26 J. D. Dana — History of the Mt. Loa Summit Crater. 



but no visible fires. Slight shocks of earthquakes often oc- 

 curred, sometimes one, two or three a day. 



1870. — Mr. Severance (as I learn from Rev. E. P. Baker, of 

 Hilo) was at the summit crater in 1870, and found no action 

 there. 



1872, August 10. — On the night of the 10th of August, says 

 Mr. Coan,* " a lofty pillar of light," 2000 feet high— which 

 means lighted vapors of this height — stood over the summit 

 crater, with varying brilliancy, indicating active fires within. 

 The crater was " in full blast on the 27th," and continued so 

 into Sej)tember. On the 23d of August a tidal wave was felt 

 on the coast at Hilo, the waters during a calm rising four feet, 

 and in a second wave, six minutes later, three feet, and dimin- 

 ishing for about fourteen oscillations. It may have been part 

 of the Mt. Loa disturbance ; bat Kilauea also was unusually 

 active over its interior. No earthquake is reported. The Pa- 

 cific Commercial Advertiser of Sept. 21stf reports on an ascent 

 to the summit made just before this date. Near the south- 

 west corner of the crater there was a fountain of lava about 75 

 feet in diameter, playing, it is stated, to a height of 500 feet. 

 The basin from which it rose covered about a third of the bot- 

 tom, and was at the top of a low cone made by the falling la- 

 vas. 



1873, January 6th and 7th. — On the 6th of January, the 

 action at the summit, as seen from Hilo, was "marvelously 

 brilliant," the lighted vapors visible at night rising thousands 

 of feet above the summit.:}: There was evidence, apparently, 

 of active ebullition or a playing fountain ; and this conclusion 

 is favored by the fact that the herdsmen of Peed and Richard- 

 son's ranch, at Ainapo, on the eastern slope (4200 feet above 

 the sea), stated that the mountain was " constantly quivering, 

 like a boiling pot." The action suddenly ceased, without, any 

 known outflow ; the time of ending the display is not men- 

 tioned. Kilauea had been very active for months. No earth- 

 quake is spoken of, and no sympathy with Kilauea implied. 



1873, 1874. April 20, 1873, to autumn of- 1874.— The 

 brilliant summit display of January was followed on April 

 20th, three months later, by a return to activity, or to a de- 

 gree of activity that was visible from Hilo. Mr. Coan ob- 

 serves that the lofty columns of light above the summit at 



* Coan, this Journal, III. iv, 406, 1872, letter of Aug. 27, 1872, and v, 476, 

 1873, letter of Feb. 14, 1873. 



f This Journal, iv, 331, and 407, 408, 1872. 



% Coan, this Journal, III, v, 476, 1873. letter of Feb. 14, 1873; vii, 516, 1874; 

 xiv, 68, 1877. In the first of these notices, the date giveu is Jan. 27th; in the 

 others, Jan. 6th and 7th. 



