OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 391 



beaten through in this direction, but it was now entangled with jungle so that all traces of 

 it were nearly obliterated. However, we plunged into the forest with a long knife, hatchet, 

 and clubs, and cut and beat our way at the rate of one and a fifth miles an hour. At night we 

 slept in the bush and listened to the distant roar of the volcano. On Wednesday the 25th, 

 we gained a little eminence in the woods, from which we could see the lava-stream which 

 was now opposite us on our left, distant six miles. This fiery flood was now half way through 

 the forest, and more than three fourths of the way from the crater to the shore, sweeping all 

 before it. Apprehending that it might reach the sea in a day or two, and that the ladies at 

 the station might be alarmed, Dr. Wetmore determined to return. Taking one of the natives 

 and leaving three with me, he retraced his steps while I pushed on through jungle and bog 

 and dell, beating every yard of my way out of this horrible thicket. On the 26th, we 

 emerged from the forest but plunged at once into a dense fog more dark than the thicket 

 itself, rushing up the mountain we encamped for the night on a rough bushy ridge. A 

 little before sunset the fog rolled off, and Mauna Kea and Mauna L6a both stood out in 

 grand relief; the former robed in a fleecy mantle almost to its base, and the latter belching 

 out floods of fire from its burning bowels. All night long we could see the glowing fires, 

 and listen to the awful roar of the fearful crater. 



" We had now been out four nights, and were within twenty miles of the crater, with the 

 long brilliant river of fusion on our left shining in a line of light down the side of the 

 mountain till it entered the woods. We left our mountain aerie on the 27th, determined if 

 possible to reach the seat of action on that day. Taking the pillar of fire and cloud as our 

 mark, and still having the great river of lava on our left, we pushed on over a rough and 

 almost impassable surface — the attraction increasing as the square of the distance de- 

 creased. Our intense interest mocked all obstacles. At noon we came upon the confines 

 of a tract of naked scoria?, so intolerably sharp and jagged that our baggage-men could not 

 pass it. Here I ordered a halt ; stationed the two carriers, gave an extra pair of strong 

 shoes to my guide, gave him my wrapper and blanket, put a few crackers and boiled eggs 

 into my pockets, took my compass and staff, and said to Mr. Salt Sea (Kekai), ' Now go 

 ahead, and let us warm ourselves to-night by that fire yonder.' Thus equipped we pressed 

 up the mountain, over fields of lava of indescribable roughness ; now mounting a ridge of 

 sharp and vitreous scoria? (a-a), where the fiery pillar stood full in view, and then plunging 

 into some awful ravine or pit, from which we slowly emerged by crawling upon < all fours.' 

 But I soon found that my guide needed a leader. He was too slow. I therefore pressed 

 ahead, leaving him to get on as best he could. At half-past three p. m. I reached the awful 

 crater and stood alone in the light of its fires. It was a moment of unutterable interest. I 

 seemed to be standing in the presence and before the throne of the eternal God ; and while 

 all other voices were hushed, His alone spake. I was ten thousand feet above the sea, in a 

 vast solitude untrodden by the foot of man or beast ; amidst a silence unbroken by any 

 livino- voice, and surrounded by scenes of terrific desolation. Here I stood almost blinded 

 by the insufferable brightness ; almost deafened with the startling clangor ; almost petrified 

 with the awful scene. The heat was so intense that the crater could not be approached 

 within forty or fifty yards on the windward side, and probably, not within two miles on the 

 leeward. The eruption, as before stated, commenced on the very summit of the mountain, 

 but it would seem that the lateral pressure of the embowelled lava was so great as to force 

 itself out at a weaker point in the side of the mountain ; at the same time cracking and 



