Haleakala and Kilauea 



243 



glowed with fervent heat and shimmered with various colors. By- 

 standing on top of one for a moment and cautiously peering down 

 into the bowels of the mountain, we could see a hundred feet below 

 a frothing fiery lake of lava. Dr. Jaggar then conducted me along 

 the rift which leads out into the Kau desert. It was the path along 

 which, like a giant mole, the lava from Halemaumau had split and 

 burrowed its way underground in December, 19 19, breaking out 

 with surface flows about eight miles from Kilauea. Perhaps the tun- 

 nels by which it traveled were much like the one which we had fol- 

 lowed a short time before. 



However, the most recent and spectacular activity of Kilauea was 

 that of March, 192 1, when the lava in Halemaumau spilled over the 

 rim and poured from rift-cones, covering the crater with new flows.* 

 There was violent fountaining in the fire-pit which kept throwing 

 the molten lava high into the air. Everywhere in hollows upon the 

 lava-beds could be found wisps and nests of Pele's hair — delicate 

 glassy fibers spun by the wind from the rising and falling drops of 

 liquid lava. We traveled over a good many of these most recent lava- 

 flows, often breaking through the bulging thin upper crust to the 

 more solid base six inches or a foot below. Most of the lava was of 

 the kind called by the Hawaiians pahoehoe, as distinguished from 

 da. Both these terms have been adopted by geologists as scientific 

 terms. The former is lava that when flowing forms glistening skins 

 that stretch and wrinkle (see Plate LXX) and when solidified show 

 a smooth lustrous surface. Aa lava, on the contrary, has a granular 

 and lumpy surface of extreme roughness. 



I cannot close this brief account of my experiences without refer- 

 ring to the admirable scientific work which is being accomplished by 

 the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory under the direction of Dr. T. A. 

 Jaggar. The discoveries made are too technical in character to be 

 enumerated here, but they are many and of a highly interesting and 

 important nature. It is to be hoped that the observations at Kilauea 

 may soon be supplemented and correlated with similar continuous 

 observations at Mount Lassen. Dr. Jaggar has promised the writer 

 an article for our Bulletin on the advantage of correlating Mount 

 Lassen observations with those at Kilauea. 



*The best account of this eruption is in the Monthly Bulletin of the Hawaiian VoU 

 cano Observatory, vol. IX, No. 3 (March, 1921). 



