The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
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And This, Within 20 Degrees Of The
Equator, And Only 2,500 Feet Above The Fiery Sea-Shore, With Its
Temperature Of 80 Degrees, Where Sydney Smith Would Certainly Have
Desired To "Take Off His Flesh, And Sit In His Bones!"
I delight in Hawaii more than ever, with its unconventional life,
great upland sweeps, unexplored forests, riotous breezes, and
general atmosphere of freedom, airiness, and expansion.
As I find
that a lady can travel alone with perfect safety, I have many
projects in view, but whatever I do or plan to do, I find my eyes
always turning to the light on the top of Mauna Loa. I know that
the ascent is not feasible for me, and that so far as I am concerned
the mystery must remain unsolved; but that glory, nearly 14,000 feet
aloft, rising, falling, "a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of
fire by night," uplifted in its awful loneliness above all human
interests, has an intolerable fascination. As the twilight deepens,
the light intensifies, and often as I watch it in the night, it
seems to flare up and take the form of a fiery palm-tree. No one
has ascended the mountain since the activity began a month ago; but
the fire is believed to be in "the old traditional crater of
Mokuaweoweo, in a region rarely visited by man."
A few days ago I was so fortunate as to make the acquaintance of Mr.
W. L. Green (now Minister of The Interior), an English resident in
Honolulu, a gentleman of wide scientific and literary culture, one
of whose objects in visiting Hawaii is the investigation of certain
volcanic phenomena.
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