MOUNT LOA, HAWAIIL 209 
crater, if thus active, would have shown evidence of it, like Kilauea, 
in an illuminated cloud at night. But neither this nor any other 
proofs of its action were noticed at the time by the Hawaiians or the 
whites residing among them.* 
An eruption took place in January, 1843, which is described by 
Messrs. Andrews and Coan.t It broke out at the very summit, on 
the 10th of January, and continued down the slopes of Mount Loa in 
two streams; one flowed to the westward towards Kona; the other 
flowed northward to the foot of Mount Kea, and then dividing, one part 
continued on towards Waimea northeastward, and the other towards 
Hilo, eastward. The branch towards Mount Kea is described as twenty- 
five or thirty miles long, and averaging one and a half miles in width. 
* A comparison of the statements in the following paragraph by Mr. Douglas, with 
the observations by the officers of the Vincennes, will show that this incredulity is not mis- 
placed. “ This mountain (Mount Loa), with an elevation of 13,517 feet, is one of the 
most interesting in the world. The journey to the top took me seventeen days. On the 
summit is a volcano, nearly twenty-four miles in circumference, and at present in terrific 
activity. You must not confound this with the one situated on the flanks of Mauna Roa, 
and spoken of by the missionaries and Lord Byron, and which [ visited also, It is diffi- 
cult to attempt describing such an immense place. ‘The spectator is lost in terror and 
admiration at beholding an enormous sunken pit, (for it differs from all our notions of 
volcanoes as possessing cone-shaped summits with terminal openings,) five miles square of 
which is a lake of liquid fire, in a state of ebullition, sometimes tranquil, at other times 
rolling its blazing waves with furious agitation, and casting them upwards in columns 
from thirty to one hundred and seventy feet. This volcano is 1272 feet deep ; I mean 
down to the surface of the fire; its chasms and caverns can never be measured.” Ex- 
tracts from the Journal of Mr. Douglas, Magazine of Zoology and Botany, 1887, i. 582. 
t Missionary Herald, xxxix. 381, 463; and xl. 44. The course of the stream and its 
origin were particularly examined by the Rev. T. Coan, 
~ As the Missionary Herald may be seen by few readers of this work, and the facts 
afford important illustrations of the mode of volcanic action on Hawaii, we cite a few para- 
graphs from the account by Mr. Coan. 
“On the morning of January 10th, before day, we discovered a small beacon-fire near 
the summit of Mauna Loa. ‘This was-soon found to be a new eruption on the north- 
eastern slope of the mountain, at an elevation of near 13,000 feet. Subsequently the lava 
appeared to burst out at several different points lower down the mountain, from whence it 
flowed off in the direction of Mauna Kea, filling the valley between the mountains with a 
sea of fire. Here the stream divided, one part flowing towards Waimea, northward, 
and the other eastward towards Hilo. Still another great stream flowed along the base of 
Mauna Loa to Hualalai in Kona. For about four weeks, this scene continued without 
much abatement. At the present time, after six weeks, the action is much diminished, 
though it is still somewhat vehement at one or two points along the line of eruption.”— 
(Miss. Herald, xxxix. 463.) Ascending the mountains, Mr. C. reached the stream of 
lava between Mount Loa and Mount Kea, about 7000 feet above the sea. On the 
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