90 HAWAIIAN GUIDE BOOK. 



of them must always remain one of the most fascinating 

 recollections of my life. During three hours, the bank 

 of lava which almost divided the lakes rose considera- 

 bly, owing to the cooling of the spray as it dashed over 

 it, and a cavern of considerable size was formed within 

 it, the roof of which was hnng with fiery stalactites, 

 more than a foot long. Nearly the whole time the sur- 

 ges of the further lake taking a southerly direction, 

 broke with a tremendous noise on the bold craggy cliffs 

 which are its southern boundary, throwing their gory 

 spray to a height of fully forty feet. At times an over- 

 hanging crag fell in, creating a vast splash of fire and 

 increased commotion. 



" Almost close below us there was an intermittent jet 

 of lava, which kept cooling round what was possibly a 

 blow-hole forming a cone with an open top, which when 

 we first saw it was about six feet high on its highest 

 side, and about as many in diameter. Up this cone or 

 chimney heavy jets of lava were thrown every second or 

 two, and cooling as they fell over its edge, raised it rap- 

 idly before onr eyes. Its fiery interior, and the singu- 

 lar sound with which the lava was vomited up, were 

 very awful. There was no smoke rising from the lake, 

 only a faint blue vapor which the wind carried in the op- 

 posite direction. The heat was excessive. We were 

 obliged to stand the whole time, and the soles of our 

 boots were burned, and my ear and one side of my face 

 were blistered. Although there was no smoke from the 

 lake itself, there was an awful region to the westward, 

 of smoke, and sound, and rolling clouds of steam and 

 vapor whose phenomena it was not safe to investigate, 

 where the blowing cones are, whose fires last night ap- 



