HAWAII. 215 



(mamanee) succeed, and extend to the edge of a precipice, whose 

 height was estimated at six hundred feet. This precipice is faced 

 with loose blocks of lava, thickly overgrown with bushes and trees. 

 Among these was an amaranthaceous shrub of great beauty. From 

 the base of this precipice to the sea-cliff, is a flat plain of smooth 

 glassy lava, with some rents and crevices. In these grew the Agati 

 grandiflora, which here assumed a prostrate habit, Daphnes, and some 

 rubiaceous shrubs, and several grasses. Against the cliff, which is 

 perpendicular, the sea breaks with great violence. 



Mr. Brackenridge succeeded in procuring a few shells, among 

 which were some Patellas, a Nerita, a Trochus, and Chiton. He 

 estimated the distance from the volcano to the sea at fourteen miles, 

 in a south-southwest direction. 



He left the sea after two o'clock, and did not reach the volcano 

 until eight or nine in the evening, having been obliged to feel his way 

 back with a pole, to avoid the rents. This part of the island is unin- 

 habitable, in consequence of its being devoid of water as well as soil, 

 and not a single native was seen during the whole day. A few wild- 

 cats and one goat were all the animals that were seen. 



On the morning of the 23d, Messrs. Brinsmade, Drayton, Bracken- 

 ridge, and Midshipman Elliott, took their leave of the Recruiting 

 Station, with an allowance of two biscuits. After a very fatiguing 

 walk, they reached the volcano at dark. Midshipman Elliott the next 

 morning departed for Hilo, with my despatches for the ship. 



On Christmas-day, the ingenuity of the consul procured a turkey for 

 the party, which was trussed and cooked in a steam-vent by one of 

 the natives. 



Having procured guides and natives to carry the provisions which 

 they had obtained from those going to the mountain, they concluded 

 to leave the volcano on the 28th, for the lava plain. They first struck 

 it the same evening, but not having time to halt, they passed to Panau, 

 a distance of nine miles, and on their way found several very interest- 

 ing mosses and ferns. 



After passing the night at Panau, on the morning of the 31st, they 

 set off for the first outbreak of May 30th, 1840. 



The first flow of lava which they saw was that to the eastward of 

 Moku-opuhi : it consisted of a bed of smooth lava in the centre, with 

 many cracks, and here and there sulphur strewed around, from which 

 the fumes were issuing in great quantities. Pieces of pumice as large 

 as a man's head were not uncommon, and of the colour of ashes. 

 These extended about three miles in length, by one-third of a mile in 

 width. This stream of lava was fifteen feet above the general level, 



