92 Kilaiiea a)id Manila Loa. 



sulphate of protoxide of irou which seemed to be constantly forming/" Much of the 

 sulphur is in large amorphous masses as if melted. 



The ground on this side of the crater is smooth, free from stones, and so terraced 

 and sloped that it is difficult to define the boundaries of the great pit. As no rock is 

 visible it is impossible to determine the direction of the disturbing forces, but the pres- 

 ent condition of the bank seems to indicate a falling in of the walls in several places, 

 probably over one or more of the subterranean streams of lava that have deluged Puna. • 

 The side of the mountain is weaker here than elsewhere, and most of the subterranean 

 eruptions have forced their way through it, forming several lines of cracks and craters 

 extending to the sea. One of Wilkes' signal posts was found rotted off at the base, 

 but otherwise sound. 



On the southwest side the smoke fi-om Halcniaumau was very suffocating, and 

 I was obliged to pass through it with a wetted handkerchief to my face; so little aque- 

 ous vapor was in the smoke that the cloth dried with great rapidity. The ground was 

 covered with Pele's hair, which colledled on the leeward side of the ridges and stones, 

 and also extensive beds of the Hawaiian pumice or limu. This liniu is identical with 

 that seen on ]\Iauna Loa, and is the froth of the burning lake. As the steel chain was 

 drawn through it the links were completely polished. The deposit was so loose and 

 friable that in one place I sank up to my waist in it. vStones and fragments of scoria 

 were lying about apparently loose, but we found it almost impossible to break them 

 off, so firmly were they cemented to the gravel rock below. The action of the sulphur- 

 ous vapor seems to speedily dissolve the Pele's hair, and this with the silica in the rock 

 itself makes a solid cement. There is an easy descent into the crater at the southwest 

 end, and beyond this the nearly perpendicular rock wall rises rapidly to the highest 

 point at Uwekahuna. 



I reached the highest point on the Kau trail about dark, and sent home the 

 instruments, while I followed slowly along the bank, watching the fires which were 

 gleaming brightly seven hundred feet below. The small new pool close beneath the 

 bank was exceedingly beautiful, as it emitted but little smoke, and constantly cracked 

 and broke up its crust, forming an everchanging network of fire. A line of fire was 

 burning all the way from this to Halemaumau, but the level of the new pool is more 

 than fiftv feet below the old. 



Saturday it was rainy and impossible to obtain sights with the instruments, so 

 I went into Kilauea to explore the caves. Halemaumau was not in a very lively con- 

 dition, and passing beyond that, I went into a cave of considerable extent, where the 



A 



'- .K few years after this ! 1S67 1, a flo-sv from Ilaleniauniau reached this loiiij bank and set it afire ; tile coinbnslion 

 was slow but complete, and the "ravellv residue is covered on the sides with coarse ferns. 



[470] 



