Haleakala and Kilauea 



241 



Most interesting of all were the Mountain Apple trees {Jamhosa 

 Malaccensis), which usually were encountered along the streams at 

 the bottom of the gorges. The natives call it Ohia ai, and it does not 

 belong to the apple family at all, but to the myrtles. To see one of 

 these trees, fifty or more feet high, densely loaded with the deep- 

 crimson fruit is to have a brand-new wilderness experience. The 

 mountain apple, two inches in diameter, is nearly all juice, and when 

 eaten on a hot day has a grateful cooling effect. The fruit is much 

 prized by the natives, and G. D. K. and I also found it, like Eve of 

 old, not only "pleasant to the eyes," but to be desired to make one 

 cool and comfortable, if not "wise." 



Beyond Kipahulu and Hana we took to walking again, this time 

 over the first lap of the famous Ditch Trail. All afternoon we 

 trudged through a steady, drenching tropical rain. There were roar- 

 ing streams and waterfalls everywhere, framed and canopied by 

 luxuriant vegetation. In the evening we arrived at the hospitable 

 home of John Plunkett, overseer of the intricate irrigation system by 

 which the water of the rainy side of Maui is distributed to more arid 

 agricultural areas on the other side of the island. Still another day 

 of walking was required to bring us back to roads, automobiles, and 

 civilization. But the numerous interesting experiences of these last 

 days must vacate the record for Kilauea. 



On the third of August I took the steamer at Lahaina, Maui, for 

 Hilo on the island of Hawaii. The latter city, beautifully situated on 

 the palm-girt Bay of Hilo, which cuts a deep notch into the eastern 

 side of the island, is connected by a much improvable thirty-mile 

 auto road with Volcano House and the Volcano Observatory, both of 

 them perched on the edge of the crater of Kilauea. The latter forms 

 a part of the northeastern slope of Mauna Loa and lies at an altitude 

 of four thousand feet above sea-level. The main crater is about three 

 miles long and two miles wide. It is a huge lava-covered pit with 

 walls five hundred feet high on the Volcano House side. The fire-pit 

 Halemaumau might be described as a crater within the larger crater. 

 As a rule, one can walk to the very edge of this live pit and watch its 

 ever-changing lakes of fiery lava — one of the most awe-inspiring 

 sights in the world. 



My first reconnaissance of the crater and its environs was made in 

 company with Mr. Joseph S. Emerson and his son Oliver. The 

 former made the topographic survey of the region, and his familiar- 



