Eriiptiofi of Maiina Loa, igoj. 



207 



short time. B}- the 16th it had extended over thirty-five miles of waste land, and in a moving mass 

 fifteen feet high, and half a mile wide, changed in character to aa, it kept onward at the rate of thirty 

 feet an hour, shortly afterwards subsiding, but only to give way to a new flow which also crossed the 

 road and seemed to have come from the same source, though at a much lower elevation. 



The second flow was merely a branch of the first stream, and, like that, was, 

 at its separation at the Kamoalaala hill, pahoehoe; btit as it advanced and cooled it 

 assumed the aa form, and this was the nature of both branches as they crossed the 

 road, showing a depth of fifteen to thirtj? feet, which was increased at the end, which 



FIG. 131. .\T THE FOUT OF THE \V.\LL. W. T. POPE. 



of both streams was some three miles from the sea, to over fift}- feet. A lake some 

 800 feet in diameter formed in the cotirse of the flow, and a party of prominent citizens 

 managed to get a clear view of this lake, and their description is as follows: 



[There were] two great holes in the bluff out of which two streams of lava were running. 

 A little way from the shore was a fountain that kept shooting hot lava fifty or sixty feet into the air. 

 Occasionally the lake would cool in spots, making little black islands, and then a wave of molten 

 lava would rush across the surface and bury them. This continually changing scene entranced the 

 observers for some three or four hours. [It is noteworthy that this temporary lake exhibited the 

 motions of the pools in the crater of Halemaumau, indicating the origin of fountains, etc., to subsist 

 in the lava stream itself.] A stream of lava ran between the party and the lake ; yet, desiring a closer 

 view, they crossed the flow, which was all aglow underneath, and got right to the base of the lake 

 which had built itself up about sixty feet. Looking up a glowing hill to the rim of the lake did 

 not give assurance of safety, so they retreated, then rested for the night, taking hour watches, lest the 

 walls of the lake give way and rush down the hill, which sight, should it occur, they desired to see. 

 On January 24th the flow ceased, but activity at the source continued for some time. 



[585] 



