242 T. Coan on the Eruption at Hawaii. 
five square miles. More than once have I been on such a field, 
and heard, and seen and felt more than is here or can be de- 
scribed. And yet the action of the lava is so slow—in the con- 
ditions described—that there is no fear, and little danger to one 
ell acquainted with such phenomena. While the timid novi- 
tiate would flee for miles before such a scene, without looking 
back, and without consciousness of breathing, the experienced 
explorer will walk deliberately among the fiery pools, and rills, 
pry off the caps of bursting tumuli, and dip up spoils from the 
incandescent rocks. 
When the lava becomes obstructed so that it ceases, for a time, 
to flow from the end of the stream, then the process which has 
been described takes place at some point above, and the molten 
mass coming up at many points, and accumulating on the sur- 
face, moves down in a superincumbent stream or streams, COv- 
ering up the hardened masses below, deepening the lava, and at 
length reaching the terminus of the former flow, pushes on into 
the standing forests, and continues its progress towards Hilo 
perhaps a mile or so, when this hardens and stops, and at longs 
the itp is repeated. Here you see the reason why Hilo 
not long since been buried. 
Several large tributaries of the Wailuku—the stream which 
empties into our bay—are blotted vut, and the water of the Wai- 
luku is greatly reduced and rendered for the present unfit 
or use. 
Scenes of terrible splendor have been witnessed in some of 
our river channels, as the molten flood moved resistlessly dow), 
displacing the water, leaping the precipices, and lighting up the 
anks with immense bonfires of flaming jungle. I have witnesse 
two scenes of the kind of inexpressible brilliancy. One on the 
night of the 29th of January, and the other on the 12th of Feb- 
ruary. During the former night, the molten stream poured con- 
tinuously over a precipice of 50 feet, into a deep, dry basin, half 
filled with flood-wood. The angle down which this fire-ca 
flowed, was about 75°: the lava was divided into two, three, 
and sometimes four channels, from one to four yards wide, and 
two or three feetdeep. The flow was continuous down the face 
of this pom from 2 Pp. M. on the 19th until 10 a. m. on the 
80th, when we left, During the night the immense basin under 
the fall was filled, the precipice converted into an inclined plane 
86 
