Mr Ellis on the Burning Chasms of Ponohohoa, fyc. 303 



Art. XIX.— Account of the Burning Chasms of Ponohohoa 

 in Hawaii, one of the Sandwich Islands* By the, Reverend 

 William Ellis. With a Plate. + 



After travelling about five miles over a country fertile and 

 generally cultivated, we came to Ponohohoa. It was a bed 

 of ancient lava, the surface of which was decomposed, and in 

 many places stumps of trees had grown to a considerable 

 height. As we approached the places whence the smoke 

 issued, we passed over a number of fissures and deep chasms, 

 from two inches to six feet in width. The whole mass of rock 

 had obviously been rent by some violent convulsion of the 

 earth, at no very distant period ; and when we came in sight 

 of the ascending columns of smoke and vapour, we beheld im- 

 mediately before us a valley or hollow, about half a mile across, 

 formed by the sinking of the whole surface of ancient lava, to 

 a depth of fifty feet below its original level. 



Its superficies was intersected by fissures in every direction ; 

 and along the centre of the hollow two large chasms, of irre- 

 gular form and breadth, were seen stretching from the moun- 

 tain towards the sea, in a south-and-by-west direction, and ex- 

 tending either way as far as the eye could reach. The prin- 

 cipal chasm was in some places so narrow that we could step 

 over it, but in others it was ten or twelve feet across. It was 

 from these wider portions that the smoke and vapours arose. 



As we descended into the valley the ground sounded hol- 

 low, and in several places the lava cracked under our feet. 

 Towards the centre it was so hot that we could not stand more 

 than a minute in the same place. We passed as near to the aper- 

 tures that emitted smoke as the heat and sulphureous vapour 

 rising from them would admit. We looked down into seve- 

 ral, but it was only in three or four that we could see any bot- 

 tom. The depth of these appeared to be about fifty or sixty 

 feet, and the bottoms were composed of loose fragments of 

 rock's, and large stones that had fallen in from the top or sides 

 of the chasm. Most of them appeared to be red hot, and we 



• From Ellis's Missionary Tour through Hawaii, p. 190. 

 t See Plate VII- Fig. I. 



