J. D. Dana — History of the Changes in Kilauea. 93 



1. Changes froia 1868 to 1879. — After the discharge and 

 consequent exhaustion of 1868, Kilauea was slow in its return 

 to activity. In July of 1869, Mr. Coan found the crater quiet, 

 and the basin of the Great Lake so nearly cooled that he went 

 down into it, measured across its bottom 400 feet below the 

 rim, finding it "five-sixths of a mile ; ' wide, and at top more 

 than a mile from the north to the south side. Down fissures 

 over the emptied basin he could see the lavas, 50 to 100 feet 

 below, still in ebullition.* Two years laterf the Great Lake 

 was full, and successive overflowings had covered deeply the 

 southern end of the crater and sent streams two miles north- 

 ward, filling the central pit to a depth of fifty feet. In August 

 of 1871, Halema'uma'u was again a deep cavity, hot and 

 full of dense vapors \% but before August of 1872, it was full 

 with lavas and often overflowing into the great basin of 1868. 



On March 3, 1873, Halema'uma'u, according to Mr. Nord- 

 hoff,§ was divided between two lakes, their shorter diame- 

 ter about 500 feet; "the two were separated by a low- 

 lying ledge or peninsula of lava ; each was red, molten, fiery " 

 within. From the "north bank" the depth of the pit or basin 

 to the lavas was seen to be about 80 feet, and " the two 

 large lakes appeared to be each nearly circular." 



In January, 1874, says another observer, the lower pit was 

 still much below the ledge. The surface of the Great Lake was 

 35 to 40 feet below the edge of the basin, and " possibly" 500 

 feet, by nearly half a mile in its diameters, but divided almost 

 in two by a low bank of rock. Four months later, on the 4th 

 of June, the cone about the Great Lake had risen much, and 

 the lake was divided through into two oblong lakes, a north 

 and south, in the direction of the longer diameter ; it lay below 

 precipitous and partly overhanging walls 80 feet high. The 

 action was less intense than in January. There were active 

 cones near by ; 100 yards from the lake, one typical blowing 

 cone " of beehive shape," 12 feet high, about 40 feet deep 

 within, and having walls two feet thick, which was throwing 

 up jets and clots of lava through holes in its sides, "with a 

 deafening or rather stunning roar" and subterranean rumblings 

 and detonations.! 



The following is a reduced copy of a map by Mr. J. M. Lyd- 

 gate, made probably in June of 1874.1" I 1 nas great interest 



* Coan, this Journal, III, ii, 454, letter of Aug. 30, 1871, and xviii, 227, 1879. 



+ Coan, ibid., ii, 454, 1871. 



% Coan, ibid., iv, 407, 1872. Letter of Aug. 27, 1872. 



§ Northern California, Oregon and the Sandwich Ids. London, 1874. 



|[ Isabella L. Bird, the Hawaiian Archipelago, London, 1875, pp. 55, 253. 



*([ For this tracing I am indebted to the Surveyor General, Mr. Alexander, 

 the original being in the archives of the office of the Hawaiian Survey. It is 

 stated on it that the map was made either in 1874 or 1875, and probably in 

 June, 1874. 



