9 



T. Coan on the Eruption at Hawaii. 243 



of about 4°, and the burning stream was urging its way along 

 the rocky channel below. 



But the scene on the night of the 12th of February, was, in 

 some respects, more gorgeous still, as it combined the element of 

 water with that of fire. A stream of lava from 20 to 40 yards 

 wide had followed the rocky and precipitous bed of a river, un- 

 til it was two miles in advance of the main lava flow, which was 

 nearly two miles broad. Beating our way through the thicket, 

 we came upon the terminus of this narrow stream of lava, near 

 sunset. It was intensely active, and about to pour over a pre- 

 cipice of 39 feet (by measurement,) into a basin of deep water, 

 large enough to float a ship. Before dark, the lava began to fall 

 into the water, first in great broken masses, like clots of blood ; 

 but in a short time in continuous, incandescent streams, which 

 increased from hour to hour in volume, in brilliancy and in rate 

 of motion. The water boiled and raged with fearful vehemence, 

 raising its domes and cones of ebullition ten feet high, and re- 

 flecting the red masses of fusion like a sea of fire mingled with 

 blood. 



The evaporation was rapid and sublime. From the whole sur- 

 face of the basin, a vast irregular column of vapor rose and 

 rolled upward in fleecy wreaths, and hung in a gilded and glo- 

 rious canopy over the dark forest and over the fiery abyss. All 

 night long the scene was ever changing and yet unchanged. 

 The convolutions and gyrations were constant and inimitable. 

 Sometimes the fleecy pillar would roll up vertically, until it 

 seemed to form an entablature for the great dome of heaven. 

 Again, it would career off upon the winds, like a glorious 

 galaxy, or break up in delicate tumuli to adorn the midnight 

 sky. We encamped on the bank of the river, about fifty feet 

 below the fiery cataract, and exactly opposite the basin of water 

 into which the lava was flowing, 20 feet only from its rim. 

 The face of this precipice was an angle of about 80°, and the 

 lava flowed down it briskly and continuously, in streams from 

 one to four feet deep, during the night. Before morning this 

 whole body of water, some 20 feet deep, was converted into 

 steam, and the precipice became a gently inclined plane. In a 

 few hours more the action ceased at this point and it has not 

 been again renewed. 



I have seen continuous lava streams flow rapidly down the 

 sides of the mountain from 10 to probably 50 feet deep. Lava 

 flows at any depth, or any angle, and at any rate of progress from 

 20 feet an hour to 40 miles. 



March 17. — The lava has made no progress towards us since 

 the date of this letter. 



