OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 387 



and eighty-four feet high, and on the east four hundred and seventy. The bottom of the 

 pit as examined at that time consisted of solid lava, through which there were many fissures 

 and fumaroles emitting steam and sulphurous vapors in large volumes. One of the fissures 

 near the western bank had ejected lava at no very distant period. 1 



Adjoining Mokuaweoweo are two small pit craters on the major axis of the ellipse, and into 

 the southern one a stream of lava has flowed from the main crater. The summit plain is 

 much fissured, and several small cones both north and south, but on the same general line, 

 mark eruptive agencies. The lava of the walls is largely phonolitic. 



At nine o'clock we commenced the descent, as our time was limited, 

 and about two in the afternoon a thick misty rain came on, and our 

 guide wished to stop as he could not see the way ; we had, however, 

 three compasses, and proceeded without difficulty, although drenched, 

 to the plain, where we found a cave and contrived to light a fire. At 

 nine o'clock the rain ceased, the stars came out brightly, and as the 

 cave still dripped, we rolled ourselves up in our blankets wet through 

 as we were, and with our feet to the fire slept well all night. In the 

 morning we wrung out our clothes, which dried in the course of two 

 hours as we were walking rapidly in the sun, and .about noon rested 

 on the edge of the forest, several miles west of where we had come \ ifV^V 



up, at a spring which, as they always are on this island, was in a very 

 improbable place, — the most elevated part of an open plain. Its posi- 

 tion was marked by a pile of stones ; no stream ran from it, and it was 

 carefully covered to keep the wild hogs out, whose marks we saw near Flg ' 34 ' "^ " okuaw " 

 by among the strawberries and on the trees. Striking into the woods we walked down at a 

 rapid rate, although the muddiness of the path, and the many trees that had fallen across 

 the way, made it very laborious. Added to this, it began to rain as we came into the region 

 of ferns, and we were again wet through. 



Vegetation on the leeward side of Mauna Loa only extends to the height of six to seven 

 thousand feet, but on the windward slopes to nearly ten thousand. By various calculations, 

 Prof. Dana gives the average slope of the mountain at 6° 30', while from Kilauea to the sea 

 it is but 1° 28', or one hundred and thirty-five feet to the mile. A lava stream, however, in 

 flowing down the side meets inclinations from 1° to 25°, so uneven is the ground. 2 Eruptions 

 have occurred all over the summit, and although many of these lateral ejections have been 

 of enormous volume, they still compose but a small portion of the solid mass of the moun- 

 tain. They, however, play a very important part in determining the position of future 

 valleys, should volcanic action ever cease, as in almost all cases they have formed deep 

 chasms in the mountain sides. 



History of Mauna Loa. — The earliest eruption recorded took place in 1832, and 

 it is rather remarkable that no traditions of the natives point definitely to any 

 previous one. On the 20th of June, Mauna L6a commenced to eject lava from the summit 

 on several sides, and continued three or four weeks, with such brilliancy as to be visible at 



1 Narrative of United States Exploring Expedition, vol. iv., p. 152. 



2 The slope of Teneriffe is 12° 30' ; iEtna, 8°, according to filie de Beaumont ; 10° 15' according to Von Buch. 



