* 
A 
Volcanic Eruptions on Hawaii. 353 
su) It was so violent and extensive that the heavens were 
completely darkened; and one hundred lives are supposed to 
have been lost. here are now, over a large area near Kilauea a 
few miles distant to the south and southeast, great quantities of a 
light pumice-like scoria, with stones and sand, which are believed 
to have been thrown out at this time. 
The famous outbreak of lavas, in 1823, and the features of the 
crater after it, are described by Mr. Ellis in his Polynesian Re- 
Searches.t A large tract of country in Kau, the southern district 
a, 
of Hawaii, was flooded, and the stream, where it reached the 
_ as Lam informed by Rev. Mr. Coan, was five to eight miles wide. 
The earth is said to have been rent in several places, and the 
lavas were ejected through the fissures, commencing their course 
above ground some miles south of Kilauea. There was no visible 
communication with the lavas of this crater at the time; but the 
fact of their subsiding some hundred feet simultaneously with the 
eruption is satisfactory evidence of a counection. The crater af- 
ter the eruption, as described by Mr. Ellis,j had the same general 
was taken by the author from the lips of those who were part of the company, 
i ‘ing pursued by 
. For two preceding nights, there had 
een eruptions, with ejections of stones and cinders. “The army 
i ifferent compani 
heavens, ightning to flash. It co! to around until 
the whole region es enveloped, and the light of day was entirely excluded. The 
darkness was the more ter ing made visible by an awful glare fro ; of 
red and blue light, variously combine h the action of the fires of the pit and 
the flashes of 1 bo immens and ein- 
ich 
rest, and it was not until th d come up to tl 
i im detect their mistake.” Mtr Dibble aa “h — of sulpl 
of f heated steam, wo’ lor 
den death" Sue of the mratre who sae the corpses afin, hat Bough i no 
place deeply burnt, yet they were thorough at ‘ ; ne 
Polynesian R hes, VOL BATE ae eee 
> Mr. Ellis, and many that have followed him in describing Kilauea, 
use of “ flames,” as houg flames we : ‘ lly 
mistake, ihge the souaie are ie ye hey i ay far beyond deseription. “An = 
: ‘ . 5 int at Hi tt, riv' } } 
eet mf hich * scot imal in to give vividness to the description. It is 
needless to say that none were seen there by the was 
the same as for the month previous. 
Seconp Seazes, Vol. [X, No. 27.—May, 1850. 45 
