426 w - T - BRIGI1AM ON THE VOLCANIC PHENOMENA 



Manna L5a, and is the froth of the burning lake. As the chain was drawn through it, the 

 steel became completely polished. It was so loose that in one place I sank up to my waist 

 in it. Stones and fragments of scoria were lying about apparently loose, but we found it 

 almost impossible to break them off, so firmly were they cemented to the gravel rock below. 

 The action of the sulphurous atmosphere soon dissolves the Pele's hair, and this with 

 the silica in the gravel itself makes a solid cement. There is an easy descent into the 

 crater at the south-west end, and beyond this the nearly perpendicular rock wall again 

 begins. 



I reached the highest point on the Ka-u road about dark, and sent home the instruments, 

 while I followed slowly along the bank, watching the fires which were gleaming brightly 

 seven hundred feet below. The new lake close beneath the bank was exceedingly beautiful, 

 as it emitted but little smoke, and constantly cracked and broke up its crust, forming an 

 everchanging network of fire. A line of fires was burning all the way between the two 

 lakes, but the level of the new one is more than fifty feet below the old. 



Saturday it was rainy and impossible to obtain sights with the instruments, so I went 

 into Kilauea to explore the caves. The Halemaumau was not in a very lively condition, 

 and passing beyond that, I went into a cave of considerable extent, where the curious 

 siliceous tubes had formed on the rock roof, and obtained many of these fragile specimens 

 some of which were coated with beautiful white crystals. This cave was more than fifty 

 feet below the level of the melted lava in the lake, and the walls did not seem very secure. 

 A lava stream had recently poured into the mouth of the cave, but there were no vapors, 

 nor any uncomfortable heat. Taking advantage of a change of wind, I passed around the 

 lake, and ascended a cone with two peaks formed by lava spatters, but completely closed on 

 the top, as nearly all the others in the crater were, and found steam hissing from many 

 apertures. On breaking off the crust beautiful crystals of various salts were found thickly 

 coating the under surface, and in one place we found much nitrate of potassa. I went from 

 cave to cave, from cone to cone, collecting various kinds of lava and several salts, and 

 finished by a bath in a steam cave, where the steam issued from the floor at an agreeable 

 temperature, and condensed on the roof, falling in rain. The water was quite sweet, and no 

 smell of sulphur was noticeable in the cave. On the roof the little tube stalactites were 

 constantly forming by the solution of the silica in the rock above, and I broke off the brittle, 

 twisted tubes sometimes a foot long. On the floor the drops have made stalagmites of 

 various forms. 1 This steam bath was most delightful after the smoking I had just ex- 

 perienced in a cave where the end was red-hot, and into which my natives did not dare 

 to go. 



Sunday was the first bright day I had had, and the pulu 2 pickers from the neighboring 

 region came to my hut after the morning service, and told me the names of the various 

 parts of the crater, and legends of ancient eruptions. Monday was again rainy, but I 

 completed my measurements, and in the evening made a series of observations to determine 

 the declination of the magnetic needle. The electric currents in the lava and the large 

 quantity of iron in the rock, made strange work with the compass ; I have seen the 

 needle suddenly turn through an arc of forty degrees. The variation of declination will be 



1 I shall refer more particularly to these stalactite caves, species of tree ferns, and is exported in large quantities to 

 when describing the minerals. California for beds, &c. 



8 Pulu is the silky covering of the opening fronds of several 



