava. Lava cools, black"At this time, the activity of the vol- ens and hardens very rapidly. The drop cano has filled Halemaumau up to within of a very few degrees on the surface forms 150 feet of the top, but this will recede a black crust like a coating of ice. At this when the present eruption ceases. Just time the lake of liquid lava forms a giganthink of this tremendous mass of liquid tic figure eight, and around this central

lake, in cooling, the lava has built a wall "If

you

would know Halemaumau dead, for itself. In the night, this may not be then look upon the blackened acres of seen, but in daylight it is easily discern- Pahoehoe, all of which have poured out ible. As I stand and look at it, it is prob- within the memory of living man, and see ably fifteen feet, at least, above the level the rigid waves, the black effigies of once of the immediately surrounding lava. brilliant fountains, the waves and streams This lake of hottest lava may be compared of lava, once ebullient with fire, now quiesto a great saucer with its center liquid cent and but caricatures of the features and living, and the sides hard, black and of the pit of Halemaumau. It is a magbarrier-like.

nificent double spectacle, the plastic and “This process of wall-building goes on the rigid.” until the sides are so high and so thin in places that the lateral pressure makes a

Beautiful Honolulu ! break and then there is a stream of lava Sky, sea, air, clouds, tropical foliage, spreading out over the floor of the pit, irregularity and varying hues of its landthat is usually dark. The whole thing scape, the harmony and perfume borne on seems as though the hand of a Titan were its !ulling breezes steal over the senses as pressing, squeezing and forcing the very one comes within the protection of the farshell of the earth until it gives forth its famed Dimond Head—the promontory fires and its liquids.

that lures the navigator within its protec

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"There are other manifestations of the tion and the portal which guards the way seemingly squeezing process that are seen to this paradise of the Pacific seas. in the occasional spout or geysers—when From the deck of the ocean liner, Honogreat jets fly upward from unexpected lulu gives a glimpse of the spell it holds sources, and fall back in graceful cascades out to the sojourner. The spell of tropical of sparks and light.

splendor, tempered in heat of climate by “This is probably the escape of gas. Ac- its setting in a tranquil sea. From Punchcompanying the phenomena is the roar bowl Hill the spectator is given his best and the swish and swirl of waters, the view of the oceanic metropolis and the noise and hiss and the sputter of vapors key city of the Pacific. and melting slag and rock. It is difficult Here at an altitude of five hundred feet to express in detail the magnificence of one looks down upon tree-lined streets, and such a scene, as it seems almost impossi- flowery gardens, whose foliage half-conble to segregate the various elements that ceals and yet reveals the homes of the peogo to make the most tremendous tableaux ple. Hidden beneath the draperies of furnished by Nature for man's delecta- foliage, in form and color different tion.

from that of Northern clime, are magnifi

cent palaces, stately mansions and home- realities, is the advance guard of the like, inviting cottages or bungalows. In mountainous range in the background, and the distance is Dimond Head, that retains within whose circling arms the city rests its form and outlines from whatever point secure. it is viewed. Beyond it are glimpses of The mountain of the viewpoint is allesser headlands and the glimmering of most precipitous in its frontal wall, and the sea. Across the throbbing waters, the the bowl-formed counter of its summit eye sights dimly the speck in the distance, tells of it having been in the ages past a the island of Molokai, the home of the mighty factor in creation's toil. In the physical outcast, the leper. About are distance are distinctly outlined the cavigreat areas of green waving cocoas and ties of earth from where came forth the banana groves. Here and there a silvery molten flow to form these shores. Vershimmering tells of mirror-like lakelets dure, the hue of peace, adorns where and running streams. From out of the steam hissed forth and lava lashed in anmeshings of foliage the famous buildings ger and in fury of restraint. Active volof the city stand in relief. There is the canoes still ebb and flow on these islands Lunalilo Home for the Aged Hawaiians, of world wonders lulled in temper, but

the groupings of Oahu College, the judi- yet in surging fiery waves tell of how earth ciary and Government Halls are partially was built from molten stores beneath. revealed, and the business thoroughfares, In this City of the Wave it is the foliage abutted by substantial structures of mod- that traps the eye and snares the senses. ern design, are more sharply defined. The leaves of Royal Palms, the banyan, There a thicket of masts and capacious mango, tamarind and the array of other smoking stacks tell of the water front and kingly trees of tropic growth. Honolulu shipping, evidences of civilization and its fills the eye with its ever-changing vista of system of trade and barter. They have color and hue, of outline and form, and the come to these islands of our dreams and senses fall under the spell and become project themselves amid settings of fancies thrall to its fascinations. that seem far from reality. The vantage ground from where the

Hawaii is not profuse in its native flowspectator views the charms of South Sea

ers, but in verdure and in luxuriance of

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