388 w - T. BRIGHAM ON THE VOLCANIC PHENOMENA 



Lahaina, more than a hundred miles distant. 1 Through the summer earthquakes were 

 frequent on Hawaii, although not severe, and finally Kilauea hurst into activity as described 

 in the account of that volcano. 



After an interval of eleven years, Mokuaweoweo again broke out. In 1837, Douglass 

 made the first ascent of Mauna L5a by a foreigner, and describes the crater as being in 

 intense activity, but unfortunately his statements were so evidently false in other respects, 

 that no reliance can be placed on his description. If the crater had been active, doubtless 

 smoke, or the glare reflected on the sky, would have indicated the foct to the residents at 

 the base of the mountain. 



The accounts of the eruption of 1843 are as follows, the first by Dr. Andrews in a 

 letter dated February 6th, 1843 2 : — 



" Smoke was first seen near the summit of the mountain, on Monday, January 9th. 

 During the succeeding night a brilliant light was emitted from the same spot. The great 

 distance of the mountain from Hilo — about forty miles — prevented our seeing anything 

 more than the intense glare sent forth by the boiling mass, which apparently was pouring 

 forth and rolling down the side. . . . During the day vast volumes of smoke were constantly 

 pouring forth, concealing everything beneath. At times the smoke rose in a nearly per- 

 pendicular column, not less, as I judged, than one or two thousand feet high. Before the 

 close of the week the light disappeared from the upper part of the mountain, and broke out 

 anew near its base in the valley between it and Mauna Kea." 



The Rev. T. Coan writes under date of February 20th, 1843. 3 After describing the 

 brilliancy of the light he says : " For about four weeks this scene continued without much 

 abatement. At the present time, after six weeks, the action of the fire is greatly diminished, 

 though it is still somewhat vehement at one or two points along the line of eruption. The 

 flow of the lava has probably extended twenty miles." Soon after this he was able to visit 

 the scene of eruption, and ascend the mountain, and writes in a letter dated April 5th : 

 " The eruption has flowed from the summit of Mauna Loa to the base of Mauna Kea, where 

 it separates into two broad streams, one flowing towards Waimea, and the other towards 

 Hilo. Another great stream has flowed along the base of Mauna Loa towards Mauna Hualalai 

 in Kdna. These streams are still flowing, and they have reached a distance of from twenty- 

 five to thirty miles from the crater on the top of the mountain. The quantity of lava is 

 immense, it being many miles wide. There are two great active craters in close contiguity 

 near the summit. Lava does not flow from these craters now ; it is conveyed down the side 

 of the mountain in a subterranean duct from fifty to a hundred feet below the surface, at 

 the rate of from fifteen to twenty miles an hour." The flow soon after ceased. Mr. Coan 

 threw stones into the stream as it appeared through the openings in the crust, and they did 

 not sink but were instantly carried along out of sight. Mounds, ridges, and cones were 

 thrown up along the lava-stream, and from the latter, steam, gases, and hot stones were 

 ejected. 4 The angle of descent of the whole distance is 6°, but in many places the stream 

 was continuous at an inclination of 25°. Kilauea was visited by Mr. Abner Wilcox dur- 

 ing this eruption, but it showed no signs of sympathy with the summit crater. 



In 1851, a slight eruption took place from the summit of Mauna Loa, which is 



18^1 



thus described by Mr. Coan 5 : — 



1 Silliman's Journal, [n. 8.] vol. xxv., p. 199. 4 Missionary Herald, vol. xl., p. 44. 



2 Missionary Herald, vol. xxxix., p. 381. 5 From a letter to the Rev. C. S. Lyman, by Rev. T. Coan, 



3 Ibid., p. 463. dated Hilo, Hawaii, Oct. 1, 1851. Silliman's Journal, [n. s."| 



