776 Transactions of the American Institute. 



the slope of Mauna Loa three parallel hills, or spurs, each ahout one 

 mile in length, and from 800 to 1,000 feet in height. They inelncle 

 two broad valleys between them. The iipper portions of these valleys 

 rise with a steep incline toward a ridge which runs at right angles 

 with the spui*s, and is covered with a dense pnlu forest, which extends 

 far up the gentle slope of the dome of Mauna Loa. In the second 

 one of tliese valleys, that next to Mr. Lyman's, the so-called mud 

 flow took place ; but very extensive landslides, confined simply to the 

 loose earth and conglomerate, also occurred in the other valleys. 



The ground around Reed & Kichardson's station is torn up into 

 numerous small cracks and fissures, running in every direction. 

 Some are large enougli to engulf horse and rider, a fact which actu- 

 ally occurred a few days after the earthquake. A large cistern, 

 built in solid masonry and covered with an arched stone roof, was 

 rent to pieces, and the roof entirely broken away. Xot a single 

 stone fence is standing ; their places are indicated by flat belts of 

 stone on the ground. The dwelling house, a good wooden frame 

 one, exhibits a wrench across its roof, so that the gutters empty 

 themselves in the sitting room ; the cook house is thrown ofi" its 

 foundation ; other outbuildings are completely overturned ; and of 

 the grass houses, some are smashed down, others greatly inclined. 

 But all these signs of destruction are thrown into the shade by the 

 grandeur of the force which shook oft* the side of the pali, burying, 

 in a minute, thirty-one human beings, many hundred head of cattle 

 and entire flocks of goats, and ending, four miles from its beginning, 

 in a mighty river of mud. Before reacliing this mud flow, from 

 Reed's house, we passed two considerable streams of muddy water, 

 of a reddish yellow color, emitting a strong odor of clay, such as 

 may be perceived in,' potteries. Both streams have their origin in the 

 land slide of the first valley. When we passed them again, two daya 

 later, they had nearJy disappeared. They evidently owed their ori- 

 gin to the drainage of the fallen mass. The mud flow is m.et with 

 three miles from Reed's ; it projects itself from the spurs of the hills 

 two miles down on the plain ; begins at once with a thickness of six 

 feet, which, toward the middle, where it forms a small hill, rises to 

 thirty feet, averages about three-fourths of a mile in width, and con- 

 tracts toward its end. From this end a long cue of bouldere bears 

 witness to the violent action of a torrent which shot out of the mud 

 after it was deposited, and wliicli has since perpetuated itself in a 

 fitream of some size, quite muddy, and emitting the above mentioned 



