222 C. E. Dutton— Hawaiian Volcanoes. 
counts attested by so many intelligent and credible witnesses. 
The general version is that they break out suddenly and with- 
out warning, and that the lava spouts upward in enormous 
fountains to a great altitude, which the various observers esti- 
mate all the way from 500 to 1000 feet. How much of this 
fountains do spout upward to a very considerable height, and 
that t 
think there is substantial evidence of this in the appearances 
presented at the sources of the great eruptions of 1855, ’59 and 
. Dr. Coan visited the source of the eruption of 1855 
while it was still active; and about three months before his 
death I had the privilege of inquiring of him very particularly 
about this matter, and his account substantiates the general 
testimony. 
One of the most striking features of Mauna Loa is the 
almost total absence of cinder cones. There are a few small 
fountain and flowing swiftly on its course down the mountain 
side. So far as I have ever heard, this quiet character of the 
eruptions, the absence of fragmental products, and the insignifl- 
ca: t of elastic force exerted by escaping vapors are 
without a parallel. 
of the great eruptions of Mauna Loa come from fissures 
which point from the summit of the mountain directly down 
its slopes. 
I visited the great pit at the summit of Mauna Loa twice 
from two different lines of approach. It is very nearly equal 
in its horizontal extent to Kilauea, but it is much deeper, be 
ing about a thousand feet in depth, and isa much more 1m” 
pressive spectacle. It was absolutely still, without a trace of 
igneous action at the time of my visit. Before the last great 
eruption it was in a state of intense activity, spouting out 
lava in jets which attained a height of seven or eight hundred 
feet, and the igneous phenomena were, judging from all ac 
counts, far more impressive than those of Kilauea. The glare 
of its fires was seen a few days before the last eruption; but 
it would seem that as soon as the last eruption began, the vent® 
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