52 Kilanca and Manila Loa. 



covered; and up to this time, though several foreigners have attempted it, no one, except myself, 

 has reached the spot. From Kilauea to this place the lava flows in a subterranean gallery probably 

 at the depth of a thousand feet, but its course can be distinctly traced all the way by the rending of 

 the crust of the earth into innumerable fissures, and by the emission of smoke, steam and gases. 

 The eruption in this old crater is small, and from this place the stream disappears again for the dis- 

 tance of a mile or two when the lava again gushes up and spreads over an area of about fifty acres. 

 Again it passes underground for two or three miles, when it reappears in another old wooded crater, 

 consuming the forest and partly filling up the basin. Once more it disappears, and flowing in a 

 subterranean channel, cracks and breaks the earth, opening fissures from six inches to ten or twelve 

 feet in width, and sometimes splitting the trunk of a tree so exactly that its legs stand astride at the 

 fissure. At some places it is impossible to trace the subterranean stream on account of the impene- 

 trable thicket under which it passes. After flowing underground several miles, perhaps six or eight, 

 it again broke out like an overwhelming flood, and sweeping forest, hamlet, plantation, and every- 

 thing before it, rolled down with resistless energ}' to the sea, where leaping a precipice of forty or 

 fifty feet, it poured itself in one vast cataract of fire into the deep below, with loud detonations, fearful 



hissings, and a thousand unearthly and indescribable sounds The atmosphere in all directions 



was filled with ashes, spray, gases, etc.; while the burning lava, as it fell into the water was shivered 

 into millions of minute particles, and, being thrown back into the air fell in showers of sand on all 

 the surrounding country. The coast was extended into the sea for a quarter of a mile, and a pretty 

 sand beach, and a new cape were formed. Three hills of scorite and sand were also formed in the 

 sea, the lowest about two hundred, and the highest about three hundred feet. 



For three weeks this terrific river disgorged itself into the sea with little abatement. Multi- 

 tudes of fishes were killed, and the waters of the ocean were heated for twenty miles along the coast. 

 The breadth of the stream where it fell into the sea, is about half a mile, but inland it varies from 

 one to four or five miles in width, conforming itselt, like a river, to the face of the country over which 

 it flowed. The depth of the stream will probably vary from ten to two hundred feet, according to 

 the inequalities of the surface over which it passed. During the flow, night was converted into day 

 on all eastern Hawaii ; the light was visible for more than one hundred miles at sea ; and at the dis- 

 tance of forty miles fine print could be read at midnight. 



The whole course of the stream from Kilauea to the sea is about fort>- miles. The ground 

 over which it flowed descends at the rate of one hundred feet to the mile. The crust is now cooled, 

 and may be traversed with care, though scalding steam, pungent gases, and smoke are still emitted 

 in many places. In pursuing my way for nearly two days over this mighty smouldering mass, I was 

 more and more impressed at every step with the wonderful scene. Hills had been melted down like 

 wax ; ravines and deep valleys had been filled ; and majestic forests had disappeared like a feather 

 in the flames. On the outer edge of the lava, where the stream was more shallow and the heat less 

 vehement, and where of course the liquid mass cooled soonest, the trees were mowed down like grass 

 before the scythe, and left charred, crisp, smouldering, and only half consumed. As the lava flowed 

 around the trunks of large trees on the outskirts of the stream, the melted mass stiffened and con- 

 solidated before the trunk was consumed, and when this was effected, the top of the tree fell, and 

 lav unconsumed on the crust, while the hole which marked the place of the trunk remains almost as 

 smooth and perfect as the calibre of a cannon. These holes are innumerable and I found them to 

 measure from ten to forty feet deep, but, as I remarked before, they are in the more .shallow part of 

 the lava, the trees being entirely consumed where it was deeper. During the flow of this eruption 

 the great crater of Kilauea sunk about three hundred feet, and her fires became nearly extinct, one 

 lake only out of many being left in the mighty cauldron. This open lake is at present inten.sely 

 active, and the fires are increasing, as is evident from the glare visible from our station, and from 

 the testimony of visitors. During the early part of the eruption slight and repeated shocks of earth- 

 quake were felt, for several successive days, near the scene of action. These shocks were not noticed 



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