76 



Kilauea and Manna Loa. 



Owing to an accident which befell one of our party, and the failure of water where it was sup- 

 posed to be abundant, we were delayed two days and induced to divide our party into two divisions. 

 One part returned to visit the flow at a point some twenty miles below, by another and easier route. 

 The party who went on, consisting of twelve white persons and thirty kanakas, reached the crater 

 Wednesday evening February 9th, and encamped about two miles from it. Here all fears about 

 water were at an end, for we found snow in abundance within half a mile of our camping ground. 

 In the evening the view was magnificent. The jet had ceased to play ; but two craters, about eighty 

 rods apart, were sending up gas and steam, with appearances of flame. This apparent flame, how- 

 ever, we afterwards ascertained, was only fine particles heated to redne.«s. The noise attending this 

 action was like that of an ascending rocket, very much increased of course, but quite irregular. 

 About half a mile below the lower of the two craters, the stream first made its appearance. For five 

 or six miles its course was well defined, and there were no side streams. From this point the main 

 stream divided more or less, and on the plain between the three mountains Hualalai, Kea and Loa, 

 the branches extended over a breadth 

 of three or four miles. Some of these 

 streams were very broad and sluggish 

 and partially cooled, some were nar- 

 row and running, as it seemed, at the 

 rate of two or three miles per hour, 

 burning the jungle and trees before 

 them, and vying with each other in 

 their work of destruction. 



For the first few miles the stream 

 appeared to be a succession of cata- 

 racts and rapids. As it approached 

 the plain between the two mountains, 

 it gradually changed into a network 



of streams, or a lake of fire, embracing numerous islands and sending out streams on all sides. The 

 color of the stream on its first appearance was a light red approaching to white : on the plain a deep 

 blood-red. From the plain towards Wainanalii the stream was narrow, varying from half a mile to a 



mile in width, and showing only a dull reddish light The next morning we were able to make 



some explorations abotit the craters. On the windward side we could ascend them and look in, though 

 the heat was so great that we could look for a moment onl)', before turning our faces awa}'. The 

 sulphurous gases also were so strong that we were obliged to close our mouths and noses as we ap- 

 proached to look in. The craters were both very irregular in shape not only on the outside but on 

 the inside. No liquid lava was seen in either at the time. In each there were two or three separate 

 holes where gases and .steam were issuing. The sides of these holes, and indeed the entire bottom 

 of the craters, were at a white heat. The lava-stream appeared to be running underneath these 

 craters, and the holes within seemed to be merely vents for the escape of gases. The craters were 

 formed of fragments of light scoriae and lava combined. The lower of the two (the one from which 

 the jet was thrown up for fifteen days) was now open on the lower side. This was not the case while 



the jet was thrown up, according to Mr. Faudrey The upper crater was closed on all sides. 



Above these two craters we visited a third not then in action, but still hot. This was .smaller 

 and open on the lower side, and broken down somewhat on the upper side. This was formed not so 

 much of scoriae as of old lava. Above this we could see others of the same kind The next morn- 

 ing we visited the point where the stream first made its appearance. Here we found the lava rushing 

 out of its subterranean passage, and dashing over cataradts and along rapids at such a rate that the 

 eye could scarcely follow it. The lava was at a white heat, and apparently as liquid as water. Only 

 a few feet from where the stream issued, small masses. of lava were thrown up from ten to fifty feet 



C454] 



Fig. 51. viKws OF i,.\v.\ Foi'ntain seen February 6 and 7, 1S59. 



