500 A NATURALIST ON THE " CHALLENGER." 



The whole looks as if a vast quantity of melted pitch had 

 been turned out of a pot suddenly and allowed to run and set 

 hard. 



It was getting dark before the hotel on the verge of Kilauea 

 was reached. During the ascent a gdc-bular cloud was seen 

 hanging in the air in the distance, and we were told by the 

 guide that it hung over the summit of Mauna Loa itself, but we 

 could not have told this, for the gradient being so gradual there 

 was no appearance of any mountain at all. As night fell, this 

 cloud, perpetually re-formed by condensation, was lighted up by 

 a brilliant orange glow reflected from the molten lava in the 

 great terminal crater, and the appearance was just as if a fire 

 was raging in the forest in the distance. 



With the evening appeared an Owl: I suppose the short- 

 eared Owl (Otus Brachiotus), an English, European, Asian and 

 African bird, but which is most curiously found in no other 

 Polynesian group besides the Sandwich Islands. A Duck also 

 rose from a small marsh. A species of Duck is described as 

 visiting the islands from America, a distance of 2,000 miles.* 

 Another species occurring in the islands has been described as 

 peculiar to the group by Mr. Sclater from " Challenger " speci- 

 mens. Since this latter Duck was formerly supposed to migrate 

 to the islands from America, there may be some mistake also 

 with regard to the other species. 



Not far from the crater of Kilauea there are abundant 

 woods of Acacia Koa trees and plenty of herbage, and no doubt 

 Deer which have been turned out will thrive there and multiply 

 rapidly. A few small Sandalwood-trees still remain uncut in 

 the vicinity. 



The crater appeared in the dark as a wide abyss filled with 

 gloom, but in the distance were seen three or four glowing spots, 

 reminding one of furnaces seen at night in the Black Country, 

 and every now and again a jet of glowing matter showed itself 

 thrown up from a lava fountain which happened to be playing 

 at the time. 



In the morning the crater was seen to be bounded by a 



* Finsch und Hartlaub. "Beitrag zur Fauna Central Polynesiens." 

 Halle. H. W. Schmidt, 1867. 



