1 



112 Kilauea and Mauna Loa. 



like so many stalactites. Wherever there was a feru stump standing upright, it bore a cap of lava; 

 everything indicated that the liquid mass had been throv^'n upwards by the violent rush of steam 

 and gas. As I said before, this part of the flow was lined by a dense forest. It soon became appar- 

 ent that the sides of the forest closed in upon each other, and from an eminence alongside the fissure 

 I could see that the lava-stream contracted at some distance beyond to the apex of an isoceles 

 triangle. The crevasse which ran straight up to the apex, was continuous, wider than below, and 

 emitted in great profusion sulphurous and other acid gases. Its borders, which were of the color of 

 red brick, commenced to be covered with the efflorescence of salts and sulphur, and in places thej' 

 assumed altogether the appearance of sulphur banks. The heat of the lava increased so as to be 

 unbearable in some places. Ashes and scorise covered every hollow in the floor, and the edge of 

 the woods for some distance. 



Having arrived at the apex of the triangle, I found that the cre\-asse, over which the trees 

 almost closed from both sides, still extended a few hundred yards higher up in the woods, as indi- 

 cated by a continuous line of white and yellow smoke. The choking nature of the latter forbade my 

 marching along the edge of the fissure, while the impenetrable thicket, with the ground thickly 

 covered by ashes, proved another effectual bar to my further progress. In fact, while hurrying out 

 of an overpowering cloud of the smoke, I got one leg caught in a lateral fissure hidden under the 

 ashes, where it received such a lively impression of heat that I made quick time to retire from that 

 neighborhood. Just then I heard a deep, hollow, rumbling, prolonged sound, while the air and earth 

 remained perfectly still. Subsequently I learned that it had been caused by the rolling down of 

 large masses of pumice stone from the hill to the lower lava stream, but at the time being fearful of 

 another catastrophe, I hurried back as fast as circumstances would permit, and felt a great relief in 

 rejoining my friends who had remained behind, at the lower part of the stream. From the height 

 above the cataract I saw two other lines of smoke running through the woods, taking their origin 

 from the valley below, indicating two other fissures. Thus it appears that at the head of the valley 

 the main fissure divided itself into three parts: the first and largest, running northeast; the middle 

 one almost due north, and the third about north-northwest. The two latter did not seem to have 

 thrown off much lava, if any, for there appeared no gap in the woods along their courses.'*' 



From a letter addressed to me tinder date of August 27, 1868, by the Rev. T. 

 Coan, I extract the followiug important facts and accurate descriptions: 



I left Hilo on the fourth of August, on a missionary tour through Puna and Kau, and was 

 absent eighteen days. During this tour I made careful observations with measurements and notes, 

 on the remarkable volcanic phenomena of the past five months. The action of tellurial forces on our 

 little island shell has been marvellous. The subsidence along the coast of Puna, from the east cape 

 at Kapoho to Apua on the western line, is four to seven feet, varying in different localities. The great 

 sand beach at Kainiu has been forced back into the young and beautiful coco-palm grove, and also 

 into the groves of pandanus, so that trees now stand eight feet deep in sand, and many stand in the 

 water. The plain of Kalapana has sunk about six feet, and water four to five feet deep now covers 

 some twenty acres of what was once dry land. The old stone church is buried nearly to the eaves 

 in sand, and the tide rises and falls within it. 



This plain of Kalapana was doubtless at some former time buried much deeper 

 beneath the sea. A coral reef of several j'ards thickness stretches half across the vallej', 

 and formed a barrier against further encroachments of the sea. It was three or four 

 feet above high water mark, and formed a convenient site for the village. The church 

 that Mr. Coan mentions was on this coral mound towards the shore. As the wall of rock 



"Honolulu, May 4, 1868. [49©] 



