OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



423 



them but without effect, and I had to climb down and shake them roughly. When they had 

 got to the edge the action had greatly diminished, and in a few minutes more the dark 

 crust again covered the central portion, and we all went to sleep. 



I was glad to see such distinct flames, as it has been denied that they exist in Kilauea. 

 They burst from the surface and were in tongues or wide sheets a foot long and of a bluish- 

 green color, quite distinct from the lava even when white-hot ; they played over the whole 

 surface at intervals, and I thought they were more frequent after one of the periodical 

 risings of the surface in the pit. 



In the morning we found it very misty, and the mist soon turned to rain, but we went 

 to the cone we had seen the evening before, and climbing its sides looked into its red- 

 hot mouth. It was nearly full of melted lava, but 

 although we tossed in scorise we could not excite 

 it. Another cone with several pinnacles called 

 the " Cathedral " we did not visit, as no fire 

 was visible, although smoke poured from it copi- 

 ously. The rain caused steam to rise from the 

 cracks over the whole surface of the crater, and we 

 got quite wet, and our views were wholly cut off. 

 At half-past seven we were in the saddle on the way 

 to Hilo, which was only twenty-nine miles distant, 

 but the road was so rocky in some places and so 

 muddy in others that we were obliged to walk our 

 horses all the way, and it was twelve hours before 

 we dismounted at the house of the excellent mis- 

 sionary who has done more than all others to record 



the volcanic phenomena which have taken place on Figs.39-40. The cathedral in Kiiau^a < - 

 Hawaii during the last thirty years. Kilauea lies in easU 



Mr. Coan's district, and he passes its brink at least twice a year. 



On the second of August, 1865, I again visited Kilauea, this time with Mr. C. W. 

 Brooks of San Francisco, 1 to make arrangements for a survey. The appearance was 

 much the same as last year, although the bottom had evidently risen, and several new cracks 

 formed, while others had closed. The banks of the Halemaumau had changed considerably. 

 The platform on which I slept before was gone, and the diameter was now at least a thou- 

 sand feet. The islands had disappeared, and the lava was not more than thirty feet below 

 the top of the bank. We went down in the crater in the evening, and fell asleep with the 

 usual resolve to wake up now and then to enjoy the fire-works; but we were so weary with 

 our tiresome ride from Hilo, that we slept until after midnight, when a puff of sulphurous 

 vapor from a crack under our heads, waked us up choking, and we beat a hasty retreat. 

 In a few minutes, however, the gas ceased to blow, and after enjoying the changing fire of 

 the lake for half an hour, we slept until five in the morning, when our guide advised us to 

 return, as we were to breakfast on the upper bank some three miles distant. We went round 

 by a new lake, which had opened during the winter on the northern side, near the bank. It 

 was small, hardly two hundred feet long and fifty wide, but the melted lava was not more 



1 I was particularly glad to secure the company of Mr. other parts of the world, and was well acquainted with their 

 Brooks, as he had visited the volcanic regions of Italy, and phenomena. 



■ West and North- 



1865. 



