LETTER XXIX.] 



' WRONG'"' ON MAUN A LOA. 



265 



table-land, indeed, of dark grey lava, blotched by outbursts, 

 and torn by streams of brown a-a, and full of hideous cre- 

 vasses and fearful shapes, as if a hundred waves of lava had 

 rolled themselves one on another, and had congealed in con- 

 fused heaps. 



Our guide took us a little wrong once, but soon recovered 

 himself with much sagacity. " Wrong " on Mauna Loa means 

 being arrested by an impassable a-a stream, and our last pre- 

 decessors had nearly been stopped by getting into one in which 

 they suffered severely. 



These a-a streams are very deep, and when in a state of 

 fusion move along in a mass twenty feet high sometimes, with 

 very solid walls. Professor Alexander, of Honolulu, supposes 

 them to be from the beginning less fluid than pa-hoehoe, and 

 that they advance very slowly, being full of solid points, or 

 centres of cooling : that a-a, in fact, grains like sugar. Its 

 hardness is indescribable. It is an aggregate of upright, rugged, 

 adamantine points, and at a distance, a river of it looks like a 

 dark brown Mer de Glace. 



At half-past four we reached the edge of an a-a stream, about 

 as wide as the Ouse at Huntingdon Bridge, and it was obvious 

 that somehow or other we must cross it : indeed, I know not 

 if it be possible to reach the crater without passing through one 

 or another of these obstacles.* I should have liked to have 

 left the animals there, but it was represented as impossible to 

 proceed on foot, and though this was a decided misrepresenta- 

 tion, Mr. Green plunged in. I had resolved that he should 

 never have any bother in consequence of his kindness in 

 taking me with him, and, indeed, everyone had enough to do 

 in taking care of himself and his own beast, but I never found 

 it harder to repress a cry for help. Not that I was in the least 

 danger, but there was every risk of the beautiful mule being 

 much hurt, or breaking her legs. The fear shown by the 

 animals was pathetic ; they shrank back, cowered, trembled, 

 breathed hard and heavily, and stumbled and plunged pain- 

 fully. It was sickening to see their terror and suffering, the 

 struggling and slipping into cracks, the blood and torture. The 

 mules with their small legs and wonderful agility were more 

 frightened than hurt, but the horses were splashed with blood 

 up to their knees, and their poor eyes looked piteous. 



* Professor George Forbes who ascended Mauna Loa in 1875, informs 

 me that lie reached the crater without passing through a-a. 



