Proceedings of the Polytechxic Association. 773 



similar to those observed in front of tlie bigli basaltic wall in Koolau, 

 Oabii. So, also, in tbe deep crater itself, the eastern wall lias lost 

 ninch of its perpendicular dip, and has become shelving in part. 



The crater itself was entirely devoid of liquid lava ; no incandes- 

 cence anywhere ; pitchy darkness hovered over the abyss the first 

 night. I say the first night, because, during the second night of our 

 stay, between twelve and one, a. m., detonations were heard again, and 

 light reappeared for a short time in the south lake, ^hite vapors 

 of steam issued from the floor in a hundred places, but of those stifling, 

 sulphurous and acid gases formerly so overpowering in the neighbor- 

 hood of the lakes and ovens, only the faintest trace was perceived 

 here and there. The heat was nowhere so great that we could not 

 keep our footing for a minute or more, although in many places it 

 would forbid the touch of the bare hand. The great south lake is 

 transformed into a vast pit more than five hundred feet deep, the solid 

 eastern wall projecting far over the hollow below, while the remaining 

 sides are falling ofi" with a sharp inclination, and consist of a confused 

 mass of sharp aa. More than two-thirds of the old floor of Kilauea 

 has caved in and sunk from one hundred to three hundred feet below 

 the level of the remaining floor. The depression embraces the whole 

 western half, and infringes in a semi-circular line on a considerable 

 portion of the other half. It is greatest in the northern, and rather 

 gradual and gentle in its southern portion. Entering upon the • 

 depressed floor from the southern lake, it was some time before we 

 became fiilly aware of its existence. It was only on our return from 

 the northwest corner, where it is deepest, that there presented itself 

 through the mist in which we were enveloped a high wall of three 

 hundred feet of grotesque and fantastic outlines. At first we were 

 quite bewildered, fancying that we beheld the great outer wall of the 

 crater. On nearer approach, we soon satisfied ourselves that this sin- 

 gular wall represented the line of demarkation of a great depression 

 in the floor of the crater, a fact that surprised us the more, as a bird's 

 eye view from above had altogether failed to apprise us of its existence. 



As we had been informed that the principal activity of the crater 

 before the great earthquake had been in the northwest corner, we 

 proceeded in that direction on leaving the south lake. Having 

 arrived at about the middle of the depression, a considerable rise in 

 the ground presented itself no our left, to the west. Having ascended 

 this, we found ourselves at the brink of a fearful chasm, which fell 

 off on our side with a beetling wall to the depth of several hundred 



