188 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
fusion. On the contrary, the greater part was black lava, over which 
they travelled to the brink of some of the pools; yet at times floods 
of lava covered a large portion of the whole area. The pools were in 
violent agitation, and “ hissing, rumbling, agonizing sounds, came 
from the depths of the dread abyss.” 
c. When seen by Count Strzelecki in the same year, it was still in 
the condition above described. There were six lakes, one, as he 
states, of 300,000 square yards area, and five of about 5,700 square 
yards each. The great lake was in violent action. 
d. Captain Shepherd was at the crater September 16, 1839. There 
were “numerous small cones, twenty to thirty feet high,” “lakes of 
molten matter in violent agitation,” besides a “ great lake,’ one mile 
long and halfa mile broad. The party, (notwithstanding the activity, 
be it observed,) descended into the crater, and visited several of the cones » 
and small lakes on their way to the great lake. ‘This lake was in “ vio- 
lent ebullition,” underwent constant changes of brightness, and in some 
places flowed on, “leaving ridges of scoria on the northern shore.” 
e. We learn from the natives, that, for a week previous to the out- 
break, the whole interior was a fearful scene of fiery deluges and 
ejections. ‘There was no black ledge; for the lavas, by their over- 
flowings since 1832, had not only filled up the central pit, but accumu- 
lated over the ledge, and all was one vast theatre of intense action. 
The mountain was thus charged. The pressure on the sides below 
from the lavas and confined vapours had become immense. As a 
natural consequence, fissures opened and the lavas were drawn off; 
the centre of the great pit consequently sunk down three hundred and 
fifty or four hundred feet, which was its condition when visited by us. 
There was no great earthquake, no shaking of Mount Loa. At 
Hilo not the faintest rumbling was heard or felt; and only slight 
quiverings tothe south. It was a simple tapping of the great cauldron, 
Kilauea; and after it, the crater became comparatively inactive. Its 
black hardened surface, and the one or two boiling pools which re- 
mained over the vast area, exhibited the subdued quiet of exhaustion. 
The first appearance of the lavas at the surface occurred in a small 
crater called Arare, about six miles from Kilauea, (A, map on p. 169,) 
as was ascertained soon after by the Rev. T.. Coan.* The light was 
* Missionary Herald, 1841, volume xxxviii. p. 283. The author was over the portion 
of the eruption towards the sea in November. Subsequently it was examined by Captain 
Wilkes, Mr. J. Drayton, and Dr. C. Pickering; and by means of their investigations a 
map of the region was made out. 
