The old line of coast, a mass
of compact, indurated lava, whitened, cracked and fell. The waters
recoiled, and sent forth a tempest of spray; they foamed and dashed
around and over the melted rock, they boiled with the heat, and the roar
of the conflicting agencies grew fiercer 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 the
intensest light glanced like lightning in all directions; the outskirts
of the burning lava as it fell, cooled by the shock, were shivered into
millions of fragments, and scattered by the strong wind in sparkling
showers far into the country. For three successive weeks the volcano
disgorged an uninterrupted burning tide, with scarcely any diminution,
into the ocean. On either side, for twenty miles, the sea became heated,
with such rapidity that, on the second day of the junction of the lava
with the ocean, fishes came ashore dead in great numbers, at a point
fifteen miles distant. Six weeks later, at the base of the hills, the
water continued scalding hot, and sent forth steam at every wash of the
waves."
THE SINKING OF KILAUEA'S FIRE-LAKE
In 1866 the great crater of Kilauea presented a new and unlooked-for
spectacle in the sinking and vanishing of its great lava lake. In March
of that year the fires in the ancient cauldron totally disappeared, and
the surrounding lava rock sank to a depth of nearly 600 feet.
Pages:
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365