208 K I L A U E A. 



and found it to agree also ; reversed both pendulums on the knife- 

 edge, but the results were still discrepant. 



I must admit I felt perplexed and mortified, not only at the loss of 

 time, but at being unable to detect the cause of the discrepancies. I 

 determined, however, to persevere, and continued to observe from the 

 1st to the 10th of February; but with no better results, some corre- 

 sponding, whilst others disagreed every alternate series. The deviation 

 was irregular, and having kept a watch upon the apparatus, I began 

 to suspect that the discrepancy was the effect of volcanic action, and 

 that the ground was unstable. To ascertain whether this was the 

 case, I tried a mercurial horizon on the top of the pendulum-frame, 

 and after watching it for nearly an hour, I could perceive no move- 

 ment or vibration. On inquiry, I found there was a hot spring beyond 

 low-water mark, which the man who attended the tide-staff had 

 discovered in wading off. This spring was about one hundred and 

 twenty feet from the pendulum-house ; but I at last satisfied myself 

 that the tide, and more particularly the surf, had more to do with it ; 

 and in looking over the series, I found that when the surf was 

 heaviest they were most discordant. 



During this time I was employed in making astronomical obser- 

 vations, and when they were finished, I felt myself at liberty to try 

 other situations for the pendulum observations. Mr. Pitman having 

 offered me his son's house at Paneo, I had every thing transported 

 thither. Paneo is situated on a high bank of lava rock, covered by 

 six or eight feet of decomposed lava rock and vegetable mould. On 

 this soil, large bread-fruit trees, some of them two feet in diameter, 

 were growing. The height of the house above the M'ater was fifty- 

 four feet, and it is removed about three hundred yards from the 

 beach. Between Paneo and Hilo the Wailuku river runs, at whose 

 mouth, on the Hilo side, there was generally a long and regular surf 

 rolling in ; but I did not suppose it possible that this surf could in- 

 commode the observations. After repairing one of the grass-houses, 

 the pendulum-house and apparatus were put up, the whole being in 

 perfect adjustment, and the series was begun. 



The first difficulty I now had to contend with was the stopping of 

 the clock. When this was reported to me, I was almost in despair, 

 for on the other side of the bay it had been proved to go well. The 

 clock was again set in motion, but in a short time again stopped ; and 

 the apparatus was once more to be taken down, and all the adjustments 



