46 C. H. HITCHCOCK — VOLCANIC PHENOMENA ON HAWAII 



On the first da}^ of July the manager of the Egan coffee plantation, 

 21 miles from Hilo, saw a light above the top of Mauna Loa, or the pit 

 Mokuaweoweo. On the morning of July 4 this light was quite con- 

 spicuous from both Hilo and Punaluu. Early July 5 there came an out- 

 burst of liquid lava from a point in the ridge 6 miles northeasterly from 

 Mokuaweoweo and 30 from Hilo. It was best seen at Kilauea. The 

 people there had been expecting an eruption in their own volcano ; hence 

 when early in the morning they heard a great noise like thunder and 

 observed a flash of light they looked to see commotion in Kilauea. In 

 this they were disappointed, and, looking in a contrary direction, saw 

 the beginning of the flow of 1899 from Mauna Loa. Fountains of liquid 

 fire spouted hundreds of feet high, at an elevation of about 11,000 feet 

 above the sea. The place of discharge proved to be near to but higher 

 than the source of the flow of 1880, and not far away from the terminal 

 cones of the discharges of 1823, 1843, 1852, and 1855. 



Parties commenced immediately to travel to the source of the flow, 

 contrary to the report sent east by the press that })eople were fleeing for 

 their lives, abandoning their plantations to the fiery flood. Citations 

 will be made from the accounts given b}'' Professor Edgar Wood,* C. W. 

 Baldwin, t Professor A. B. Ingalls,;}: and the Honorable W. R. Castle,§ the 

 dates of their visits having been Jul}^ 11, 12, 13, and 16, respectively. I 

 visited the place of the outbreak in 1883, and speak of it in my notes as a 

 region of indescribably rough lava, both " aa " and " pahoehoe," black, 

 yellowish, and brown. Our horses were left some distance behind, as the 

 blocks of lava were too large and rough to be comfortably traversed by 

 them. The crater of the Kau part of the 1880 flow was a mass of black 

 and red lapilli. The adjacent terminal crater at the head of the Hilo 

 stream still emitted heat and vapor, more than two years after it started. 

 The 1899 flow began its course near the source of the Hilo stream of 1880, 

 and more than two miles above the beginning of the eruption of 1852. 

 By July 5 two fountains were in operation, at about 11,000 and 10,800 

 feet elevation, and nearl}^ a mile apart. A week later the upper one had 

 become only a smoky chimney, while a third cone was active near the 

 second. Tlie lava streams from the two openings united and then flowed 

 northerly, directed toward Mauna Kea. Plate 2 represents the as})ect of 

 the cone and flow as photographed by Davey July 13, 1899. Masses of 

 stones and clots of lava were seen to be thrown out with the liquid lava. 

 C. H. Kluegel, ciiief engineer of the Oahu Railway Company, drew a 

 rough sketch of the cone, with its discharge, estimating the stream to be 



♦American Geologist, Nov., 1899. 



t Hawaii's Youug People, Feb., April, and May, 1900. 



J Hawaiian Annual for 1900. 



§ Hawaiian Gazette, July 25, 1809. 



