ON ITS EXTERIOE. VOLCANOES. 375 



eruptions took place from them which lasted many 

 weeks, and even sent forth streams of lava from 20 to 

 28 geographical miles in length, reaching to the foot of 

 Mauna Kea. The angle of inclination of the connected 

 flowing stream ( 51 ) was for the most part 6, often 

 from 10 to 15, and even 25. A very remarkable fea- 

 ture in Mouna Loa is the absence of any cone of ashes 

 or cinders like the Peak of Teneriffe, Cotopaxi, and so 

 many other volcanoes; pumice is also almost entirely 

 wanting ( 511 ); although the blackish-grey, rather 

 trachytic than basaltic, lavas of the summit are rich in 

 felspar. The extraordinary fluidity of the lavas of 

 Mouna Loa, whether from the summit-crater (Mokua- 

 weo-weo), or from the lake of lava (situated at a height 

 of only 3969 feet above the sea on the eastern declivity 

 of the volcano), is evidenced by the sometimes smooth 

 and sometimes curled threads of glass which the wind 

 carries and scatters over all the island. This hair-like 

 glass, which is also emitted from the volcano of Bourbon, 

 is called in Hawaii (Owyhee), " Pele's Hair," from the 

 protecting goddess of the country. 



Dana, with great sagacity, has shown that Mouna 

 Loa is not a central volcano to the Sandwich island 

 group, and that the lava-lake Kirauea or Kilauea is not 

 a solfatara. ( 512 ) The longer diameter of the basin of 

 Kilauea is 16,000 feet, and its shorter diameter 7460 

 feet. The steaming, boiling, heaving fluid of this lava- 

 pool, does not under ordinary circumstances occupy the 

 whole cavity, but only a space a little less than 14,000 

 feet long and rather more than 5000 feet broad. There 

 is a descent by a kind of steps down the crater margin. 

 This grand phenomenon leaves on the mind a wonderful 



