184 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
The famous outbreak of lavas, in 1823, and the features of the crater 
after it, are described by Mr. Ellis in his Polynesian Researches.* A 
large tract of country in Kau, the southern district of Hawaii, was 
flooded, and the stream, when it reached the sea, as I am informed by 
Rev. Mr. Coan, was five to eight miles wide. The earth is said to 
have been rent in several places, and the lavas were ejected through 
the fissures, commencing their course above ground some miles south 
of Kilauea. ‘There was no visible communication with the lavas of 
this crater at the time; but the fact of their subsiding some hundred 
feet simultaneously with the eruption is satisfactory evidence of a con- 
nexion. ‘The crater after the eruption, as described by Mr. Ellis, had 
the same general features as when visited by the Expedition. The 
black ledge continued completely around the crater, and was “three 
or four hundred feet’? above the bottom. It was, however, in a more — 
active state: for the southwest and northern parts are represented as 
vast floods of lava, and there were fifty-one small cones with craters, 
twenty-two of which gave out vapours, and some ejected lavas. Ellis 
remarks that the crater appeared as if, a short time before, the lavas 
had been as high as the black ledge. 
In June, 1832, an eruption took place both from Kilauea and the 
summit crater of Mount Loa. The only ejection, at this time, of the 
which was nearest the volcano at the time, suffered little injury, and after the earthquake 
and shower of sand had passed over, hastened on, to greet their comrades ahead on 
their escape from so imminent peril. But what was their surprise and consternation, to 
find the centre company a collection of corpses. Some were lying down, and others 
were sitting upright, clasping with dying grasp their wives and children, and joining 
noses (the mode of expressing affection), as in the act of taking leave. So much like life 
they looked, that they at first supposed them merely at rest, and it was not until they 
had come up to them and handled them, that they could detect their mistake. Mr, 
Dibble adds, “A blast of sulphurous gas, a shower of heated embers, or a volume of 
heated steam, would sufficiently account for this sudden death. Some of the narrators 
who saw the corpses affirm, that though in no place deeply burnt, yet they were thoroughly 
scorched.” 
* Polynesian Researches, vol. iv., p. 211. 
+ Mr. Ellis, and many that have followed him in describing Kilauea, make much use 
of the word “ flames,” as though flames were actually seen. It is an excusable mistake, 
where the scenes are so startling and so far beyond description. An account appeared 
in a public print at Honolulu, about the time of the arrival of the squadron, in which 
“flames” are called in to give vividness to the description. It is needless to say that 
none were seen there by the writer, although the condition was the same as for the month 
previous. 
