The Recent Earthquake 361 



fornia papers, the great wave reached California and Oregon five hours 

 later; but, strange to say, here at Honolulu it was hardly noticed; 

 nay, even in the northern part of Hawaii it has been quite insignificant. 

 During the four days following this great shock, more than two 

 thousand were counted in Kau ; in Kapapala the ground was in 

 incessant motion, swaying to and fro like the sea, so that people 

 became sea-sick. On the night between the 3d and 4th three 

 shocks occurred between 12 and 2 a.m., v/hichwere distinctly per- 

 ceived by me at Honolulu, and which about Kilauea are said to have 

 nearly equalled that of the 2d. Thus matters continued until the 

 7th, when at 6 p.m. the lava burst out of the great star-shaped 

 fissures in Kahaka, reached the sea in three hours, and continued 

 to run until the nth, when it suddenly ceased. The earthquakes 

 became less in intensity and frequency at once, but they continued 

 to be felt until the middle of June. 



When I was at KapajDala we counted nineteen in twenty-four 

 hours, and a very severe one I experienced when near the great 

 fissure which had caused the mud-flow. Most interesting is the 

 relation of the activity and subsidence of the lava in Kilauea to 

 the whole series of volcanic phenomena, as you find it described in 

 my report to the Gazette. Undoubtedly the great reservoir of lava, 

 which comes to light in Kilauea, had been filling up to its utmost, 

 and large quanties of steam and gases had accumulated in it, 

 which found a fitful vent in one of the lava lakes, "the blow hole." 

 This ceased to blow about two weeks before the first earthquake, in 

 consequence of which the confined gases were brought to an extreme 

 degree of tension, which first produced the simple vibrations, and at 

 last, on April 2, the enormous fissures of the superincumbent crust. 

 It is remarkable that the fissures then caused belong to two systems, 

 two of the principal ones tending from Kilauea westward, and two 

 from the summit of Mowna Roa crater of Mokuaweoweo, south and 

 seaward. The two systems intersected each other within the 

 length of the Kahaka lava stream to that of the mud-flow, at the 

 place of the eruption in Kahaka, elevated about 3590 feet 

 above the sea. I presume that the great shock of April 2 

 established a communication between the lava reservoirs of Kilauea 

 and Mowna Roa, and that in consequence of it the lava of Kilauea 

 emptied itself in that of Mowna Roa, and was ejected through the 

 fissure belonging to the latter. The lava resembles in many re- 

 spects that of the eruption of 1840, which came from Kilauea; is 

 as rich in olivin, and as light and porous. The lavas of Mowna 



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