APPENDIX 587 



Dec. 26, 1840: summit (13,600 feet) ; violent S.W. gale; night min., 



if- 

 sunrise temp., 20° ; night min., 



17°; wind, S.W. 

 noon temp, in shade, 47° ; night 



min., 20°. 

 noon temp., 55°; night min., 13°. 

 night min., 17°. 

 sunrise, 20°; wind, N.E. 

 night min., 17°. 

 daylight, 20°. 

 S.W. gale, 

 night temp., 16°. 

 night temp., 17°. 

 strong S.W. wind. 



't> 



The usual variation of temperature in the twenty-four hours is given as 

 17° — 50°. The south-west was evidently regarded as the prevailing wind, 

 and the clouds are spoken of as sometimes moving from opposite directions 

 towards the same centre. 



When Miss Bird spent a night on the summit of Mauna Loa during 

 the eruption of June, 1874, the cold was described as intense, eleven 

 degrees of frost (21° F.). 



Observations on the Summit of Mauna Kea. — . . . When Prof. 

 Alexander with a party of scientists ascended this mountain (in the 

 summer of 1892), the thermometer at night fell to 13° P"., and the trade-wind 

 was found to be blowing as strongly on the summit as down below 

 (Whitney's Tourist Guide to Hawaii). It is to be inferred that the party 

 camped by the small lake which is a few hundred feet below the actual 

 summit (13,800 feet). This lake, which I visited on May 20, 1897, 

 is about 120 yards across, and evidently shallow, probably not more than 

 three or four fathoms deep. A carpet of algae covered the bottom. 

 At noon, by the lake, the air in the shade was 53° F., whilst the tempera- 

 ture of the surface-water was 51°. The lower clouds were moving from 

 S.S.E. This lake is said to be permanently frozen over in the winter, and 

 to have been visited by skaters. 



Permanent Water Supply on the Summit of Mauna Loa. — In this barren 

 rocky region water derived from the winter-snow is to be found all the year 

 through at the bottom of the deep cracks or fissures in the lava-rock. 

 Such fissures are from two to four feet wide, and in the case of that near 

 my tent the bucket had to be lowered to a depth of seventeen or eighteen 

 feet to reach the water, or rather the ice, since it was often necessary 

 to break the surface ice. In these deep, narrow fissures, which the 

 sun scarcely penetrates, the water would probably be frozen over all through 

 the seasons ; but in those of less depth it would remain liquid in summer. 



