220 Kilaiiea and Alatina Loa. 



Nevertheless some rash people ventured down at a time when the fumes were 

 less abundant, and were there photographed by Mr. Moses, a photographer of Hilo. 



In approaching the crater on the evening of October 6th, a bright glow was 

 seen over the tree tops as the gloaming came on, and when we came out on the bank 

 before the \'olcano House the beauty of Kilauea appealed to me as never before. The 

 whole diameter of Halemanmau was lighted up with a clear and almost uniform light, 

 while from the central third arose an ever-changing and exquisitel}- graceful column 

 to the height of many hundred feet, then expanding into the usual overhanging 

 cloud. This column was by no means smoke, but a thin vapor only dense enough to 

 reflect the color of the boiling lava below, and this vapor was controlled by constantly 

 changing currents or intermittent supplies to spread and contract, curl and twist into 

 most beautiful and attractive shapes. Not long, however, did the exhibition present 

 itself, for the mists came between us and the pit like an old horn lantern, and we saw 

 only the general glow all that night (October 6th). In the morning there was only 

 the thin smoke coming irregularly from the whole surface of Halemaumau, but thicker 

 and whiter than the abundant steam that arose from man}- parts of the main crater 

 bottom as well as from the perennial cracks on the upper banks, for it had rained 

 abundantly during the night. 



I went early down into the crater to avoid company, for there is to me a solemn 



feeling of exhilaration in this grand temple of the living God that cannot be shared 



with strangers. At the very beginning of the descent my old friends the elepaios 



came flying to see, in their curiosity, who was the intruder, and they seemed almost 



to welcome me in their sweet notes. But once on the crater floor and the stillness was 



complete, even the breezes were silent, it seemed out of tune to break it with the crunch 



of one's tread on the lava. I paused on the bridge over the great crack and distinctly 



heard the dropping, on the deep bottom of the water resulting from last night's rain ; 



the water at this end of the path made more noise than the fire at the other. As I 



approached the pit I turned to the left and came upon the brink where the downfall 



of the wall had occurred, .so that only two-thirds of the pool could be seen, and little 



of the heat felt. It was well not to see the whole at once. Strangely it was not the 



wonderful cauldron of boiling lava that first caught my attention. On the high western 



wall that faced me was an opening, as the month of a tunnel, half way up the almost 



perpendicular wall. It was very regular and apparently about ten feet high and twelve 



feet wide. That was on a part of the wall exposed during my previous visit about a 



year ago, but it was not there then. Its black month indicated some depth, but 



although the sun was behind me I could see but a very little way in, and this was the 



sort of duct I had always imagined the pit would disclose if emptied; and yet, I had 



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