ho Ss 
Volcanic Eruptions on Hawaii. 357 
yet at times floods of lava covered a large portion of the whole 
area. ‘I'he pools were in violent agitation, and “hissing, ram- 
bling, agonizing sounds, came from the depths of the dread abyss.” 
c seen by Count Strzelecki in the same year, it was 
still in the condition above described. ‘There were six lakes, one, 
as he states, of 300,000 square yards area, and five of about 5,700 
Square yards each. ‘The great lake was in violent action. 
d. Captain Shepherd was at the crater, Sept. 16, 1839. There 
were “numerous small cones, twenty to thirty feet high,” “ lakes 
of molten matter in violent agitation,” besides a “great lake,” 
one mile long and half a mile broad. The party, (notwithstand- 
ing the activity, be it observed,) descended into the crater, and 
visited several of the cones and sinall lakes on their way tot 
great lake. This lake was in “violent ebullition,” underwent 
Constant changes of brightness, and in some places flowed on, 
“leaving ridges of scoria on the northern shore.” 
_@ We learn from the natives, that, fora week previous to the 
outbreak, the whole interior was a fearful scene of fiery deluges 
and ejections. There was no black ledge ; for the lavas, by their 
overfluwings, since 1832, had not only filled up the central pit, 
but accumulated over the ledge, and all was one vast theatre of 
intense action. 'The mountain was thus charged. The pressure 
on the sides below from the lavas and confined vapors had be- 
‘come immetse. Asa natural consequence fissures opened, and 
the lavas were drawn off; the centre of the great pit consequenit- 
ly sunk down three hundred and fifty or four hundred feet, which 
Was its condition when visited by us. 
_ There was no great earthquake, no shaking of Mount Loa. At 
Hilo not the faintest rambling was heard or felt ; and only slight 
quiverings to the south. It was a simple tapping of the great 
cauldron, Kilauea; and after it, the crater became comparatively 
inactive. Its black hardened surface, and the one or two boiling 
pools which remained over the vast area, exhibited the subdued 
quiet of exhaustion. | 
a j erald, 1841, volume xxxvyiii, p. 283. The author was over the por- 
tion a preepstl towards the sea in November. Subsequently it was examined 
by Captain Wilkes, Mr. J. Drayton, and Dr. ©. Pickering ; and by means of their in- 
vestigations a map of the region was made out. 
