Brigham.] 82 [June 3, 



June 3, 1868. 



The President in the chnii-. Thirty members present. 



Mr. W, T. Brigham announced a now and most remarlv- 

 able eruption of Maima Loa on the Hawaiian Islands. 



The outbreak commenced on the 27th of hist March, on the south- 

 western slope of the mountain, and while all former eruptions which 

 have been recorded have taken place without era-thquake shocks, 

 the seismic effects have at the present time been most remarkable. 

 On the •2Sth one hundred shocks Avere felt, and during the two 

 weeks previous to April 13th, no less than two tliousand are said 

 to have occurred, culminating in intensity on Ajn'il 2d. At Honolulu, 

 more than a hundred and fifty miles distant from the centre of vibra- 

 tion, the clocks were stopped. In the district south of Hualalai ami 

 Mauna Kea, the ground was most violently agitated, chasms weie 

 opened, precipices broken and hills overtlu'own, and so sudden were 

 the shocks that a man on hoi-seback found himself on the ground 

 and his horse lying by his side, before he had thought of an earth- 

 quake. At Hilo, eighty miles distant, the ground cracked, and the 

 streams ran mud ; but north of Mauna Kohala, a tall chimney of the 

 Kohdla sugar-mill was not overthrown. Chui'ches and storehouses 

 in the district of Ka-ii were destroyed, and a tidal wave, similar to 

 that of 1837, rushed up the southwestern coast, causing great destruc- 

 tion of life and propert}-. 



When the lava reached the surface near the summit of Mauna 

 Loa, the shocks still continued, and a shower of light-colored ashes 

 fell. The lava then broke out much lower down, and flowed rapidly 

 in several streams into the sea, destroying a fine herd of cattle on its 

 way. 



Smoke was emitted in great volumes, so that it extended several 

 hundred miles from land, and poisonous, probably sulphurous, vapors 

 were poured out from the numerous cracks. Kilauea had been very 

 active for some time previous, and the lava is said to have broken 

 through into one, or both, of the small lateral craters. The lava in 

 the main crater now sank some two hundred feet, escaping by some 

 as yet unknown path, probably through the southeastern rent of 1 840. 

 Kilauea is below the source of lava on Mauna Loa. 



The accounts received of this most extensive and remarkable erujv 



