I 



122 



Kilauea and Mauna Loa. 



August 2g, tSjj. Luther Severance. — Crater very active. 



September 22, rSjj. W. W. Hall. — I have just returned from a ver}- interesting trip to the 

 crater of Mokuaweoweo on Mauna Loa. Started from Kapapala with my guide John B. Kitu, a half- 

 caste, at about lo o'clock on the i8th, and stayed at Ainapo, the upper ranch, until half-past one. 

 From there a man with pack mule and tent with food and blankets accompanied us and we all kept 

 on our way up through the koa woods until four o'clock when we reached the usual camping ground. 

 As it was so early, and as I was anxious to get as far as possible on the first day, we pressed on for 

 three miles farther up the mountain where we found a very good camping ground where we pitched 

 our tent and made a large fire, and spent a comfortable night. I had intended to start by five in the 

 morning, but in the night a horse and a mule got away and went down the mountain. John started 

 at three in the dark for them and reached camp again at six o'clock. We left "Hall's camp" at 

 6:30, and after passing or climbing over the most awful road I ever saw for four hours, we reached 

 the crater at 10:30 o'clock. From the place where we left our horses we went along the bank towards 

 the north .... We went to 



the northeast point, and \^Jl 



looking down the preci- 

 pice, say about eight hun- 

 dred feet, over the shelving 

 mass of loose rocks and 

 debris, I thought we might 

 possibly venture to go 

 down. I asked John if he 

 would be willing to go with 

 me, and he said "yes." So 

 we started down, crawling 

 carefully over the loose 

 boulders, and letting our- 

 selves down over huge 

 rocks, until after half an 

 hour's awful labor we 



reached the bottom 



which is now entirely cov- 

 ered with the flow of last year. From where we stood the awful walls of rock arose on every side, and 

 it looked as though no human being could ever ascend from that vast depth. We had not time to go to 

 the active south lake where the molten lava was heaving and surging with loud reports and hissing 

 noises, so we took a turn over a third of the field of burning-hot pahoehoe and returned to the point 

 where we entered. There are many blowholes in this field, and from some of them I collected speci- 

 mens of lava too hot to be held in the naked hand. At night fires can be seen in these holes, and at 

 all times the hot steam and gases rising with a hissing sound. The heat of the black pahoehoe was 

 so great as to blister my feet through a thick pair of boots. We returned by the same way by which 

 we had descended, and when we were again on the bank I felt that God had indeed protected us in 

 a most singular way from every harm, and thanked Him for His goodness It was a nicst fortu- 

 nate thing for me that I had no bad feelings whatever, and could make as much exertion there as 



down here. Had it been otherwise I should never have attempted such a descent About a mile 



from where our horses were we came across stone walls that must have been built for the sides of a 

 house or camp. I found an iron eye-bolt and a piece of soft pine, both of which must have been 

 there thirty years. I think this was Wilkes' camp of 1841, and I brought these away as relics. 

 The crack containing water and ice seems to continue nearly round to the point where we descended, 



[500] 



•Ti*\.V 



FIG. 72. W. W. HAI,l/S SKETCH PLAN OF MOKUAWEOWEO. 



Hone., 



