NOVEMBEB 18, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



717 



of the cracks and holes whence it issues. [De- 

 scending the cliff in front of the Volcano House] 

 we then set out to visit the crater . . . and soon 

 stood before the lava which forms its floor. Where 

 the lava met the sandy slope of the crater's side 

 it was heaped up in a great roll, as if repelled 

 from it, somewhat resembling a billow on the sea- 

 beach just before it begins to comb over and 

 break. We marched on the lava, and found it so 

 hot that one's hand could not be held on it for 

 more than a second or two. This heat is very 

 unusual at this northeast end of the crater floor. 

 The center of activity, from time immemorial, has 

 been at the opposite end of the crater. 



Passing cautiously onward a few rods, and 

 sounding the lava with our sticks as we walked 

 upon the glassy, speckled, metallic crust, we 

 reached a crack three or four inches wide, through 

 which the red-hot lava was seen below as a fiery 

 line. This did not bode well for our reaching the 

 southwest end of the crater, but we held on west- 

 ward toward a high, rugged ridge of basaltic 

 rocks about half a mile away, proving every step 

 with strokes of our staffs. In spite of precaution, 

 however, some of us slumped in occasionally 

 through the brittle, bubbly crust, and brought up 

 on the more solid lava a foot or two below. We 

 reached the ridge of rocks. It appeared as though 

 it had never been melted — at least it bore small 

 resemblance to the lava of the crater, and seemed 

 as if upheaved by some force which had left it 

 xintouched by fire. Crossing the ridge, we now 

 landed on the old lava of the central part of the 

 crater floor, and walked by the side of the ridge 

 for a quarter mile; ascended it again, to look 

 at the action on the eastern side, then descended 

 it, walked again by its side a little way, ascended 

 and descended it a third time; and then struck 

 off over the lava floor. As we went, a white object 

 to the westward attracted our attention. Going 

 to it we found it to be a stick of hau (Hibiscus) 

 probably left there by a small" party of fire wor- 

 shipers whom we had met on the road a day or 

 two before; and near it were one or two ohelo 

 bushes from which we plucked three bunches "of 

 fruit, one of them of excellent quality. Returning 

 still again to the summit of the ridge, we saw 

 below us, on the southeast, and within a stone's 

 throw (we proved it by trial) a lake of liquid 

 lava, tossing and splashing. The whole surface 

 was not in action at one time. A crust of hard- 

 ened lava covered the fusion below, except at the 

 ends and a few places at the sides of the lake. 

 Here the lava was in violent ebullition: surging 



backwards and forwards, splashing against the 

 confining walls and throwing its red spray into 

 the air. We descended toward the lake, but very 

 cautiously, for the ridge was a pile of loosely laid 

 rocks, and a footstep would suffice to loosen a 

 large fragment and send it crashing down. We 

 went as near to the edge of the lake as the suffo- 

 cating gases would permit. At intervals when the 

 wind bore them away, we would rush to the brink 

 and bring away specimens of fresh lava still too 

 hot to handle. 



Reerossing the ridge, we pushed on to the south- 

 west over the crater floor, noticing small ferns 

 growing in numbers in the crevices. We ap- 

 proached Halemaumau; the lava became more 

 friable and slumpy as we went, but showed no 

 marks of recent volcanic action. We heard a loud 

 hissing and blowing to the left, but could not see 

 whence it came. We found a trail on the lava 

 and followed it, passing a large cone that smoked 

 copiously, showing, however, no fire within. But 

 where was Halemaumau? 



Still following the trail, we ascended the gentle 

 slope of a great cone [ wrote cone, but it was a 

 mound, not a cone]. The smoke from the cone we 

 had just passed came sweeping over us now and 

 then. Then, advancing a few rods on the top 

 of the mound, we stood at last upon the brink 

 of Halemaumau — a sea of melted lava in a pit 

 whose dimensions I judged to be 400 feet long, 

 250 wide and 50 deep. Its sides, especially at the 

 northeast or windward end, were tufted with 

 Pele's hair, which was perpetually being formed 

 from the lava projected into the air. The heat 

 where we stood, upon the east bank, was so in- 

 tense that we could not look at the lava without 

 shielding our faces. The violent action was con- 

 fined to the northeast end of the pit, where the 

 walls were highest, and to the middle. At the 

 northeast end there seemed to be a cavity in the 

 wall, its roof but little elevated above the lake. 

 Into this cavity every two or three minutes a red 

 surge would dash, roaring and hissing, and the 

 lava thus hurled into a contracted space, would 

 splash back again with tremendous violence, at 

 almost every dash flinging fragments of the fusion 

 as high as our own level, and sometimes twice as 

 high, or even entirely across the lake. Through 

 the crust of hardened lava upon it we could see 

 the red beneath, and about every five or ten 

 minutes near the center of the lake this crust or 

 film would grow thinner, split, and rapidly draw 

 apart, leaving an open space, fire-red, from ten 

 to eighteen feet across. Here the lava would 



