564 W. T. BRIGHAM ON THE EECENT 



XVII. The Eruption of the Hawaiian Volcanoes, 1868. By William T. Brigham, A. M. 



Read December 16, 18G8. 



x HOSE who are familiar with the phases of volcanic activity on the Hawaiian Islands, 

 have noticed the rare occurrence of severe earthquakes on this group, at least in modern 

 times. Indeed, one of the most marked features of an eruption of either Hualalai, Mauna 

 Loa, or Kilauea, has been the silent, unannounced outflow of lava. The struggling floods 

 of molten rock have forced an outlet without disturbing the portion of the mountain not 

 in their path, so that dwellers at the very base of the gigantic cone of Mauna Loa have 

 seen the bright glare of the lava descending the slopes, while neither noise nor trembling 

 of the earth could be perceived. This has been true of all eruptions since 1801, but at 

 some former period severe convulsions have greatly disturbed the beds of lava which form 

 the substratum of the whole island of Hawaii, and most especially in the district of Ka-u, 

 which includes all the southwestern portion of this island. From Manuka to Kahuku the 

 road passes over deep clefts formed by the tearing asunder of the rock, often to a distance 

 of twenty feet. These rents are found as well farther on toward Kapapala, but generally of 

 smaller size, although between the latter place and the sea the ground is greatly broken up. 



Since 1865 the great crater of Kilauea has been slowly filling up by the overflow of the 

 northern lakes of 1864, and various cones between these and Halemaumau (see Map, 

 Plate XV), until the whole central portion was considerably elevated, nearly double the 

 height represented in the section of Kilauea on the map referred to. Mauna L6a also has 

 been more or less active since visited by Mr. Horace Mann and myself in 1865. Then the 

 great summit crater Mokuaweoweo was quite still, and apparently cold and extinct, exhib- 

 iting hardly any signs of more recent action than does Haleakala, on the island of Maui ; 

 only on one of the lower walls a little steam floated up from the cracks below. No one has 

 ascended this mountain since our visit three years since, but from the shores the glare of 

 its crater has been distinctly seen more than once in the interval. As it was winter, and 

 the snows and storms rendered the ascent dangerous, no one attempted it, and as no lava 

 stream flowed down, little attention was paid to these distant and temporary volcanic dis- 

 plays. 



During the past ninety years, ten great eruptions have taken place on Hawaii, averaging 

 one for every nine years, the last occurring in 1859, when a large stream of lava flowed 

 some sixty miles, into the sea. The lava had accumulated in the reservoirs which supply 

 Mauna Loa, and was ready to break forth. To this brief statement of the condition of the 

 Hawaiian volcanoes previous to the present outbreak, may be added the fact that the season 

 had been exceedingly rainy ; great quantities of rain had fallen on Hawaii, and the moun- 

 tain streams were much higher than usual. 



March 27th, 1868, about five and a half o'clock a. m., persons on the whale ships at anchor 

 in Kawaihae harbor saw a dense cloud of smoke rise on the top of Mauna Loa, in one mas- 

 sive pillar, to the height of several miles, lighted up brilliantly by the glare from the crater 

 Mokuaweoweo. In a few hours the smoke dispersed, and at night no light was visible. 1 



About ten o'clock a. m. on the 28th (Saturday), a series of earthquakes began, which have 



1 Rev. ,1. 1). Paris writes from Kdna, on the western side thought it was from a stream of lava . . . but the clouds soon 



of tile island, that " in less than half an hour these columns shut in the whole mountain, and nothing more was seen during 



of smoke had shot up along the slope of the great mountain the day. . . . During the whole night no light nor smoke were 



[Loa] southward to the distance of ten or fifteen miles. We to be seen. All was clear, and still as death." 



