|qS KILAUEA. 



We arose early, and our attention was immediately called to the 

 crater. The large lake had sunk out of sight from our position, while 

 the smaller one was seen to be still overflowing its banks, thus prov- 

 ing satisfactorily that their fires have no connexion with each other. 

 Upon the whole I was glad to see this state of things, as it would 

 afford me an opportunity of getting near the large lake, to obtain an 

 accurate measurement of it. 



At an early hour I started with a party, consisting of Lieutenant 

 Budd, who had joined me on his descent from the mountain, with 

 several men. We descended by the usual path, and on reaching the 

 black ledge, we made measurements of its width, and took some 

 angles to ascertain the height of its banks. Lieutenant Budd then, 

 with some of the men, was ordered to descend to the bottom of the 

 crater, and get similar observations for the altitude of the black ledge 

 above the bottom, after which to ascend to the black ledge, and pro- 

 ceed by the west side towards its southern end. 



The result of these observations gave six hundred and fifty feet 

 for the height of the bank above the black ledge, and the latter 

 was found to be three hundred and forty-two feet above the bottom ; 

 thus the total depth of the crater was nine hundred and ninety-two 

 feet. 



With some of the men I proceeded towards the great sulphur-bank, 

 on the east side, fixing my positions as I went along, by observing 

 on the signals which I had used the day before. When we arrived 

 opposite to Judd's Lake, we went to the edge of the black ledge, 

 where, in looking over, the heated air that arose might be said to 

 be almost scorching. The whole area below was filled with fluid 

 which appeared of a red heat, and still flowed to the north. Its 

 surface was level, when compared with what Dr. Judd had found it 

 the day before. Near this place were several holes in the black 

 ledge, about two hundred feet in diameter, where it had caved in, 

 exhibiting a large chamber of great depth. Beyond these holes 

 were innumerable cracks, increasing as we approached the southern 

 end, to which I was hastening, because I had concluded to finish this 

 part of the work before we became exhausted. In passing over these 

 cracks, it became necessary to put the hand over the mouth to avoid 

 the heated blast, which, as we proceeded, became more stifling with 

 fumes of sulphur. 



We at last reached the exti'eme end, where we measured our line, 

 and took the angles as quickly as possible. The lake proved, from 



