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



fell over Hilo. According to reports from Puna and Kau, the 

 action had not ceased by May 6th. Mr. Brigham reports* that 

 his guide was at the summit at the time and saw boiling lava 

 in the south crater ; and that the top of the jets were visible 

 to the native while he was lying down some distance from the 

 brink ; which would make the height of the jets, Mr. Brig- 

 ham says, 1.000 feet. As the depth of the crater was not over 800 

 feet, his estimate is probably too high. Mr. Goodale, one of the 

 party who ascended at that time, reported (as Mr. E. P. Baker 

 writes me) that the lavas were thrown 60 or 80 feet above the 

 brink of the crater on which the party were standing; and 

 this confirms the report of the native guide and makes the 

 height of the fountain nearly 900 feet. 



1880, July 28.— At this date, Mr. W. T. Brigham found the 

 crater without action as stated in his paper on page 35. The 

 walls were much fissured about the southern pit ; fresh-looking 

 lavas covered the bottom ; and a small area was seen on the 

 west border of the pit, which was probably of recent ejection. 

 Moreover, about the region around the crater there was much 

 of the spongy scoria, some masses a foot in diameter. 



1880, Nov. 5 to Aug. 10, 1881, nine months.— ISo " violent 

 demonstrations or earthquake " announced the great eruption. 

 The first light was visible in the evening of Friday from 

 Waimea, and a few hours later in the night, from Hilo ; and 

 after midnight " the lavas could be distinctly seen leaping like 

 a fountain into the air." The stream flowed northeastward, 

 between those of 1852 and 1855, and by Sunday, the 7th, -had 

 reached the plain between Loa and Kea, a distance of T or 8 

 miles. From there it turned eastward toward Hilo. 



A second stream, starting from near the source, flowed off 

 to the southward toward Kilauea, which made in all a length 

 of about ten miles. t 



As observed by Judge Hitchcock;}; on the 10th or 11th, from 

 the Kalaieha Hills at the south foot of Mt. Kea (see Plate I), 

 the stream, along for 8 miles northward to the plain, was a con 

 tinuous belt of fire, in steady flow, and also beyond this for 

 some miles toward Hilo. The regular flow was interrupted 

 half way from the plain to the source by the lavas rising into 

 a huge dome, from which they flowed over like an immense 

 fountain ; but there was no fountain at the source. 



In 4 months, on March 25, the stream was within 7 miles of 



* Brigham, ibid., xxxvi, p. 33. 



f Coan. Hitchcock, this Journal, III, xxi, 79. letter of Nov. 9-12, 1880; xxii, 

 227. 228, letter of Juue 28th and July 21st 1881, and xxii, 322, letter of Aug. 

 24, 1881 ; Life in Hawaii, p. 325. 



^♦This Journal, ibid., xxi, 79 and xxii, 226. 



