14 Volcanic Character of the Istand of Hawaii. 
vaulted avenue, called by the natives Keanaee, we beheld a 
number of caverns and tunnels, from some of which, streams 
of lava had flowed. The mouths of others being walled up 
with stones, we supposed were used as sepulchres. Mats 
ings, were used as worksh« , 
mats, or ing cloth. Some we also saw used as store-hous- 
_€8, or depositories of sandal wood. In many places, the wa- 
ter filtered through the lava, and around the spots where it 
had dropped upon the ground, we observed a quantity of very 
fine, white, spear-shaped crystals, of a sharp nitrous taste. 
Having walked a considerable distance along the covered 
way, and collected as many specimens of the lava as we could 
conveniently carry, we returned to the sea shore, the path a- 
long which was often tedious and difficult. The lava frequently 
presented a mural front, from 60 to 100 feet in height, in ma- 
ny places hanging over our heads, apparently-every moment 
ready to fall; while beneath us the long rolling billows of the 
Pacific chaffed and foamed among the huge fragments, along 
which our road lay. In many places, the lava had flowed-in 
vast torrents over the top of the precipice into the sea. Broad 
flakes of it, or masses like stalactites, hung from the project- 
ing edge in every direction. The attention was also atiract- 
ed by a number of in the face of the rocks, at differ- 
} . be 5 = “ so 
‘tunnels, from which streams of lava had gushed out, and fal- 
en into the ocean below, probably at the same time that it 
had rolled down in a horrid cataract from the rocks above, 
», On the 25th, Messrs. Thurston, Goodrich and Bishop con- 
ee 
<3 
wore the most rugged aspect imaginable. About 2 P. M. 
Sy paseedt apres iors, pares pillars of lava, about 
feet sc : or I » Standing in the 
D fe a — nding in water 
) 2 
parently by an earthquake, when it was in a semicfuid 
