ERUPTION OF THE HAWAIIAN VOLCANOES. 579 



" From here onward, the incline increasing considerably, the lava commenced to be very 

 rugged and broken. As here it had passed over and destroyed a dense forest, a number of 

 grotesque shapes met the eye. Wherever the lava had met a tree of some size, it had sur- 

 rounded it with a perfect mould which either still held the smouldering remains of the 

 trunk or exhibited hollow cylinders bearing on the inside the markings of the bark of the 

 tree. The leaf stalk scars of fern-trees were almost perfect. A few of the moulds con- 

 tained still, entire trunks with the unconsumed branches. In the bifurcations of these, heavy 

 masses of lava had accumulated, hanging down in wavy points like so many stalactites. 

 Wherever there was a fern stump standing upright, it bore a cap of lava ; everything indi- 

 cated that the liquid mass had been thrown upwards by the violent rush of steam and gas. 

 As I said before, this part of the flow was lined by a dense forest. It soon became apparent 

 that the sides of the forest closed in upon each other, and from an eminence alongside the 

 fissure I could see that the lava stream contracted at some distance beyond to the apex of 

 an isosceles triangle. The crevasse, which ran straight up to the apex, was continuous, 

 wider than below, and emitted in great profusion sulphurous and other acid gases. Its bor- 

 ders, which were of the color of red brick, commenced to be covered with the efflorescence 

 of salts and sulphur, and in places they assumed altogether the appearance of sulphur 

 banks. The heat of the lava increased so as to be unbearable in some places. Ashes and 

 scoria covered every hollow in the floor, and the edge of the woods for some distance. 



" Having arrived at the apex of the triangle, I found that the crevasse, over which the 

 trees almost closed from both sides, still extended a few hundred yards higher up in the 

 woods, as indicated by a continuous line of white and yellow smoke. The choking nature 

 of the latter forbade my marching along the edge of the fissure, while the impenetrable 

 thicket, with the ground thickly covered by ashes, proved another effectual bar to my 

 further progress. In fact, while hurrying out of an overpowering cloud of the smoke, I got 

 one leg caught in a lateral fissure hidden under the ashes, where it received such a lively 

 impression of heat that I made quick time to retire from that neighborhood. Just then I 

 heard a deep, hollow, rumbling, prolonged sound, while the air and earth remained perfectly 

 still. Subsequently I learned that it had been caused by the rolling down of large masses of 

 pumice-stone from the hill to the lower lava stream, but at the time being fearful of another 

 catastrophe, I hurried back as fast as circumstances would permit, and felt a great relief in 

 rejoining my friends who had remained behind, at the lower part of the stream. From the 

 height above the cataract I saw two other lines of smoke running through the woods, 

 taking their origin from the lava valley below, indicating two other fissures. Thus it appears 

 that at the head of the valley the main fissure divided itself into three parts : the first, and 

 largest, running northeast ; the middle one almost clue north, and the third about north- 

 northwest. The two latter did not seem to have thrown off much lava, if any, for there 

 appeared no gap in the woods along their courses. 



" Honolulu, Ma.y 4, 1868." 



From a letter addressed to me under date of August 27th, 1868, by the Rev. T. Coan, a 

 correspondent of this society, I extract the following important facts, and accurate descrip- 

 tions : — 



" I left Hilo on the 4th of August, on a missionary tour through Puna and Ka-u, and was 

 absent eighteen days. During this tour I made careful observations with measurements 



