NARBO RL 
THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1883 
FIRE-FOUNTAINS 
Fire-Fountains,; the Kingdom of Hawaii, its Volcanoes, 
and the History of its Missions. By C. F. Gordon 
Cumming. In two vols. 8vo. (Edinburgh and Lon- 
don: William Blackwood and Sons, 1883.) 
ISS GORDON CUMMING has, in the work 
before us, given a most lively and interesting 
account of the Sandwich Islands. The large amount of 
experience which she has gained during five years of 
almost continual travel among the islands of the Pacific 
has enabled her to make careful comparisons between 
the physical features, the productions, and the populations 
of the different groups. In her two previous works, “A 
Lady’s Cruise in a French Man-of-War,”’ and “At Home 
in Fiji,” our authoress has given us her impressions of 
Tahiti and the Fiji Islands respectively. 
It is evident that Miss Gordon Cumming’s first senti- 
ments on arriving in the islands were those of disappoint- 
ment. In productiveness, in the picturesque character of 
their scenery, in the beauty of their coral reefs, and in 
richness of flora, the Hawaiian Islands must cer- 
tainly yield the palm to the Archipelagos of the Pacific. 
Even Kilauea itself failed to satisfy the traveller’s 
expectation, for at the time of her first visit the fires of 
Halemaumau seemed to be almost extinct. Fortunately 
these first feelings of disappointment were to some extent 
removed by what the authoress subsequently witnessed 
during her long sojourn in the country. 
The title of ‘‘ Fire-Fountains” may perhaps lead a 
geologist to anticipate a more than usually exact account of 
the volcanic phenomena of these interesting islands. The 
extreme liquidity of the Hawaiian lavas enables them—as 
Dana, Brigham, Coan, and others have so well shown—to 
be thrown up into actual “fountains,” and such jets have 
been witnessed both in Kilauea and Mauna Loa, rising 
to the height of several hundred feet. Any expectations 
of scientific accuracy in the account of the volcanic phe- 
nomena are, however, dispelled when we turn to the work 
itself. Miss Gordon Cumming’s descriptions are wonder- 
fully graphic, and a small amount of geological training 
would have enabled her to avoid popular errors, and em- 
ploy accurate instead of misleading terms, thus making 
them valuable records of the phenomena she witnessed. 
Unfortunately, as in so many similar cases, this small 
amount of previous training was wanting. 
The first part of the work consists of descriptions of 
the physical features of the group and of the charac- 
teristics of the inhabitants, and here the authoress largely 
relies upon her own observation, and furnishes us with 
many instructive comparisons with Tahiti and Fiji. 
The second part of the book, which contains a history 
of the islands and of missionary enterprise in them, is of 
course compiled from published works, the information 
thus acquired being supplemented by facts derived from 
independent sources, such as letters and conversations. 
The visit to Kilauea has been so often described that it 
may seem difficult to understand how any ordinary tra- 
veller can find anything new to say on the subject. But 
Miss Gordon Cumming had the good fortune (though she \ 
VOL. XXvII.—No. 7o1 ; 
525 
does not seem to have appreciated it at the time) to see 
the crater under somewhat exceptional conditions, as the 
following account will show (vol. i. pp. 164, 165) :— 
“ After traversing three miles of this strangely varied 
lava-bed we reached the base of that inner circle of crags 
which within the last few months have been thrown up 
all round the central crater—z.e. the Halemaumau. So 
rapidly have they been upheaved, that they now form a 
ring 600 feet in height; and up this steep ascent we 
had to climb in order to look into the Lake of Fire. 
“Tt was a toilsome ascent over very brittle lava; but 
Roback kept cheering me by telling me what a grand 
sight awaited me, and that he had never seen the lake in 
finer action than last week. So we climbed over coils 
of huge hollow vitreous lava-pipes, which constantly 
broke beneath our weight, and over ridges which looked 
to me like gigantic sugarsticks pulled out and twisted— 
and at last we gained the summit, and looked eagerly for 
the much-described Lake of Fire. 
“THERE WAS NONE! at least nothing worth speaking 
of, in the first instance. I turned to look at my guide, 
and he stood staring in stupefied, bewildered amazement. 
He could not believe his own eyes. Only a few days had 
elapsed since he had led a party of Americans to the very 
spot where he now stood beside me in speechless wonder 
at the change. 
“They had watched the blood-red waves dashing in 
scarlet spray against the cliffs on the farther side of the 
lake of molten fire, then rushing back to form a mad 
whirlpool in its centre, and thence, as if with a new 
impulse, flinging themselves headlong into a great cavern 
which undermined the lava-terrace just below the spot 
where I was now standing.” 
This was written on October 29, 1879, but three days 
afterwards the authoress has a very different state of 
things to chronicle (vol. i. pp. 186-189) :— 
“ November ist. 
“Last night was Hallowe’en—the great fire-festival of 
our ancestors—and here it has been celebrated in right 
royal style, for the fire-spirits have broken loose and are 
holding high revel. 
“The flow is increasing rapidly and is magnificent. 
The fire has burst out at so many points together that it 
has formed a new lake in the outer crater, in which fire-jets 
are spouting and molten lava thrown high in mid-air, 
great masses of red-hot solid lava being tossed to a height 
of from forty to fifty feet, while from the overflowing rim, 
or from weak points in the sides of the lake-basin, flow 
rivers of lava, forming a network of living, rushing fire, 
covering fully two square miles of the very ground over 
which I was walking only two daysago. It is a scene of 
marvellous beauty and is inexpressibly fascinating. 
“From the edge of the crater-wall I have watched 
each stage in the growth of this strange new lake. I have 
seen it gradually rise higher and higher, till at last it 
overflowed in glowing streams, like rivers of golden 
syrup, but brighter far—an indescribable colour. The 
centre of the lake is oftenest of a silvery grey, only 
crossed by zigzag lines of flame colour and deep rosy 
red; but all round its shores it is continually surging and 
upheaving great crested billows, which break in fiery surf 
and toss up clouds of fire-spray. Sometimes the whole 
lake appears to be in a tremendous commotion—heaving 
and trembling as if acting obedient to some pressure from 
the furnace below. 
“ About a dozen cones have formed in and around the 
lake, each a distinct fire-fountain, yet all flameless—only 
merrily flinging about the molten metal: a bouquet of 
rare fireworks. 
“These cones are miniature volcanoes—spouting liquid 
lava in the most sportive manner, playing gracefully like 
true fountains—spouting like intermittent geysers, and 
AA 
