J. S. Emerson— Kilauea after the Eruption of 1886. 93 
Having now described the appearance of things as I had 
observed them, I will in conclusion call attention to some of 
the facts bearing on the cause of the great changes which had 
so lately taken place. On the east side of New Lake, some 
time ago, a small stone wall had been erected to shield those 
who wished to watch the lake at night from the wind and rain. 
The base of this wall I found to be 342 feet below the Volcano 
house. Mr. J. H. Maby, the manager of the Volcano house, 
very kindly gave me a statement of the height of the surface 
of the lava in the New Lake at various intervals from Dee. 1st, 
1885, up to the 1st of March, 1886, as referred to the spot 
where this stone wall stood, and in his opinion the heights thus 
given would be true as well for the surface of the lava in Hal- 
ema’uma’u, as there was no perceptible difference in the eleva- 
tion of the molten surfaces of these two lakes. Though not 
claiming to be exact, these statements, coming as they do from 
an intelligent eye-witness thoroughly familiar with the local- 
ity, may be accepted as-reliable. From them I am enabled to 
give the heights of the lava columns in these lakes at the vari- 
ous dates entered upon my map. From these figures it will be 
seen that the level of the lava in the lakes was rapidly rising 
during this time. During the fifteen days commencing Dec. 
Ist, 1885, it rose from 12 to 14 feet, an average of 0°87 feet per 
day. During the next sixteen days from Dec. 15th it rose 
from 18 to 21 feet, an average of 1°22 feet per day. On the Ist 
of January, 1886, it stood some 10 or 15 feet above the stone 
wall, and by the cooling and solidifying of its edges had raised 
the walls of the lake at that*point a corresponding amount. 
Though the lake still continued to rise and build up its walls, 
it had found partial relief by a surface flow to the northeast, 
which eventually covered an-extended tract of the desolate 
waste of pahoehoe which formed the floor of the crater. As it 
cooled it was difficult to distinguish the outline of this new 
flow from those which had preceded it. One of the points, 
which it reached a few days before it ceased, I have located by 
my Pahoehoe station on the accompanying map, from which it 
appears that it had flowed a mile and a half at an average 
grade of 1°77 feet per 100 feet. At the same time there was a 
smaller flow to the northwest. Halema’uma’u meantime was 
also overflowing and extending the rocky floor of the crater to 
the southeast and south, covering up the old beds of gravel in 
those directions. Apparently on account of the loss of matter 
by these flows, the rise of the lava column in the New Lake 
was from that time very much retarded. During the 59 days 
beginning with the 1st of January, 1886, it rose from 20 to 25 
feet, an average of only 0°37 feet per day. On the 1st of March 
it stood from 30 to 40 feet above the stone wall, and at an 
