40 



Kilaina and Mauiia I. 



oa. 



The description of this eruption at once reminds us of the eruption of Vesuvius 

 in 79 A.D.; the same black, lofty column of smoke spreading out at a great height, 

 lightnings, and the destruAive showers of sand such as overwhelmed Pompeii. Could 

 it have marked as in the Italian volcano, a renewal of activitv after a long rest, and 

 were the scoriae the remains of the long-cooled crust at the bottom of the crater? South 

 and west of Kilauea where the sand deposits are quite extensive, the whole ground is 

 cracked with earthquake throes. These rents are sometimes filled with the black 

 sand, and sometimes, especially near Ponahohoa, with lava. It seems probable that 



Fig. 35. viKvv OP kii^auea as sken by ei,i.is. 

 from these cracks came the steam or vapor so destructive to the army, as those nearer 

 the crater did not suffer from this cause. 



The appearance of Kilauea as described by Mr. Ellis, who visited it in 1S23 "^"^^ 

 was the first to publish an account of it, was quite unlike its present condition. In the 

 various editions of Ellis' Tour of Hawaii the illustrations made from his original 

 sketch do not agree, and I have selected that given in the London edition, presumably 



published under the author's supervision ; also a later one made for his Poly- 

 1823 nesian Researches, published in 1839 (Fig. 36). The crater was evidently 



in an unfilled state, and was emptying itself, as the action was much dimin- 

 ished when he revisited the scene the next year. It maj' be allowable to consider 

 1823 the date of an eruption, although no lava-stream, if we except the traces at Pona- 

 hohoa, appeared above ground*"' The volcano discharged as usual by a lateral rent, 



■'I have since seen the outflow of this eruption as niarkeil on thi' map of Hawaii. 



[418] 



