396 W. T. BRIGHAM ON THE VOLCANIC PHENOMENA 



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 superincumbent stratum on which we were walking. 

 The open pots and pools and streams we avoided by a zigzag course ; but as we advanced, 

 these became more numerous and intensely active, and the heat becoming unendurable, we 

 again beat a retreat after having proceeded some thirty rods upon the stream. It may seem 

 strange to many, that one should venture on such a fiery stream at all, but you will under- 

 stand that the greater part of the surface of the stream was hardened to the depth of from 

 six inches to two or three feet ; that the incandescent stream flowed nearly under this 

 crust like water under ice, but showing up through ten thousand fissures and breaking up 

 in countless pools. On the hardened parts we could walk, though the heat was almost 

 scorching, and the smoke and gases suffocating. We could even tread on a fresh stream of 

 lava only one hour after it had poured out from a boiling caldron, so soon does the lava 

 harden in contact with the air." 



Although the stream of lava continued to move for more than a year after in parts of its 

 course, its front became cold and fixed on the banks of the river, and a Merciful Providence 

 listened to the prayers of the people of Hilo. 



Prof. Dana considered it most probable that a fissure had extended completely down the 

 mountain-side, and that the lava issued from many vents along this line. 1 



March 7th, 1856, Mr. Coan writes 2 : ''The great fire-fountain is still in eruption, and 

 the terminus of the stream is only five miles from the shore. The lava moves slowly along 

 on the surface of the ground, and at points where the quantity of lava is small, we dip it 

 up with an iron spoon held in the hand. During the last three weeks the stream has made 

 no progress towards Hilo, and we begin to hope that the supply at the summit-fountain has 

 diminished. There is, however, still much smoke at the terminal crater. You will under- 

 stand that the molten flood is all poured out of the fissures on the summit and for a few 

 miles down the slope of the mountain. At first this disgorgement flowed down and spread 

 wide on the surface of the mountain, as blood flows down a punctured limb. This phe- 

 nomenon continued until the stream had swept down some thirty miles, which it did in about 

 two days. It now came upon a plane where the angle of slope was small, say one degree. 

 Here its progress became slow, it spread more widely, and refrigeration was more rapid. 

 The surface of course hardened first. But this refrigerating process went deeper and deeper 

 like the congelation of water, and extended higher and higher up the mountain until at 

 length all the lava was covered, except at occasional vents — as heretofore described — for 

 the escape of steam and gases. 



" The process of breaking up vertically and spreading out afresh upon the hardened crust, 

 was occasioned by obstructions at the end of the stream, damming up the liquid, and thus 

 obliging the accumulating lavas to force new passages and outlets for disgorgement. In this 

 way the stream was widened by lateral outgushings, divided into several channels, swayed 

 to the right and left, and raised to great heights by pushing up from below, and heaping 

 mass after mass upon what had been its upper stratum. Often when the stream had been 

 flowing briskly and brilliantly at the end, it would suddenly harden and cool, and for several 

 days remain inactive. At length, however, immense areas of the solidified lava, four, five 

 or six miles above the end of the stream, are seen in motion — cones are uncapped — domes 

 crack — hills and ridges of scoria? move and clink — immense slabs of lava are raised 



l Silliman's Journal, [n. s.] vol. xxi., p. 241. 2 Ibid., vol. xxii., p. 240. 



