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



" like the fall of a meal-bag en the floor." At 10 h the light 

 overHalema'uma'u, before very brilliant, suddenly disappeared; 

 the discharge had taken place. Through Sunday morning the 

 escape of vapors from the fissures of the Solfatara region near 

 the Volcano House went on, but it ceased entirely on Tuesday, 

 and the stoppage continued through Wednesday and Thursday. 

 Afterwards the discharge was gradually resumed. 



The forty-one earthquakes which are reported as having 

 occurred during the night, though not strong enough to shake 

 down furniture in the house or crockery from shelves, felt to 

 Mr. Maby as if the foundations of the house were giving way. 

 The shocks have been attributed to the down-plungings of the 

 walls of Halema'uma'u ; but the intervening distance, 12,000 

 feet, is too great for such, an effect ; moreover, deep fissures 

 were opened near by, along the road just east of the Volcano 

 House, which are still steaming, and these suggest a sufficient 

 cause. 



The following facts are from the author's recent observations. 



7. Contrast in activity between the second week in November, 

 1840, a?id August 11 to 18, 1887.— In November, 1840, the 

 crater, over a very large interior region, including that of Hale- 

 ma'uma'u, was nearly a thousand feet in depth, and to the 

 black ledge, or terrace, 650 feet. JVoiv, as Messrs. Emer- 

 son and Dodge have reported,* the floor is everywhere less 

 than 500 feet below the level of the Volcano House ; the cen- 

 tral part is but 400 to 360 feet; the Halema'uma'u border 

 mostly under 340 feet; and, further, the floor slopes in all 

 directions from Halema'uma'u to the base of the cliffs. The 

 lava streams cover up all debris at the base. A few stones 

 were observed imbedded in the lava that must have fallen dur- 

 ing the flow before the lava had cooled. 



In 1840, the Great South Lake — situated at the bottom of a 

 southern prolongation of the lower pit nearly half a mile wide — 

 was in fiery ebullition throughout, throwing up vertical lava- 

 jets to a height of thirty feet or so over a surface of 1000 by 

 1500 feet; and it was so brilliant that at night the projecting 

 angles and jetting points of the lofty black walls of Kilauea 

 were lighted up throughout the whole circuit of the pit, and 

 so hot as to forbid approach within 250 yards. Now, the Hale- 

 ma'uma'u basin, while a little over half a mile in mean diame- 

 ter,* has at center a black and gray cone made of lava blocks and 

 earth (as described by Mr. Dodge), sending forth vapors freely 

 from apertures about it, but affording no signs of liquid lavas 

 within ; for even in a night view the clouds of vapors were 



* This Journal, last volume, (pages 87, 98). 



