Chap, xix.] CRATER OF KILANEA. 433 



this cloud, perpetually re-formed by condensation, was lighted 

 up by a brilliant orange glow reflected from the molten lava in 

 the great terminal crater, and the appearance was just as if a 

 fire was raging in the forest in the distance. 



With the evening appeared an Owl : I suppose the short- 

 eared Owl {Ohis brachiotus), an English, European, Asian and 

 African bird, but which is most curiously found in no other 

 Polynesian group besides the Sandwich Islands. A Duck also 

 rose from a small marsh. A species of Duck is described as 

 visiting the islands from America, a distance of 2,000 miles.* 

 Another species occurring in the islands has l^een described 

 as peculiar to the group by Mr. Sclater from " Challenger " 

 specimens. Since this latter Duck was formerly supposed to 

 migrate to the islands from America, there may be some mis- 

 take also with regard to the other species. 



Not far from the crater of Kilauea there are abundant woods 

 of Acacia koa trees and plenty of herbage, and no doubt Deer 

 which have been turned out will thrive there and multiply 

 rapidly. A few small Sandalwood-trees still remain uncut in 

 the vicinity. 



The crater appeared in the dark as a wide abyss filled with 

 gloom, but in the distance were seen three or four glowing 

 spots, reminding one of furnaces seen at night in the Black 

 Country, and every now and again a jet of glowing matter 

 showed itself, thrown up from a lava fountain which happened 

 to be playing at the time. 



In the morning the crater was seen to be bounded by a 

 range of cliffs all round, and at the bottom was a wide flat 

 expanse of hardened lava, which looked as fresh as if it had only 

 just set. The crater has evidently been formed by the sudden 

 falling in of a vast mass of rock resulting from the fusion and 

 flowing away of the supporting rock below. A succession of 

 secondary smaller cliffs round the margin of the crater-bottom 

 inside mark where this process has been repeated several times, 

 as after the crater has been filled to certain levels and the lava 

 has hardened, the support has given way over the greater part 

 of the area on successive occasions. 



The smooth surface of the lava within the crater was closely 

 like that traversed on the journey from Hilo. It was cracked 

 by contraction on cooling in all directions, and in all the cracks 

 at the depth of a foot or so, glowing hot lava was to be seen. 



The well-known molten lake of Kilauea was at the time of 



our visit rather to be termed a pond, for a stone could easily 



be thrown across it. We stood on a low cliff overhanging it on 



* Finsch und Hartlaub. " Beitrag zur Fauna Central Polyncsiens." 



Halle. H. W. Schmidt, 1867. 



28 



