lO Kilaiiccx and Maima Loa. 



A leguminous tree {Sopliora chrysophylla)^ called by the natives Mamane, was 

 common ; the sandal-wood was seen here and there, but of small size, and the ohelo 

 {VacciniiDn pciidiiliflonDii) covered the ground thickly, and was loaded with its large 

 red and purple berries. Twisted lava streams, and masses of scorise crossed our path, 

 and so complicated were they that it was almost impossible to trace their course. 

 About sunset we came to the place our guide had selected for our camp, and we soon 

 had a fire at which we dried ourselves and roasted some sweet potatoes, and as the 

 rain had ceased, slept comfortably under some bushes. Our water came from a curi- 

 ous pool in the last place one would think of looking for water, in the midst of a 

 horribl}' rough bed of scoriae almost as porous as pumice, and broken into irregular 

 masses of all sizes. The basin holds about twelve gallons of cold, pure water, and has 

 no evident inlet or outlet, yet is never entirely exhausted; we nearly emptied it and 

 the next morning it was full again. It was found accidentall}-, and three columns of 

 stone are piled up to mark the place, which would be most difficult to find without 

 these signals. 



At half-past five in the morning we started for the summit, toward which a 

 good path led for some distance, and we galloped over the hard gravel beds, dodging 

 in a zigzag course the clumps of bushes in our way. The morning was clear, and the 

 birds, which are scarce near the shore, were abimdant, and sang merrily. The path 

 ended after three miles, and we had to slowl}- pick our waj- over difficult and even 

 dangerous lava-fields. Our horses occasionally broke through, causing some trepida- 

 tion to the riders, but no accidents occurred; and after passing nearly round the 

 summit, crossing the flow of 1801, and counting ten flows from the top, and many 

 others almost indistinguishable, we reached the base of the highest plateau at eight 

 o'clock, and left our horses in a little valle}- where strawberries were abundant, and 

 also American potatoes, planted by some native. 



A climb up a steep .slope some three hundred feet high, and we were in the midst 

 of a series of large pit craters extending over the entire summit. These craters were 

 very much alike, from three to five hundred feet deep, and from seven hundred to a 

 thousand feet in diameter. The walls were of solid grey lava capped very seldom by 

 more recent basalt (although fresh looking lava was piled near b}-), and were nearly 

 perpendicular. Vegetation extended to the bottom, and the beautiful Silver-sword 

 {Argyroxiphiiiin sa)idvicciis(') was growing in the clefts far down the sides. The bottom 

 was usually flat and gravelly', but in some cases covered with smooth black lava, and in 

 others rough and broken. Fragments of the walls were often seen at their base, and in 

 one crater they were partly melted into the fresh lava which covered the bottom, proving 



that the compact lava of this mountain summit is fusible by the melted black basalt. 



[3S8] 



