19013 Kilauea 



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

 walls * two to nine hundred feet high and floor covered 

 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. 2 



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 

 sends down from its summit fiery rivers of lava. In Loa 

 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 Kca, the sister volcano to Mauna Loa, a 



rr 



few miles to the north and a shade higher (13,825 J 

 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 



1 Under the cliffs of Kilauea, away from the crater, the Tropic Bird Phesthon, 

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

 and undisturbed. 



2 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. 



