166 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [DeC. 3, 



two or three islands. The sea was heated for many miles, and im- 

 mense numbers of fish were killed. 



From our hut we looked down upon two partially sunken ledges 

 (covered with grass, fern, and bushes), which, as well as the spot 

 where our hut stood, were in many places steaming. In one spot 

 especially we remarked a large bank or mound composed apparently 

 of a chalky substance, probably a deposit of some chemical salts, with 

 a great deal of sulphur, from which issued a considerable body of 

 steam. Below these ledges lay the great crater, like a round basin, 

 about seven miles in circumference at the upper rim. The depth 

 from the top of the highest of the surrounding cliffs to the bottom 

 of the crater has been calculated at 1500 feet, though in many parts 

 it is considerably less. These cliffs form a kind of wall of yellowish 

 gravelly clay and dark basaltic rock, and are nearly perpendicular. 

 The bottom of the crater is constantly changing. I was assured that 

 there is often a lake of molten lava, a mile in length by half a mile 

 in breadth. When we saw it, however, the crater was not in a very 

 active state, and no such lake of fire was visible. Looking down into 

 the crater, it had the appearance of a flat plain of dull lead-coloured 

 lava, more or less broken and rugged in places, and containing an 

 infinity of small mounds and craters, whence issued clouds of smoke, 

 especially towards evening. As night came on, the action of the 

 volcano appeared to increase, and the light of subterraneous fires was 

 seen at many places ; for Mr. Stuart Wortley, who was prevented by 

 indisposition from proceeding with me to Mauna Loa, and remained 

 at Kilauea until my return, observed some of the small craters within 

 the great crater occasionally ejecting hot stones and melted lava ; 

 and on the night of my return from Mauna Loa I noticed the same 

 thing on a small scale. 1 may here mention that, after my return 

 from Mauna Loa, we descended into the crater of Kilauea, and spent 

 some time in it. Its floor is evidently the cooled upper crust of 

 fused lava. The numerous small mounds, or miniature craters, have 

 orifices like the mouth of a limekiln, often double, in the side and on 

 the summit, through which you may look into the red-hot depths 

 below and caverns of subterraneous fire. We also remarked, in 

 places, long ridges of smoking masses and fragments of rock that had 

 evidently been upheaved through the lava-pavement, and piled con- 

 fusedly on one another. The lava itself, on which we walked, was 

 sometimes very hot, especially near the steam-vents and open abysses. 

 The exhalations of sulphuric acid and other noxious gases were also 

 in places an impediment to our explorations. The lava is generally 

 of a dull glossy lead-colour, when quite cool ; but of a brighter green 

 or blue, when more recent. It cools into every variety of form and 

 consistency ; the most curious is the capillary lava, called by the 

 natives " Pele's hair." It strongly resembles hair of reddish, brown- 

 ish, or golden hues ; and is supposed by the Sandwich Islanders to 

 be the hair of the goddess Pele, who luxuriates in the bath of fire of 

 her volcanos, as they do in the cool waves that break over their 

 coral-reefs. 



Having spent a night in the grass -hut above the crater of Kilauea, 



