HAWATI. 165 
Fifteen miles from Punaluu, or five from Kapapala, at an elevation 
of 3000 feet, we went abruptly from the pasture land to one of the 
desolate lava tracts; for twelve miles we travelled over its naked 
surface, and finally reached the borders of Lua Pele. Though no 
soil was to be seen upon its surface, a few shrubs had taken root in 
nooks and crevices. ‘The lava was swollen into knolls and rolling ridges, 
from half a dozen to a hundred feet in height, as we have already 
mentioned of similar districts beyond Waiohinu; and these knolls 
were often deeply fractured and fallen in, showing their arched form 
and the hollow cavity they covered. In many places there were 
fissures which had been filled by lavas after the crust had cooled, and 
these tiny dikes stood somewhat raised above the surface, forming 
little rounded ridges an inch or two in height. A narrow clinker 
district intersected the region of smoother lavas, elevated above the 
latter from fifteen to twenty-five feet. It curved around and continued 
along the inner edge of the lava field towards Lua Pele, (IKilauea.) 
While crossing this black field of lava, the view of the seashore 
was cut off by a slight elevation of the plain; and along this elevation 
there were several extinct cones more or less broken down, marking 
it out as the course of the principal fissure from which these lavas 
had been ejected. We had no time to tura from the straight road, as 
our hours were limited. We learn from Mr. Ellis, who passed over the 
place in 1823, that it was then a region of smoking fissures and chasms, 
and presented also a valley or hollow, half a mile across and fifty feet 
deep. He was informed by the natives, that eleven moons before, 
(Sept. 1822,) the two larger chasms were formed: the principal was 
ten or twelve feet across, and extended as far as the eye could reach 
towards the sea. In many of the fissures there was a red heat, and 
in some no bottom could be seen. Through one there had been a 
recent ejection ; the lava had flowed out from both sides of the opening 
in small streams, and having been thrown in masses in every direction, 
hung in stalactites from the shrubbery. A native stated that only 
two months previous to Mr. Ellis’s visit, there had been a slight earth- 
quake at Kapapala; and passing along soon after, he observed that 
the ground had fallen in, producing the valley or hollow above alluded 
to. At the same time, there was fresh lava around, and the branches 
of some trees that had been set on fire were still smoking.* 
Thus far over Hawaii, little was met with but the gray and black 
* Ellis’s Polynesian Researches, vol. iv., pp. 221, 222. 
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