2i8 Kilauea and Manna Loa. 



sword plant" {Argvroxiplimni sandwicense) ^ and the record of their eruption accentuated 

 b}- volcanic bombs of beautiful regularity and divergent size, from a few inches to 

 several feet in diameter. These bombs, so abundant here, are rare on the other 

 Hawaiian volcanoes. Dr. Anderson took many photographs which it is to be hoped he 

 will publish, for his great skill in this work was supplemented by very favorable 

 weather. From Maui he went directl}' back to Kilauea, and has made the following 

 record in the Register: 



lulv IT, igog. Dr. Tempest Anderson. — I have been here over three weeks at intervals 

 during the last month. The place grows upon me, and the Volcano increases in interest. It is 

 different from anything I have seen in the Old World, the West Indies, or in Central America. There 

 one sees volcanoes building up piles of ashes and lava by explosions and outflow. Here explosion 

 is subordinate, while there goes on also a process of solution and undermining which at present is 

 more active than the building up. This is really the most striking difference noticeable. Beyond 

 this the steadiness and restrained activity of Kilauea is remarkable. In regularity Stromboli in 

 Kurope compares ; but in its case activity takes the form of frequent small explosions instead of a 

 steady flow. The volcano I have seen most strictly comparable is Matavanu, that broke out in 1905 

 in Savaii, Samoa ; in that case a river of molten lava flows in the bottom of the crater, enters a tunnel 

 and runs underground .several miles to the sea, into which it flows visibly by many changing mouths 

 with the formation of vast clouds of steam. Matavanu, therefore, is certainly a river, while Kilauea 

 maybe either a river or a boiling pot. Characteristic of this whole region, and unknown to me else- 

 where, are the pit craters so frequent here, and of which Kilauea and the crater of Mauua lyOa 

 [Mokuaweoweo] are prominent examples. 



ftily 5-14, i9"9- Rev. J. M. Lydgate made the plan on the opposite page ; it will be noticed 

 that the lava pool was at that time confined to a depression in the floor of the pit. Mr. Lydgate dis- 

 claims great accuracy, but his plan is substantially correct. 



July s'-//, igog. Miss M. E. Haskell. — During the first half of July the southeast part of the 

 crater was clear enough of fumes for a descent. For additional data for the map [p. 219] a descent 

 was made by Mr. J. M. Lydgate, with Prof. R. A. Daly, of the Maissachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 and Miss M. E. Haskell, of Boston. To the east of the Rest House, at the west end of the "Fallen- 

 in area outlying crater," the descent began. In the external wall of the crater a cave was found 

 five feet high by about eight by four or six, with stalactited roof and walls. The stalactites were of 

 lava a finger-length or less, crusted with delicate white, tasteless crystals, some of which Mr. Daly 

 collected for analysis. On the floor a white crystalline powder, with a soda taste, lay thick in patches ; 

 also collected for analysis. At the eastern end of the fallen area a rope was used for thirty feet of 

 the descent to the first bench. Thence the trail is marked on the map. Some of the white stains 

 conspicious on the precipitous walls on the south side from the Rest House and elsewhere were 

 examined and found to consist of crystals similar in appearance to those in the cave. Fallen boulders 

 from these walls were also whitened with the crystals in spots. The floor of the first and second 

 benches is as chaotically upheaved as the roughest part of Kilauea the great. One pile, visible from 

 the crater top, is like a spatter cone. The floor of the last bench, 49 feet above the molten lava, is 

 covered with a crust but a few months old and comparatively smooth. Fumes all along the route 

 were much lighter than their appearance from above led us to expect, and the last bench was quite 

 clear. On July 19th, part of this bench above the southwest cave fell in and closed the cave, and 

 on the first and second benches fumaroles opened near the trail and made descent impossible. 



[596] 



I 



a 



