574 w - T - BRIGIIAM ON THE RECENT 



and that natives had reported flowing lava there. We rode over in the morning of April 

 20th. At a distance of five miles from Mr. Reed's dwelling, where the Puna road turns off 

 from the Kilauea road, heavy clouds of white vapor were seen to issue from the bush, which 

 sparsely covered the pahoehoe, makai 1 of the road. Half an hour's ride brought us up to 

 the place, but we were obliged to leave our horses some distance before reaching the spot, 

 on account of fissures. After having crossed a number of them, heading for the heaviest 

 cloud of vapor, we at last came to a deep crevasse in the pahoehoe, at least twenty-four 

 feet in width, no bottom visible. It narrowed and widened out in places, but nowhere was 

 less than ei«;ht feet wide. Its length we estimated at four hundred feet. Parallel with this 

 great crevasse, constituting a belt about six hundred feet in width, were a number of smaller 

 ones on each side, diminishing in size with distance from it, from six feet to a few inches. 

 From the larger openings in the former, heavy white columns of hot steam issued, which had 

 a decidedly alkaline smell. Smaller jets of vapor, to the number of thirty, rose from the 

 smaller fissures. We could not discover fire in any place, but it is very probable that during 

 dark nights the reflection of the underlying lava should be thrown up, for as the steam did 

 not seem to contain combustible material, it is unlikely that the light seen should have 

 been produced by it. The mean direction of all the fissures was N. E. 9° N., S. W. 9° S., or 

 nearly the direction of a line connecting Kilauea with Waiohinu and Kahuku. The distance 

 of these fissures from Kilauea is thirteen miles. 



" As in this district the earthquake of April 2d culminated to its greatest intensity, so as 

 even to rend in twain the frame-work of a mountain-side, and hurl down on the plain a por- 

 tion of its flank, it is necessary to give a short description of the country in order to insure 

 a proper understanding of the disturbance. The locality in question is that comprised be- 

 tween the ranch stations of Messrs. Reed and Richardson, on the east, and Mr. F. S. Lyman, 

 on the west, a distance of five miles. The government road connecting these two places 

 runs through a fine grassy plain, which has a very gentle fall towards the sea, its elevation 

 being about 2,000 feet. Into this plain project from the slope of Mauna Loa three parallel 

 hills or spurs, each about one mile in length, and from 800 to 1,800 feet in height. They 

 include two broad valleys between them. The upper portions of these valleys rise with a 

 steep incline towards a ridge which runs at right angles with the spurs, and is covered with 

 a dense pulu forest, which extends far up the gentle slope of the dome of Mauna Loa. In 

 the second one of these valleys — that next to Mr. Lyman's — the so-called mud-flow took 

 place, but very extensive land-slides, confined simply to the loose earth and conglomerate, 

 also occurred in the other valleys. 



" The ground around Reed and Richardson's station is torn up into numerous small cracks 

 and fissures, running in every direction. Some are large enough to engulf horse and 

 rider, a fact which actually occurred a few days after the earthquake. A large cistern, built 

 in solid masonry and covered with an arched stone roof, was rent to pieces, and the roof 

 entirely broken away. Not a single stone fence is standing ; their places are indicated by 

 flat belts of stone on the ground. The dwelling-house — a good wooden-framed one — ex- 

 hibits a wrench across its roof, so that the gutters empty themselves in the sitting-room ; 

 the cook-house is thrown off its foundation ; other out-buildings are completely overturned ; 

 and of the grass-houses, some are smashed down, others greatly inclined. But all these 

 signs of destruction are thrown in the shade by the grandeur of the force which shook off 



1 On the side towards the sea. 



