180 K I L A U E A. 



We continued our route towards the southeast, over a plain partly 

 covered with sand, and at the distance of two miles passed the pit-crater 

 of Kalanokamo : this is the fourth from the crater of Kilauea in a 

 southeast direction. 



By the term " pit-crater," is meant that description of crater of which 

 there is no appearance whatever until one is close upon it, and which 

 never throw's out lava. The formation of these might be occasioned 

 by the undermining of the part beneath them. It will be seen, on view- 

 ing the map, that some of them have only a small part of their bottom 

 covered with lava. The most probable conjecture, in relation to their 

 origin, that occurred to us while moving over the ground was, that a 

 stream of lava had passed underneath, and running off had left large 

 cavities, into which the superincumbent rock above, not having support, 

 had fallen, and when this had sunk sufficiently low, the lava had flowed 

 in and filled the bottom. Some of these pit-craters are from eight 

 hundred to one thousand feet deep, but none that I saw had the appear- 

 ance of eruption within themselves. 



There is another description of craters, which may be called cone- 

 craters. These are hills of scoria and ashes, formed by the ejection of 

 masses, which appear to be of the same description of lava as the 

 clinkers of Mauna Loa, though they more nearly resemble the dregs 

 from a furnace. 



The first cone-crater we met with was about a mile beyond Kalauo- 

 hana, and is called Puukehulu. This I ascended, and measured its 

 height, which was eight hundred feet above the plain : it was nearly a 

 perfect cone, both within and without, and covered with trees both out- 

 side and in. The ashes were in some places so light and dry, that I 

 sank in them up to my knees. From the top of this cone I had a fine 

 view of the surrounding country, and was enabled to see all the pit and 

 cone-craters. There were eight pit-craters in sight : four between us 

 and Kilauea, one at the foot of Puukehulu, and three more, further off, 

 to the east-southeast : two cone-craters lay to the east of us. The steam 

 was rising from the crevices along the line of the last eruption. 



From this situation, angles were obtained on them all, and connected 

 with the stations around Kilauea. Mr. Drayton, who had been over 

 the route, sent me a map which he had constructed from his own 

 observations, on which I was enabled at once to mark out my own 

 position accurately. 



The map of the southeast portion of Hawaii was constructed from 

 the combined observations of Mr. Drayton and myself, with the addition 

 of some cracks and eruptions from Dr. Pickering's notes. The country 



