xetter v.] AN IRRESPONSIBLE VAPOUR BATH. 



59 



It is a most picturesque sight by the light of the flickering fire, 

 and the fire which is unquenchable burns without. 



About 300 yards off there is a sulphur steam vapour-bath, 

 highly recommended by the host as a panacea for the woeful 

 aches, pains, and stiffness produced by the six mile scramble 

 through the crater, and I groaned and limped down to it : but 

 it is a most spasmodic arrangement, singularly independent of 

 human control, and I have not the slightest doubt that the 

 reason why Mr. Gilman obligingly remained in the vicinity 

 was, lest I should be scalded or blown to atoms by a sudden 

 freak of Kilauea, though I don't see that he was capable of pre- 

 venting either catastrophe ! A slight grass shed has been built 

 over a sulphur- steam crack, and within this there is a deep box 

 with a sliding lid and a hole for the throat, and the victim is 

 supposed to sit in this and be steamed. But on this occasion 

 the temperature was so high, that my hand, which I unwisely 

 experimented upon, was immediately scalded. In order not to 

 wound Mr. Oilman's feelings, which are evidently sensitive on 

 the subject of this irresponsible contrivance, I remained the 

 prescribed time within the shed, and then managed to limp a 

 little less, and go with him to what are called the Sulphur 

 Banks, on which sulphurous vapour is perpetually depositing 

 the most exquisite acicular sulphur crystals ; these, as they 

 aggregate, take entrancing forms, like the featherwork pro- 

 duced by the " frost-fall " in Colorado, but, like it, they perish 

 with a touch, and can only be seen in the wonderful laboratory 

 where they are formed. 



In addition to the natives before mentioned, there is an old 

 man here who has been a bullock-hunter on Hawaii for forty 

 years, and knows the island thoroughly. In common with all 

 the residents I have seen, he takes an intense interest in 

 volcanic phenomena, and has just been giving us a thrilling 

 account of the great eruption in 1868, when beautiful Hilo was 

 threatened with destruction. Three weeks ago, he says, a pro- 

 found hush fell on Kilauea, and the summit crater of Mauna 

 Loa became active, and amidst throbbings, rumblings, and 

 earthquakes, broke into such magnificence that the light was 

 visible 100 miles at sea, a burning mountain 13,750 feet high ! 

 The fires after two days died out as suddenly, and from here 

 we can see the great dome-like top, snow-capped under the 

 stars, serene in an eternal winter. 



I. L. B. 



