03-06-2008, 04:30 AM
Another quote from the Coan autobiography regarding getting close to the lava, this time in 1855. No Mayor Kim to protect the reverend from himself back then, but Coan sounds pretty confident in his judgement of the situation. The book describes many such edgy forays on to lava rivers and up newly built cones by Coan and his fellow travelers.
quote:
Not a square rod could be found on all this wide expanse where the glowing fusion could not be seen under our feet through holes and cracks in the crust on which we were walking. After venturing some thirty rods upon this sea of fire, we saw just before us an open channel of seething lava, some three hundred feet wide, and whose extreme length above and below we could not see or measure. Of course there was no alternative but to beat a retreat, and we worked our way back to the place whence we started.
To many it may seem strange that any one should venture into such a place; but to a person familiar with the movements of these igneous masses, the danger is not alarming. Fused rock is heavy and of great consistency, and when left quiet for a time under the atmosphere its surface stiffens and congeals, so that I have often walked on a flow that had been liquid only five hours before. We returned to Hilo to report.