T. Coan on recent volcanic disturbances of Hawaii. 91 
distance of nine miles on the south side. At one place we rode 
for miles on the verge of a precipice about 100 feet high, the 
wide region below us, on our right, giving evidence of a vast 
subsidence during some former age. : 
As soon as we left the region of trees and shrubs, and came 
into the sweep of the trade-winds, the sulphurous smoke from 
Kilauea filled the atmosphere, and was almost stifling to horses 
and riders. A dense cloud of gases and smoke spread over the 
country, and hung along the hills and over the plains, as far 
as the sea-shore at Punaluu. We now came upon the great 
lava fields of 1823, which are studded with conical tumuli, and 
more or less fractured with old fissures. But the late earth- 
guide, by mounting a ridge of aa, descried steam in the 
Teached the ranch at Kapapala, where I spent the night. 
Here I e i 
