1856.] COAN — VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN HAWAII. 1/1 



illuminating the whole summit of the Mount, and flashing with in- 

 tense glare down to the shores of Hilo and far off at sea. In two 

 days this valve closed, and in two more another opened on the side 

 of the Mount, some fifteen miles below its summit ; and from this 

 awful furnace a fiery column, about 1000 feet in diameter, shot up- 

 wards to the height of from 500 to 1000 feet. This roaring fire- 

 fountain was thus sustained for about twenty days, — filling the atmo- 

 sphere with cinders, lava-filaments, gaseous vapours, and smoke. 

 By night our houses and fields were lighted up so that men might 

 labour, or travel, or read without other light ; and by day the sun's 

 rays scarcely struggled through the dense atmosphere. 



This crater I visited when it was in most vehement action ; and I 

 spent one sleepless night in close proximity to its dazzling fires. 

 The molten stream from this fountain swept through the forests to 

 within ten or twelve miles of Hilo. 



(May 1855.) — In May and June 1855, the action in the great 

 crater of Kilauea became fearfully intense. This crater is about 

 eight miles in circuit, and three miles in its longest diameter. Its 

 depth varies from 700 to 1 200 feet, the immense floor rising by up- 

 heaving forces, or subsiding by the subterranean escape of the molten 

 flood below. During the period referred to, the melted lavas forced 

 themselves to the surface of the floor, or hardened bottom of the 

 crater, at more than a hundred points ; and the ample area was 

 thickly spangled with lakes, pools, cones, jets, streams, fountains, 

 and lines of red-hot lava, boiling, raging, and glaring like countless 

 furnaces in blast. So intense was the heat that visitors were unable 

 to descend into the crater ; and even spectators upon the banks, 

 700 feet above the fires, were compelled to retire from the verge of 

 the precipice, unable to look directly down upon the burning abyss 

 below. I visited the scene on the 4th of July, and, though the fiery 

 tumult had much abated, I could count readily one hundred boiling 

 lakes of fire. 



(Aug. 1855.) — =1 come now to the present eruption of Hawaii, 

 the grandest in the memory of the now existing generation. On 

 the evening of the 11th of August 1855 a small point of light was 

 noticed, resembling a brilliant star, on the apex of Mauna Loa 

 ("long mount"), and in full view from Hilo, Byron's Bay. This 

 bright point soon rose and expanded, filling the heavens with a 

 dazzhng glare. The eruption progressed with amazing force and 

 rapidity, rolling its wide fiery floods over the mountain's summit 

 down to its base with appalling fury. 



Day after day the action increased, filling the air with smoke, 

 which darkened our entire horizon, and desolating immense tracts, 

 once clothed with waving forests and adorned with tropical verdure. 



This eruption has now been in progress nearly ten months, and 

 still the awful furnace is in blast. The amount of matter disgorged 

 is enormous. The main stream is nearly seventy miles long (including 

 its windings), from one to five miles wide, and varying from ten to 

 several hundred feet in depth. It approached within five miles of 

 Byron's Bay, heading directly for our town and harbour, and threat- 



