390 W. T. BRIGHAM ON THE VOLCANIC PHENOMENA 



on the summit of Mauna Lda. At first it appeared like a solitary star resting on the 

 apex of the mountain. In a few moments its light increased and shone like a rising moon. 

 Seamen keeping watch on deck in our port exclaimed, ' What is that ? The moon is rising 

 in the West!' In fifteen minutes the problem was solved. A flood of fire burst out of the 

 mountain, and soon began to flow in a brilliant current down its northern slope. It was 

 from the same point, and it flowed in the same line, as the great eruption which I visited in 

 March 1843. In a short time immense columns of burning lava shot up heavenward to the 

 height of three or four hundred feet, flooding the summit of the mountain with light, and 

 gilding the firmament with its radiance. Streams of light came pouring down the mountain, 

 flashing through our windows, and lighting up our apartments so that we could see to read 

 large print. When we first awoke, so dazzling was the glare on our windows that we sup- 

 posed some building near us must be on fire ; but as the light shone directly upon our 

 couch and into our faces we soon perceived its cause. In two hours the molten stream had 

 rolled, as we judged, about fifteen miles down the side of the mountain. This eruption was 

 one of terrible activity and surpassing splendor, but it was short. In about twenty-four 

 hours all traces of it seemed to be extinguished. 



" At daybreak on the 20th of February, we were again startled by a rapid eruption 

 bursting out laterally on the side of the mountain facing Hilo, and about midway from the 

 base to the summit of the mountain. This lateral crater was equally active with the one 

 on the summit, and in a short time we perceived the molten river flowing from its orifice 

 direct towards Hilo. The action became more and more fierce from hour to hour. Floods 

 of lava poured out of the mountain's side, and the glowing river soon reached the woods at 

 the base of the mountain, a distance of twenty miles. 



" Clouds of smoke ascended and hung like a vast canopy over the mountain, or rolled off 

 upon the wings of the wind. These clouds assumed various hues — murky, blue, white, 

 purple or scarlet — as they were more or less illuminated from the fiery abyss below. 

 Sometimes they resembled an inverted burning mountain with its apex pointing to the awful 

 orifice over which it hung. Sometimes the glowing pillar would shoot up vertically for 

 several degrees, and then describing a graceful curve, sweep off horizontally, like the tail of 

 a comet, further than the eye could reach. The sable atmosphere of Hilo assumed a lurid 

 appearance, and the sun's rays fell upon us with a yellow, sickly light. Clouds of smoke 

 careered over the ocean, carrying with them ashes, cinders, charred leaves, etc. ; which fell 

 in showers upon the decks of ships approaching our coast. The light was seen more than a 

 hundred miles at sea, and at times the purple tinge was so widely diffused as to appear like 

 the whole firmament on fire. Ashes and capillary vitrifactions called ' Pele's hair ' fell thick 

 in our streets and upon the roofs of our houses. And this state of things still continues, for 

 even now while 1 write, the atmosphere is in the same yellow and dingy condition ; every 

 object looks pale, and sickly showers of vitreous filaments are falling around us, and our 

 children are gathering them. 



" As soon as the second eruption broke out I determined to visit it. Dr. Wetmore agree- 

 ing to accompany me, we procured four natives to carry our baggage, one of them, Kekai 

 acting as guide. On Monday the 23d of February, we all set off and slept in the outskirts 

 of the great forest which separates Hilo from the mountains. Our track was not the one I 

 took in 1843, namely, the bed of a river;' we attempted to penetrate the thicket at another 

 point, our general course bearing south-west. In ancient days an Indian trail had been 



