* 
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200 Miscellllnice * ‘“ 
iological sciences, will render the work, at the present time, highly accep- 
table. ri iJ Hi 7 
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9. Volcanic Phenomena in Hawaii. tet 
To Pror. B. Sitttman—My dear Sir: You expressed a wish that I 
might send you an extract from the letter of Capt. Couthouy ; and as my _ 
way of doing business is never to delay, if avoidable, I send it you. The : 
letter is dated Honolulu, Oahu, Oct. 24, 1840. - 
“Visited the great crater at Kirauea or Ka Lua Pele, which is an im- 
mense pit one thousand feet deep and six miles in circuit, with perpen- 
dicular walls, except at one point, where it is reached by a steep descent, 
and the whole of this vast cauldron, full of boiling, bubbling, and spout- 
ing lava. The surface at one moment black as ink, and the next exhib- 
iting rivers and pools and jets of a hideous blood-red fluid, that was some- 
times thrown up to a height of fifty or sixty feet, and fell back with a sul- 
len plashing that was indescribably awful. - The aspect of the whole was 
hellish—no other term can express it. By night it was grand beyond 
description. ‘The frequent lightings up, the hissings and deep muttering 
explosions, reminded me of some great city in flames, where there were 
magazines of gunpowder or mines continually exploding. Vesuvius is 2 
fool to it. Just previous to my visit, the lava had burst out at a new place, 
about six miles northeast of the crater, and flowed down to the sea in @ 
stream of forty miles in length, by from one to seven in breadth. I saw 
the light one hundred miles off. It reached the sea in five days, threw 
up three hills (I send a rude sketch, but literally correct, and interesting 
as iy work of a native) of from one hundred and twenty to two hundred 
and fifty feet high, gained two thousand feet ut seaward from old line of 
coast, by three fourths of a mile in width, and heated the water for fifteen 
miles either side, to such an extent, that the fishes were heaped up 10 
myriads on the shore, scalded to death. Its falling into the sea, was ac- 
companied with tremendous hissings, and detonations like constant nig 
charges of heavy artillery distinctly heard at Hilo, twenty minutes distant. 
P iii lan great respect, yours, truly, — D, H. Srorer. 
a Pie . 
‘ 10. Manilla Hemp. i 
Singapore, May 29, 1840. 
To Pror. B. Siuuan—Dear Sir : Having had my attention called 
to the subject of Manilla hemp, and the mode in which it is prepared, I 
have had the good fortune to receive from a friend on the spot such an 
account of the matter as may be interesting to some of your readers. My 
cor ent is T. M. M., Esq., a British merchant in Manilla. His 
‘paper is chiefly a translation of Blanco’s Flora Filipina, from page 247 to 
#90. He has enjoyed the best opportunities for obtaining information 00 
+. a 
Poms, 
