ii6 Kilauea and Manna Loa. 



The flow of 1840 which reached the sea at Nanawale, formed conical hills which 

 lasted man}' j^ears although composed of the loose gravelly rapilli resulting from the 

 sudden shivering of the lava, and the same form of cinder piles is seen at the jundlion 

 of lava and sea-water in this flow of 1868. It is not universally' the case, however, that 

 lava is broken up in this waj' when passing into the sea. Sometimes the heat has been 

 so intense as to induce the spheroidal state preventing the actual contact of the water, 

 and the melted rock has run on under the water, forming submarine ledges of pahoehoe. 



From the shore we rode up ou the elevated plateau with the two parallel streams of cooled lava 

 on our left, some five hundred feet below, with nothing to obstruct a full bird's eye view of the scene. 

 At length we came to the great trunk at Kahuku, from which all the lateral branches had been sent 

 off. At our right on one of these branches were the ruins of the large stone church of Kahuku. The 

 great earthquake had shaken down the walls, and the roof was lowered and standing over the ruins, 

 around which the sea of molten lava had flowed, leaving them upon a small island unconsumed and 

 uncovered. One-eighth of a mile above this, and on the same stream, we saw three small thatched 

 houses, where four natives had been surrounded by the burning sea and confined for ten days in this 

 fiery prison. The whole inclosed island contained about an acre, and before the people were aware 

 of it, no avenue of escape was left. The hot clinkers came rolling along in a great stream within 

 twenty-five feet of oue of the houses, and cooled in a ridge as high as the top of the house. We 

 climbed over this rough mass and visited the people who still live in this awful but now romantic 

 inclosure. They seemed cheerful and were right glad to see us. On inquiring how they felt and 

 how they spent their time during those days of fiery trial, they replied that in expectation of certain 

 death they were calm and resigned, looking up to God and spending most of their time in prayer. 



Passing up the main stream, we came to the place where Captain Brown's houses once stood; 

 just in the rear of this was an awful vent from which fiery jets were thrown hundreds of feet high, 

 with fearful hissings and belchings. Beyond this we saw numbers of green islets, of two to five acres 

 in extent, formed by the surging sea of fire as it seethed and boiled and swept around these reserved 

 places. On some of these islands cattle were feeding, and twentj' head were taken from one islet 

 of less than two acres, after the lavas were partly cooled. They were terribly heated and frantic, and 

 some of them died. Still pursuing our course upward, we veered to the right, and once more took 

 the soil on the uplands which bordered the stream. Here the great trunk of the stream was in its 

 full breadth and I hired two men to measure across, while we rode through a charred forest and deep 

 cinders more than oue hundred feet above the shining lava fields which lay on our left. At length 

 we descended again to the stream of fresh and warm pahoehoe, and rode nearly a mile upon its crack- 

 ling surface. We soon came to a region of fissures and blow-holes, and where the evidences of 

 Plutonic fury were unmistakable. From these infernal orifices amazing jets had been thrown hun- 

 dreds of feet heavenwards, forming ridges, hills and jagged cones of every contour, and leaving the 

 products of raging seas and rivers of fire, such as must have been appalling to near witnesses of these 

 fiery dynamics. Here we left our horses, and with great effort struggled over the sharp and confused 

 masses which were heaped wildly around. Climbing a rough hillside some two hundred feet high, 

 and on an angle of forty-five degrees, we came upon the great head fissure from which the first lavas 

 were disgorged. We followed this to the terminal point in the woods, over ridges and heaps of cinder, 

 pumice and scoria. From this high terrace we could overlook the stream below for about three miles. 

 The great vent or fissure extended longitudinally and in an irregular line for two and a half miles or 

 more, and at many points along this line the steam and smoke were still rising with no little heat. 

 No fire was, however, seen ; it all disappeared in less than four days after the commencement of the 

 eruption. The fissure opened from two to twentj' feet wide, and there are places where it is inter- 

 rupted or so narrow that it can be crossed. [494] 



