NOTES ON THE 1916 ERUPTION OF MAUNA LOA 



HARRY O. WOOD 

 Hawaiian Volcano Observatory 



The writer's observations and comments on this eruption divide 

 naturally into four parts : 



I. Distant observation and photographic record of the out- 

 bursts of fumes on May 19, and of the beginning of flow on 

 May 21-22, 1916. 



II. Observation at the front of the Honomalino branch of flow 

 on May 23. . 



III. A hurried reconnaissance of the Kahuku branch of flow, 

 and of the flow-source region, on May 30-31. 



IV. A thorough examination and photographic record of con- 

 ditions throughout the region of the source of flow, made in the 

 company of Dr. A. L. Day, in the six days, June 28 — July 3, 1916. 



Treatment under these headings makes for a somewhat extended 

 and rambling account; but it has been found very difficult to 

 present the complicated sequence of observations, which in some 

 respects are unrelated, in any more succinct way. 



The beginnings of this eruption were noticed first in the early 

 morning hours of May 19, 19 16. No immediate premonitory 

 symptoms were recognized previously. The earliest observations 

 which have come to notice were made by Captain D. F. Nicholson, 

 of the steamship "Hamakua," and by Mrs. R. A. McWayne, of 

 Papa. 



At about 3:45 in the morning, while sitting on the bridge as 

 the "Hamakua" was steaming around South Point, Captain 

 Nicholson experienced an earthquake. The sea was smooth and 



1 Much of the matter in Part I was published at once in the Weekly Bulletin of 

 the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, IV, No. 5, pp. 34~37; but this report was neces- 

 sarily fragmentary, and partly erroneous, so it is restated here. 



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