HAWAIIAN GUIDE BOOK. 



93 



grow, and has an extent of pasturage like a pampas in 

 Brazil. At the shore the cattle are tame and form a 

 rich herd ; but in the upper forest region they are wild, 

 and are hunted only for their hides. The proprietor 

 counts cattle, sheep, goats and acres by the tens of 

 thousands. Here the stranger is sure of a cordial 

 reception, and at this point preparations may be made 

 for the ascent of the 14,000 feet elevation to the sum- 

 mit crater of Mokuaweoweo. 



ASCENT OF MAUNA LOA. 



The frequent excursions made by travelers during 

 the past three years to the top of this mountain, have 

 dispelled the terrors which former travelers had thrown 

 over its rough gorges and broken clinker a-a lava fields. 

 Even ladies have conquered the untrod heights, and 

 have seen Mokuaweoweo in irruption. Douglass, the 

 ill-fated English explorer, first described the summit as 

 "twenty-four miles in circumference, and in terrible 

 activity ! The interior a tremendous sunken fire five 

 miles square, being a lake of liquid fire sometimes 

 tranquil, sometimes rolling its blazing waves with furi- 

 ous agitation and casting them upwards in columns of 

 from 30 to 170 feet high." The greatest depth, 

 measured by a line and plummet, was found to be 1270 

 feet. The American missionary Goodrich made the 

 ascent previously, but did not see the crater in action. 

 Mr. Douglass was 17 days in performing the trip, and 

 subsequently lost his life on this same mountain. 



In the winter of 1840 Com. Wilkes left Kilauea 

 December 18th, with a large company of officers, 

 sailors and natives and reached the crater on the 22d. 



