172 NATURAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



spent the iiiglit on tlic brink of the crater iu a rude grass hut constructed for 

 her shelter. In Ihc luorninu she and her little company of followers descended 

 into the ci-atcr to Hi.' lila.-k ledj^e just mentioned, and there in full view of the 

 grand and territie action of the inner crater at her feet, she ate the sacred 

 ohelo berries consecrated to Pele, and hurled stones into the burning lake, saying 

 "Jehovah is my God. lie kindled these tires. I fear not Pele. If I perish by 

 her anger then you may fear Pele, but if I trust in Jehovah and He preserves 

 me when breaking her tabus, then you must fear and serve Him alone.'' 



As the courageous woman was unharmed the belief in the mighty spell of 

 Pele was broken, and tlius v.as accomplished what has very justly been called, 

 "one of tile greatest acts of moral courage ever performed." 



The Eruption and Flow of 1840. 



Returning to our account of the crater, we must pass over the remarkable 

 eruption of 1832, when in two years the lava welled and dropped a thousand 

 feet, and consider for a moment the great eruption and flow of 1840. which 

 illustrated so splendidly an important phase of activity at the volcano. 



For eight years after the eruption of 1832 the process of refilling the caldera 

 of Kilauea had been going on until at last the black ledge surrounding its inner 

 walls, as seen and described by Ellis, had been covered with new lava about 

 one hundred feet deep. Kilauea after eight or nine years of cumulative work 

 was ready for an outbreak, and in the summer of 1840 an extensive eruption 

 took place. The event was minutely recorded by the Rev. Titus Coan. 



After a period of iiitense ebullition in the i)it the customary break-down 

 occurred, but on this occasion, in place of venting deep down in the bowels of the 

 earth, the lava worked its way to the eastward in the direction of Puna through 

 some old subten-anean conduit, perhaps a thousand feet beneath the surface of 

 the inountain. until it emerged in the bottom of an ancient wooded crater, eight 

 miles distant from Kilauea. Its course all the way to this place could be dis- 

 tinctly traced by the rending of the earth's crust into innumerable tissures and 

 by the emission of steam and gasses. 



Fi'om the old crater, which was four hundred feet deep, the lava stream 

 continued on its way seaward; part of the time deep down under the earth; 

 part of the time flowing over the surface as a river of fire. At last, flowing in 

 this way for several miles, it again broke out like an overwhelming flood, and 

 sweeping forest, hamlet, plantation, and everything before it, rolled down with 

 resistless energ\' into the sea. There, leaping a precipice of forty or more feet 

 in height, it pourinl itself in one vast cataract into the depths below with loud 

 detonations, fearful hissing, and a thousand unearthly and indescribable sounds. 

 Imagine this miuhty Niagara of Are pouring its livid flood into the ocean night 

 and day for three v/eeks. The atmosphere in all directions was filled with ashes, 

 spray and gasses; the- coast was extended into the sea a quarter of a mile, a 

 sand beach and a new cape were formed, while the light was so great that print 

 could be read at midnight fortv miles at sea. 



