J. S. Emerson— Kilauea after the Eruption of 1886. 91 
peculiar glazed surface characteristic of all similar shafts in the 
voleanic districts of Hawaii. Its bottom, which I judged to 
be at about the level of the point marked Inferno, was closed 
with the fresh, shining black lava which had solidified as the 
retreating column had fallen to a lower level. Near the south- 
" . western portion of the pit lay the huge hulk of the now 
stranded ‘“ Floating Island,” a great mass of firmly cohering 
rock which, for more than four years previous to the sinking of 
the lake, had been floating like an iceberg and slowly chang- 
ing its position on the molten flood. It now towered over 
sixty feet above its base on the bottom of the abyss and ex- 
tended, I should judge, full a hundred feet in length. Piled 
against the southwestern base of the “ Floating Island” was a 
mass of loose rock which had fallen from the sides above. 
Save at this point and at the end from which I had entered, the 
nearly vertical sides of the lake rose unbroken from the surface 
of the bottom toa height above the lowest point of 154 feet 
on the eastern side and 166 feet on the western side. ‘These 
side walls, at least their lower portions, appeared to be of solid 
reck which had long been in direct contact with the intensely 
heated molten lava that until recently had filled the lake. The 
sides as well as the bottom were free from rents and cracks or 
any break by which the lava could have escaped. And they 
were everywhere coated with the black vitreous enamel which 
was a marked characteristic of the “‘ New Lake.” There was 
no direct lateral connection with Halema’uma’u to be seen. 
The evidence seems to point to the conclusion that the lava 
passed out of New Lake onthe 6th of March by the same 
shaft at its bottom by which it had entered. 
Very different was the condition of the treacherous sides of 
the abyss of Halema’uma’u. There, yawning fissures, with 
masses of rock just tottering to their fall, warned me to be very 
cautious in approaching the ragged edges of this still widening 
area of ruin. From time to time with a loud crash a portion 
of a cliff would fall a hundred and fifty feet or more, and dash 
itself to pieces on the sunken floor below, raising clouds of 
dust. It seems likely that this was what gave rise to the re- 
port that much smoke was rising from the lakes, for during 
the three weeks of my stay, there was no other smoke jet 
worthy of mention but the two already described. 
Of steam jets in Kilauea the number was very variable, 
and seemed to depend greatly on the condition of the weather 
and the hour of the day. At times, especially in the morning, 
the whole crater was almost entirely free from them, while after 
a shower of rain, particularly in the afternoon, they were very 
numerous, and with the mist which often accompanied them, 
rendered the work of surveying impossible. 
