igoiH Kilauea 



basin, more than two miles across, with vertical A huge 

 walls 1 two to nine hundred feet high and floor covered f ^^°^ , 

 with huge waves of hardened lava, has been much in lava 

 public notice of late years. It is usually to a large 

 extent dead and cold, but near one side there re- 

 mained a deep vent two or three rods across which at 

 the time of our visit was filled only with hot smoke 

 given off by underlying superheated rock. At inter- 

 vals, however, the crater overflows, forming a pond 

 of from fifteen to twenty acres of fiery boiling lava.^ 



Kilauea has no cone of its own, but lies on the 

 south flank of the mighty snow-capped volcano of 

 Mauna Loa (13,675 feet in height) which at intervals Mauna 

 sends down from its summit fiery rivers of lava. In ^°'^ 

 1920 one of these streams entered the sea on the 

 west side, forming as it cooled a bridge over itself 

 and creating a tremendous commotion. An interest- 

 ing series of deep-water fishes killed by the heat was 

 then obtained by Thomas Reinhardt, a native boat- 

 man, and sent to me by Carl S. Carlsmith, a loyal 

 Stanford graduate established in Hilo as attorney. 

 Most of the species were new to science. 



Mauna Kea, the sister volcano to Mauna Loa, a Mauna 

 few miles to the north and a shade higher (13,825 ^'"^ 

 feet), is wholly extinct. 



From Kilauea we went on to Hilo through one of 

 the most delightful forests I have ever seen, it being 

 chiefly composed of great fern trees with long, 

 feathery fronds as delicate as a wood fern of the 

 north in spite of their enormous size. Of these tree 



* Under the cliffs of Kilauea, away from the crater, the Tropic Bird Phceihon, 

 white with a long, pointed tail adorned by two red feathers, nests in abundance 

 and undisturbed. 



^ When next I saw Kilauea (1921) the last great eruption had subsided, 

 though half a dozen spouting, flaming lava pools were visible in the deep central 

 pit known as Halemaumau. 



c 89 :] 



