Volcano | Page 8 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 14, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Charlie Chaplin

“You wish to write my impressions of Hilo. Very good. Here it is. I saw the volcano.” (Charlie Chaplin, Los Angeles; Volcano House Register, NPS)

“There are many charms in Hilo other than the Volcano. A maidenly diffidence forbids me suggesting the possessor of them.” (Edna Purviance, Los Angeles; Volcano House Register, NOS)

“Charlie in his honest-to-goodness self and personality today walked up the main street of Honolulu. So thousands of movie fans who have laughed themselves hoarse the antics and swagger of the jovial Charlie on the screen will have an opportunity for the next few week of occasionally bumping into that worthy the streets.”

“Charlie arrived on the Matsonia. In the Chaplin party also were Miss Eda Purviance, another well known screen star; Tom Harrington and Bob Wagner of the Saturday Evening Post staff.”

“Wagner is accompanying Charlie on his trip just for the sake of being with him and to record the personal side of the vacation.
Charlie is here primarily for rest and to see the sights of the islands.”

“His trip, at least at present, has nothing to do with the possibility of staging comic scenario the islands, though Charlie is not averse to picking up few hints that may serve him well in his business of making humanity laugh away dull care.”

“Charlie and his party were the life of the boat coming over and made things gay for the passengers, aided and abetted by R. J. Buchly of the First National bank, who as terpischore expert taught Charlie and Miss Purviance a few steps. The dancing lessons were the occasion for more merriment aboard the Matsonia.”

“Charlie visited the Young hotel this morning and called on Mr Van Loan, the movie photographer. This gave rise to the rumor that Chaplin was down here in Honolulu to take some films.”

“‘No sire!’ he replied emphatically. ‘You don’t catch me doing any work while I’m down here. I’m on vacation, and I’m going to rest.’”

“Charlie was asked what he thought of Honolulu. ‘Great,’ he exclaimed, enthusiastically: ‘I love every minute of it. I wish I could stay here longer. I’m tickled to death with the place. I was going to New York instead but, say, this has got anything I’ve seen beaten by a mile.’”

“Although the film star is minus his dinky moustache and cane, derby hat and huge shoes, he is still the same old Charlie, and could hardly get by in a crowd without being discovered. He is going to get out on a surfboard and be a regular kamaaina, he says.” (Star Bulletin, October 10, 1917)

“Charley Chaplin managed to see a good deal of Hawaii in the short week he stayed in the Islands, one reason being that while here he outfitted himself with new glasses. Pleased with his new outlook on things Hawaiian, Chaplin had his co-star Miss Purviance, also fitted with new glasses.”

“As a final result, Dr. RA Thompson has added a much prized letter of appreciation from Chaplin to the collection of other testimonials to his optician skill, letters written by former President Roosevelt, Former President Tuft, William Jennings Bryan, Elbert Hubbard, Billy Sunday and other celebrities.”

“The autographed letter from Charley Chaplin is a highly complimentary one and highly prized by its recipient. Doctor Thompson has definitely decided to make his home in Honolulu, opening an office here for the practice of his profession.” (Hawaiian Gazette, October 19, 1917)

“The famous Charlie Chaplin arrived in Honolulu October 10, and while he intended to come for a rest between custard pie throwing contests, he was kept extremely busy sightseeing.”

“Photographers camped on his trail and snapped him riding the surfboards on the beach at Waikiki, eating two-fingered poi, dancing with the hula girls and even flirting with Pele, the Goddess of Fire, on the edge of the volcano at Kilauea.”

“Charlie likes Hawaii’s style and he fain would stay a while, loafing on the sun-kissed sand, eating poi with either hand; listening to the ukulele played by Waikiki Bill Bailey; eating dog in guise of pig; practicing the hula jig.”

“But he’s got to get back home and with us may no more roam – back to make a nation smile in rare Charlie Chaplin’s way.” (Logan Republican, November 15, 1917)

Charlie & Edna Purviance in Hawaii, 1917. Charlie met Edna in a cafe in San Francisco in 1914. He said later that she was ‘more than pretty, she was beautiful’. She went on to appear in 34 films with Chaplin from 1915-1923. She is my favorite of his leading ladies.

They had a certain sweetness onscreen that Charlie didn’t have with any of his other leading ladies-in my opinion anyway. Charlie & Edna cared deeply about each other long after their romantic relationship ended and Charlie kept Edna on his payroll until her death in 1958.

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Charlie Chaplin en route to Hawaii 1917

Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance and Robert Wagner-1917

Edna Purviance, Charlie Chaplin and Robert Wagner-1917

Charlie & Edna in Hawaii, 1917

Charlie & Edna

Charlie Chaplin, Robert Wagner and Edna Purviance-Volcano-1917

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June 2, 2016 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

‘And Now I Must Pay’

“Ten minutes to eight. Margaret died instantly. She did not suffer. And now I must pay.”

(So said the note found on the seat of a car at the edge of Halemaʻumaʻu Crater at Volcano.) (Chicago Tribune, June 3, 1932)

The next day (June 3, 1932,) an 8.2 earthquake off the coast of Colima and Jalisco in Mexico produced a tidal wave which was recorded strongly at Hilo, Hawaii (little damage and no deaths were recorded.) (Seismicity of the Earth)

“Natives construe the tidal waves which swept the mouth of the Wailoa river and lower Kūhiō bay yesterday as an omen that Pele resents having two lifeless mortals at the threshold of her fiery kingdom.”

“They expressed fear that the tragedy which ended the lives of Sylvester (William) Nunes, 20, and Margaret Enos, 17, may lead to some dire calamity.” (Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1932)

Whoa … let’s look back ….

“The tragedy had its inception when Nunes, a Portuguese, wished to take the young high school student (Enos) in marriage. She declined to consider matrimony.” (Chicago Tribune, June 13, 1932)

“The twenty-year-old youth (Nunes) was educated in American schools and had started a promising business career.”

“About a year ago Sylvester met Margaret Enos. She was a laughing, gay native girl and he loved her smile and bubbling spirits.”

“Occasionally she accompanied Sylvester on motor rides in his smart red roadster. Sometimes they rode to nearby beaches, swam and went surf-riding, a sport at which both were adept.”

“Some weeks ago he proposed to Margaret, ‘I am too young to marry and settle down,’ she told him. ‘Wait a few years – then perhaps who can tell about such things.’”

“But she would accept none of the many gifts Nunes tried to shower on her and refused to commit herself (to) marrying him. … To the seventeen-year-old Hawaiian beauty life was too happy and joyous a thing to be spoiled by the moody bursts of temper of a disappointed admirer.”

“Margaret in a very short time became an obsession with him. He couldn’t eat, was unable to sleep. He bombarded her with impassioned love-letters.”

“When she went out with other native boys he followed them and watched in agony the girl’s flashing eyes and listened to her laughter. The things he saw were innocent enough. Margaret was a respectable girl but the sight of a rival’s arm on the back of her chair and her gayety at parties shot poison into his heart.”

“Several times he warned her boy-friends, “Margaret is engaged to me. Leave her alone!””

“In the end Sylvester, with his spying, his letters and his jealous protests, became such a nuisance that the girl told him she never wanted to see him again. He threatened, cajoled and pleaded, but the girl merely shook her little head.”

“After that final quarrel Nunes disappeared temporarily from Hilo, where both lived. For a week no one saw or heard from him. … Then one late afternoon, the jilted admirer reappeared in Hilo.”

“In his red roadster he drove straight to the home.” (Fresno Bee, July 24, 1932) “Margaret’s sister, Mrs. Manuel Furtado, with whom she lived, grappled with Nunes.” (Chicago Tribune, June 3, 1932)

”‘I will go,’ said Margaret with assumed placidity … Obviously she thought she could quiet him once they were outside. But Mrs. Furtado stood in the doorway. ‘You will not go with him,’ she announced. Taking Margaret by the hand, Nunes tried to push past her older sister. But Mrs. Furtado seized him by the coat and would not let go.”

“In a rage, the young Hawaiian shot the woman through the hand. While Mrs. Furtado screamed with rage, Nunes picked up the girl and carried her to his waiting car. She fought, bit and scratched, but his superior strength proved too much for her.”

“‘I will kill you unless you keep still,’ he told the girl. Terrified, she allowed him to drive her away. The revolver he kept by his side as they drove through the sleepy streets of Hilo.”

“As police later reconstructed the story, Nunes drove about the country for several hours. Again and again he begged the beautiful girl to marry him.” (Fresno Bee, July 24, 1932)

“Taking Margaret to the volcano, where sweethearts are in the habit of keeping trysts, it is presumed he again made his protestations of love and asked her to marry him. She evidently refused, for evidence indicates he shot her and, clasping her in his arms leaped into the fiery pit.” (Chicago Tribune, June 13, 1932)

“Park rangers found Nunes’ rented motor car on the brink of the firepit at noon. It was spattered with blood. On a seat was an automatic pistol and a note which read:”

“‘Ten minutes to eight. Margaret died instantly. She did not suffer. And now I must pay.’” (Chicago Tribune, June 3, 1932)

“With powerful glasses Hawaiian National Park rangers located the bodies of the pair on a ledge 800 feet below the brink of the 1,200 foot deep pit.” (Stanford Daily, June 3, 1932)

“One of the strangest rescues ever attempted was effected successfully today when Rikan Konishi, a Japanese weighing 85 pounds, took the bodies of a despairing lover and the sweetheart he killed from the troubled kingdom of the fire goddess Pele in the smoking crater of the volcano Halemaumau.” (Chicago Tribune, June 13, 1932)

Aided by dozens of helpers, Konishi worked night and day building platforms and used 3 tractors and 2 caterpillars to help string a mile of cable – the effort dragged on for more than a week. The gondola was 30-inches wide and 6-feet long (with 3-foot sides.) (Farabee)

“Lighting a cigaret, Konishi entered a cage he had constructed at 9 o’clock this morning. He sat on a low stool with his head almost hitting the roof, while paraphernalia was packed all around him.”

“He protected himself as best he could against the gaseous fumes of the crater and tied himself with a slipknot to guard against falling out. He also had a telephone contact with his brother-in-law, who remained on the crater’s rim.”

“Konishi phoned directions for raising or lowering the cage, which was manipulated by a winch. As the descent started rocks were dislodged and thundered down as he swung out over the 1,200 foot chasm and descended slowly until he reached Talus slope, 800-feet down, where the bodies lay.”

“Landing about thirty feet from the nearest body, that of the young girl, the midget Japanese wrapped it in canvas. He then walked on loose rocks, holding on to a guide rope, to the body of Nunes, which he prepared in like manner.”

“The bodies were too heavy for the slight rescuer to move, so he attached them to ropes from the cage. He ordered the cage raised until both were dangling together. He then had it lowered until they lay upon a ledge, side by side.”

“He secured them to the bottom of his conveyance, unfurled a white flag to signal success, took a drink of water, and sat calmly in the cage as it made its ascent.”

“He reached the rim from the pit shortly after 6 o’clock this evening with both bodies wrapped in canvas. The entire operation took about eight hours, throughout which Konishi displayed the calm courage of his Japanese ancestors. … Konishi, who is a contractor, will collect $1,000 for his work.” (Chicago Tribune, June 13, 1932)

Benefits and fund-raising efforts over the next two weeks added $1,114 to the $1,000 guaranteed by the National Park so that Konishi could meet his expenses. (Farabee)

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Konishi and Pele’s Transport-auburn

US military personnel assisting with gondola and cable-auburn

Konishi cable cage to reach Enos and Nunes-auburn

Halemaumau just before the 1932 activity ceased. Powers photo-NPS

Konishi Cable Cage into Halemaumau-auburn

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Halemaumau pre-1940-eBay

April 16, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hoʻopuloa

Edward G Wingate, USGS topographical engineer, was mapping the summit of Mauna Loa in 1926, changing campsites as the work progressed. On April 10 his camp was along the 11,400-foot elevation, well into the desolate upland above the Kau District.

An earthquake wakened the campers about 0145; as they drifted back to sleep, a further series of quakes had them sitting up, talking, and wondering. About 0330 Wingate braved the cold and wind; with a blanket wrapped around him, he went outside and stood bathed in reddish light. (USGS)

“About 3 am April 10 (1926,) glowing lava spouted along the upper 3 miles of cones and pits of the Mauna Loa rift belt, immediately south of Mokuʻāweoweo, the summit crater. “The actual beginning shown at Kilauea by seismographic tremor was 1:36 am, followed by two pronounced earthquakes.” (Jaggar)

For three days the HVO party surveyed the sources of the eruption; then they descended and moved into Kona District, where roads, houses, and other property were threatened by the flows. Wingate and his crew stayed behind. Much of the area already mapped was under fresh lava, and there was a lot of remapping to do. (USGS)

“A crack only 1 to 3 feet wide opened southward from a point tangent to the ease edge of the bottom of the south pit of Mokuʻāweoweo, vomited out pumiceous silvery pāhoehoe froth lava, and extended itself S.30oW. past the next two pits and over the brow of the mountain down to an elevation of 12,400 feet.” (Jaggar)

“Fortunately the main gushing of this first phase ceased about 5 am the same forenoon, after flowing 5 hours. … (Then,) The vent crack was splitting itself open downhill. The source pāhoehoe changed itself by stirring into scoriaceous aa half a mile from the vents”.

“(T)he Honomalino flow to the west finally dominated, … This was also aa. … It crossed the belt road at 12:22 pm April 16, 3 miles above Hoʻopuloa village.” (Jaggar)

“In 1926, there was a brief summit eruption, followed by 14 days of eruption on the southwest rift zone. A flow from this rift zone passed through a South Kona forest, crossed the main road on April 16, and pooled behind the coastal village of Hoʻopuloa.”

Perhaps a hundred people were waiting around the Hoʻopuloa Church, on the uphill side of the road, and at the Kana‘ana house opposite, on the downhill side of the road. They had seen and heard the flow, 15-20 feet high and more than 500 feet wide, as it moved through the forest uphill.

When it neared the road, people who lived on the Kona side of the flow moved off to the north, and those who lived on the Ka‘u side moved to the south, so they could go home after the road was closed. (USGS)

Tom Jaggar scratched marks about a foot apart across the rutted, gravel road (the only road) between the Kona and Ka‘u Districts. A lava flow was approaching, and Jaggar wanted to measure the flow’s speed as it crossed the road.

Jaggar recorded that it reached the uphill, inland side of the road at 12:22 at an estimated speed of about 7 feet/minute; within two minutes the road was crossed. Jaggar and his assistant, HS Palmer, stayed on the Ka‘u side. (USGS)

“When it got close to the upland of Hoʻopuloa, the flow of lava separated into two, and one of the flows went straight for the village of Hoʻopuloa and the harbor, and the second flow went towards the village of Miloliʻi. The fiery lava engulfed the harbor and village of Hoʻopuloa, and now they are but a heap of pāhoehoe lava.”

“According to eyewitnesses of this engulfing lava, it was frightening seeing the lava coming down, and others say that it was truly awesome watching the flowing lava and its sweeping aside of all obstructions in its path.”

“The last word heard before the Hoku went to the press was that this Wondrous Woman of Halemaʻumaʻu returned to her Palace at Kilauea, and she is bringing to life her fires at the famed crater of Halemaʻumaʻu.”

“Perhaps her rage has been quenched as the skin of that woman has touched the sea, but the memory of the tragedy which befell the people of that section of Kona is heartbreaking.” (Hoku o Hawaii, April 20, 1926)

One enterprising youth used his small truck to haul water from the Hoʻopuloa tanks to Miloliʻi, the end of the road.

When the flow reached the sea, he and his truck were cut off; he later took his truck apart and transported it piece by piece by outrigger canoe to the road on the Kona side of Hoʻopuloa. (USGS)

“Between 0400 and 0900 HST on April 18, the flow buried the village, wharf and harbor and entered the ocean. As soon as lava began falling into the sea, steam shot up in jets. Hundreds of dead fish floated along the edge of the turbulent water that spread out from the contact area of hot rock and cold ocean.”

Hawaiians from Miloliʻi came in their canoes and gathered the dead fish for salting and preserving. Jaggar collected some dead, floating fish and noted that they were perfectly fresh and in no sense cooked. (USGS)

Destruction of the village was gradual and complete. … This was Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s first real experience with property destruction by a lava flow. (USGS)

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Hoopuloa

Hoopuloa_lava_flow-1926

Hoopuloa lava flow

Monument to Catholic church engulfed by lava, Hoopuloa, So. Kona, Hawaii Island-PP-29-6-031

Hoopuloa Landing-taken from anchorage-1904

Hoopuloa Landing-PP-29-6-002-1916

Hoopuloa landing from Mauna Loa eruption, Hawaii Island – April 18, 1926-PP-29-6-013

Hoopuloa -June 21, 1926 (man by sign — 1926 flow)-HMCS

Hoopuloa — June 21, 1926 (lava entering sea)-HMCS

Hoopuloa — June 21, 1926 (large boulders in foreground)-HMCS

Hoopuloa — June 21, 1926 (five figures near boardwalk)-HMCS

Hoopuloa — June 21, 1926 (figure near low peak)-HMCS

Hoopuloa — June 21, 1926 (edge of lava flow)-HMCS

Hoopuloa – June 21, 1926 (canoe on sea)-HMCS

Hoopuloa — June 21, 1926 (brush in foreground — lava)-HMCS

Stamp with Hoopuloa postmark

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Hoopuloa-Milolii-USGS-1925

February 29, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pele’s Hair

“In the afternoon, Messrs. Thurston and Bishop walked out in a NW direction, till they reached the point that forms the northern boundary or the bay, on the eastern side of which Kairua (Kailua) is situated. It runs three or four miles into the sea; is composed entirely of lava …”

“… and was formed by an eruption from one of the large craters on the top of Mouna Huararai, (Hualālai,) which, about twenty-three years ago, inundated several villages, destroyed a number of plantations and extensive fish-ponds, filled up a deep bay twenty miles in length, and formed the present coast.”

“An Englishman, who has resided thirty-eight years in the islands, and who witnessed the above eruption, has frequently, told us he was astonished at the irresistible impetuosity of the torrent. Stone walls, trees, and houses, all gave way before it ….”

“Numerous offerings were presented, and many hogs, thrown alive into the stream, to appease the anger of the gods, by whom they supposed it was directed, and to stay its devastating course. All seemed unavailing, until one day the king Tamehameha (Kamehameha) … as the most valuable offering he could make, cut off part of his own hair, which was always considered sacred, and threw it into the torrent.”

“A day or two after, the lava ceased to flow. The gods, it was thought, were satisfied; and the king acquired no small degree of influence over the minds of the people, who, from this circumstance, attributed their escape from threatened destruction to his supposed interest with the deities of the volcanoes.” (Ellis, 1823)

Others did the same in offering hair to Pele. “This volcano, which has the name of Peli (Pele) from the goddess supposed to inhabit it, is also called by the natives, Kairauea Nui (Kilauea,) or the greater, and the extinguished crater, Kairauea in, or the little …”

“Night increased the magnificence, perhaps the horror, of the scene. The volcano caused … ‘a terrible light in the air.’ The roar occasioned by the escape of the pent up elements, and the fearful character of the surrounding scenery, suited with that light; and all impressed us with the sense of the present Deity …”

“No wonder, then, that the uninstructed natives had long worshipped, in this place, the mysterious powers of nature. Here it was that they supposed the gods of the Island had their favourite abodes, and that, from this centre of their power, they often shook the land, when it pleased them to pass under ground to visit the sea, and take delight in open places.”

“The first pair who arrived at the Island, with the animals and fruits necessary for their subsistence, met the fire gods, say they, on their first landing, and propitiated them by offerings of part of their provisions. …

“Hence no ohelo berry was eaten on Peli, till some had been offered to the goddess of the same name: the sandal-wood was not cut, nor the fern roots dug, without propitiating her by locks of hair, and often more precious things.”

“Frequently the hog and the dog were sacrificed to procure her favour; and never was the ground disturbed or any thing carried away from Kairauea.” (Byron, 1825)

But these offerings of hair to Pele are not the focus of this summary; this is about Pele’s Hair – a volcanic phenomenon that internationally carries the name of ‘Pele.’

Missionary Titus Coan describes Pele’s Hair: “All at once the scene changes, the central portion begins to swell and rise into a grayish dome, until it bursts like a gigantic bubble, and out rushes a sea of crimson fusion …”

“… which pours down to the surrounding wall with an awful seething and roaring, striking this mural barrier with fury, and with such force that its sanguinary jets are thrown back like a repulsed charge upon a battle-field, or tossed into the air fifty to a hundred feet high, to fall upon the upper rim of the pit in a hail-storm of fire.”

“This makes the filamentous vitrifaction called ‘Pele’s hair.’”

“The sudden sundering of the fusion into thousands of particles, by the force that thus ejects the igneous masses upward, and their separation when in this fused state, spins out vitreous threads like spun glass.”

“These threads are light, and when taken up by brisk winds, are often kept floating and gyrating in the atmosphere, until they come into a calmer stratum of air …”

“… when they fall over the surrounding regions, sometimes in masses in quiet and sheltered places. They are sometimes carried a hundred miles, as is proved by their dropping on ships at sea.”

“This ‘hair’ takes the color of the lava of which it is formed. Some of it is a dark gray, some auburn, or it may be yellow, or red, or of a brick color.” (Titus Coan)

Scientists say Pele’s hair is “volcanic glass that has been stretched into thin strands by the physical pulling apart of molten material during eruptions. Most commonly it forms during fire fountain activity.” (Batiza)

Thin strands of volcanic glass drawn out from molten lava have long been called Pele’s hair, named for Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes.

A single strand, with a diameter of less than 0.5 mm, may be as long as 2 m. The strands are formed by the stretching or blowing-out of molten basaltic glass from lava, usually from lava fountains, lava cascades, and vigorous lava flows (for example, as pāhoehoe lava plunges over a small cliff and at the front of an ‘a‘a flow.)

Pele’s hair is often carried high into the air during fountaining, and wind can blow the glass threads several tens of kilometers from a vent. (USGS)

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Peles_Hair-ohiostate

Peles_Hair-huffington

Pele’s Hair, auch Pele-Haar, feinste vulkanische Glasfasern aus der aktuellen Kilauea Eruption, Volcanoes National Park, Big Island of Hawaii, USA

Peles_hair_on_Devastation_trail-WC

Peles Hair_on_antenna-WC

January 30, 2016 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

ʻAilāʻau

The longest recorded eruption at Kilauea, arguably, was the ʻAilāʻau eruption and lava flow in the 15th century, which may be memorialized in the Pele-Hiʻiaka chant. It was the largest in Hawaiʻi in more than 1,000-years.

The flow was named after ʻAilāʻau was known and feared by all the people. ʻAi means the “one who eats or devours.” Lāʻau means “tree” or a “forest.”

ʻAilāʻau was, therefore, the forest eating (destroying) fire-god. Time and again he laid the districts of South Hawaii desolate by the lava he poured out from his fire-pits. (He was the fire god before Pele arrived at Hawaiʻi Island.)

He was the god of the insatiable appetite; the continual eater of trees, whose path through forests was covered with black smoke fragrant with burning wood, and sometimes burdened with the smell of human flesh charred into cinders in the lava flow.

ʻAilāʻau seemed to be destructive and was so named by the people, but his fires were a part of the forces of creation. He built up the islands for future life. The flowing lava made land. Over time, the lava disintegrates and makes earth deposits and soil. When the rain falls, fruitful fields form and people settled there.

ʻAilāʻau still poured out his fire. It spread over the fertile fields, and the people feared him as the destroyer giving no thought to the final good.

He lived, the legends say, for a long time in a very ancient part of Kilauea, on the large island of Hawaii, now separated by a narrow ledge from the great crater and called Kilauea Iki (Little Kilauea).

The ʻAilāʻau eruption took place from a vent area just east of Kilauea Iki. The eruption built a broad shield. The eastern part of Kilauea Iki Crater slices through part of the shield, and red cinder and lava flows near the center of the shield can be seen on the northeastern wall of the crater.

The eruption probably lasted about 60 years, ending around 1470 (based on evaluation of radiocarbon data for 17 samples of lava flows produced by the ʻAilāʻau shield – from charcoal created when lava burns vegetation.) The ages obtained for the 17 samples were averaged and examined statistically to arrive at the final results.

The radiocarbon data are supported by the magnetic declination and inclination of the lava flows, frozen into the flows when they cooled. This study found that these “paleomagnetic directions” are consistent with what was expected for the 15th century.

Such a long eruption naturally produced a large volume of lava, estimated to be about 5.2 cubic kilometers (1.25 cubic miles) after accounting for the bubbles in the lava. The rate of eruption is about the same as that for other long-lasting eruptions at Kilauea.

This large volume of lava covered a huge area, about 166 square miles (over 106,000-acres) – larger than the Island of Lānaʻi. From the summit of the ʻAilāʻau shield, pāhoehoe lava flowed 25-miles northeastward, making it all the way to the coast.

Lava covered all, or most, of what are now Mauna Loa Estates, Royal Hawaiian Estates, Hawaiian Orchid Island Estates, Fern Forest Vacation Estates, Eden Rock Estates, Crescent Acres, Hawaiian Acres, Orchid Land Estates, ʻAinaloa, Hawaiian Paradise Park and Hawaiian Beaches. (USGS)

After a time, ʻAilāʻau left these pit craters and went into the great crater and was said to be living there when Pele came to the seashore far below.

When Pele came to the island Hawaiʻi, she first stopped at a place called Keahialaka in the district of Puna. From this place she began her inland journey toward the mountains. As she passed on her way there grew within her an intense desire to go at once and see ʻAilāʻau, the god to whom Kilauea belonged, and find a resting-place with him as the end of her journey.

She came up, but ʻAilāʻau was not in his house – he had made himself thoroughly lost. He had vanished because he knew that this one coming toward him was Pele. He had seen her toiling down by the sea at Keahialaka. Trembling dread and heavy fear overpowered him.

He ran away and was entirely lost. When he came to that pit she laid out the plan for her abiding home, beginning at once to dig up the foundations. She dug day and night and found that this place fulfilled all her desires. Therefore, she fastened herself tight to Hawaii for all time.

These are the words in which the legend disposes of this ancient god of volcanic fires. He disappears from Hawaiian thought and Pele from a foreign land finds a satisfactory crater in which her spirit power can always dig up everlastingly overflowing fountains of raging lava. (Westervelt)

The ʻAilāʻau flow was such a vast outpouring changed the landscape of much of Puna. It must have had an important impact on local residents, and as such it may well be described in the Pele-Hiʻiaka chant.

Hiʻiaka, late on returning to Kilauea from Kauaʻi with Lohiau, sees that Pele has broken her promise and set afire Hiʻiaka’s treasured ʻōhiʻa lehua forest in Puna. Hiʻiaka is furious, and this leads to her love-making with Lohiau, his subsequent death at the hands of Pele, and Hiʻiaka’s frantic digging to recover the body.

The ʻAilāʻau flows seem to be the most likely candidate because it covered so much of Puna. The timing seems right, too – after the Pele clan arrived from Kahiki, before the caldera formed (Hiʻiaka’s frantic digging may record this), and before the encounters with Kamapuaʻa, some of which probably deal with explosive eruptions between about 1500 and 1790. (Information here is from USGS and Westervelt.)

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