Ascent of Maiina Loa. 17 



sight, — what I may call an inverted sunset. The clouds had risen rapidlj- until they 

 quite covered the plain and dashed their misty van against the base of the three 

 giants, quite cutting them off from the rest of the world except Haleakala on Maui 

 which towered above the mist. The surface of the clouds was rough and in constant 

 motion, and as the sun sank into it, it seemed to kindle into flames of the most brilliant 

 colors. All the golden canopy we usually see above the setting sun, was below it here, 

 and above, all was clear. The clouds swept up nearly eight thousand feet, but no 

 higher, and we were soon asleep above their limits. 



The morning was clear and not very cold, and the view of Hualalai and Kea 

 was ver}' grand. At seven o'clock we had eaten our morning meal, put out our fire, 

 and started on our way. The craters of 1859 were just on our left as we went up, and 

 for two miles the crevices were filled with the //;;/// or basaltic pumice, which is green 

 and very light, and with Pele's hair. This fine volcanic glass was blown more than 

 sixty miles during this eruption. At three o'clock two of our kanakas gave out, and 

 we were obliged to leave them, assuming their burdens ourselves. The others were 

 sick, and bound their heads up with leaves, complaining that their heads and stomachs 

 were affected, imputing it all to the wind, which, however, was very light. Mr. Mann 

 and myself felt no inconvenience from the altitude during the journev. 



At night we were about half a mile from the terminal crater, and we found a 

 long narrow cave, once the bed of a small lava stream, and still horrid with projecting 

 points. It was five feet wide, two feet high, and of considerable length. We slept in 

 Indian file, or rather tried to sleep; our bed was a magnified rasp, and although we 

 broke off as nuuu' of the teeth as we could, more than enough remained. We needed 

 all our blankets to protect us from the severe cold which froze water solid in the cave 

 at our feet, but we had to push a fold l)eneath every time we turned. I got up before 

 sunrise, and the air seemed intensely cold; I ran to a little hill and saw the sun come 

 up through the clouds, and then crawled into the cave again and breakfasted. We 

 then covered ourselves well with blankets, and walked up to the crater. Mokuaweoweo 

 is the most perfectly formed crater on the Islands although not the largest. The walls 

 almost a thousand feet high, are nearly perpendicular and unbroken for much of the 

 circuit. When the United States Exploring Expedition ascended Mauna Loa in 1S41, 

 the bottom was rough, and contained eight or ten cones, some of considerable height; 

 now there were only two cones, about two hundred feet high each, near the eastern 

 wall ; the whole bottom had been overflowed with fresh black lava, and as examined 

 with a powerful glass was no rougher than an ordinary lava-stream. We were on the 

 highest wall, 13,675 feet above the sea, and on the opposite side from the Wilkes 



Memoirs B. P. B. Museum, Vol. II, No. 4. — z. 



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