130 Kilauea and Manna Loa. 



September 7, rSj^. Walter M. Gibson. — I descended into the crater in company with Mr. 

 Schaefer and Mr. Gihnan of the Volcano House, and arriving at the brink of the Kilauea lake I was 

 disappointed in not finding any show of activit}'. A small jet of lava apparently not larger than a 

 wheat sheaf, to which some lava jets are compared, was all the outer evidence of activity near the 

 edge of the black surface of cooled lava, at a depth of about a hundred and twenty feet from where 

 we stood. However, after a short stay, several jets broke forth, and before we left Kilauea showed 

 considerable signs of activity. I descended again at 10 p.m. on the loth September, when I observed 

 a wonderful increase of activity. The Kilauea lake had risen to within thirty feet of the top of its 

 highest bluff, or about ninety feet, whilst the Halemaumau lake and the Kilauea iki '"^ pit were full 

 and boiling over, and pouring forth streams of lava, some flowing into Kilauea lake and others flow- 

 ing in a southeast direction towards the basin of the main crater. I ob.served a new boiling pool 

 about three hundred yards southeast of Halemaumau and outside of the high embankment that 

 incloses the two principal lakes. After my return to the Volcano House, at a later hour after night 

 had set in, I rode with Mr. Schaefer to a point in the west bank of the great crater, and we observed 

 the two lakes in a high state of activity and illuminating the sky above in a most brilliant manner. 

 During the night we could observe from our beds the jets of lava leaping above the embankments of 

 Kilauea and Halemaumau, so that the lava had risen over a hundred feet in these lakes since our 

 first observation on the 7th. 



lYoveinber 2j, /S/i. C. .S. Oilman. — On this date tliere was at 11:15 o'clock a.m. quite a 

 hard earthquake shock felt in Kau, Kona and Hilo, and another of two shocks, nearly as hard at 

 7 P.M. The one in the morning threw down several fathoms of good stone wall at Kapapala and 

 also stopped our horses on the road, for the moment, by the motion of the earth. 



famiary 14, iSj6. C. S. Oilman. — Last night the lake Kilauea overflowed ; a broad stream 

 of lava flowing down into the centre of the crater for some four hours. This morning the summits of 

 Loa and Kea are covered with snow to an unusual extent. Weather clear and very cold. 



February i^, i8j6. C. S. Oilman. — At 7:45 this evening a very bright light was visible on 

 the summit of Mauna Loa, the first seen since August 11, 1875. It appears to be farther south than 

 the last outbreak. Kilauea very active. 



February 22^ iSj6. Rev. Oeorge L. Chaney. — About a mile and a half from the hotel on our 

 way to Kilauea [lake ?] , we came to an opening in the lava about eight feet wide. Through this open- 

 ing, in spite of the fierce heat arising from it, we saw a full, rushing torrent of liquid lava, of the 

 brightest flame color, apparently making its way immediately beneath our feet. Both lakes were in 

 fine activit}' today throwing jets of intense orange-red color from both lateral and medial fountains. 



May 2, iSj6. D. H. Hitchcock. — Find that Halemaumau has built up about two hundred 

 feet in about one year, and that the lava from the south lake has almost filled up the great central basin. 

 Fires very active ; a stream running down the Halemaumau slope the greater part of the night. 



June 8, i8y6. J. S. Emerson. Visited the vSouth lake approaching it on the north side of 

 the lake ; recent lava flows and a tendency to constant changes on the east side rendering the old 

 path from the east unsafe. The lake is quite active and gradually filling up; the surface of the lake 

 has an apparent current or motion in a southwest direction. Weather fine with occasional showers. 



fune 22, i8y6. Herbert C. Austin. — At 9:30 a.m. we were on the edge of the cone looking 

 into the north lake. There seemed to be two boiling cauldrons from which the lava was rolling in 

 great masses of scum to make one complete surging sea. 



January /, i8yj. W. P. Toler. — Having made two previous visits, one in 1843, and the 

 other in 1845, I will mention the material differences between now and then. At my two previous 

 visits the entire bottom of the crater was depressed from eight hundred to a thousand feet below the 

 tops of the cliffs surrounding it, whilst now the entire bottom has risen to within four hundred or six 

 hundred feet of the top of the cliffs. At my previous visits the southwest or principal lake of liquid 



'°^By Kilauea iki Mr. Gibson nitaiis the pool within the Halemaiunau area oiIUil, unfortunatclv, Kilauea. 



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