DR. TEMPEST ANDERSON ON TIIE 
[Nov. 19 IO, 
63 + 
as was also a house near Saleaula belonging to Mr. Bartley. In 
these three cases, although the interiors were burnt and gutted, 
the lava was fluid enough to surround the structures and bury 
them in various degrees without overthrowing the walls. Thus 
the body of the church of Sataputu was entirely buried under 
30 or 40 feet of lava, and the only part remaining visible is the 
tower which still rears its head above the lava-field (PI. XLIX, 
fig. 2). The walls were, in this case, substantial enough to cool 
the lava where it touches them, and so far to solidify it that sub¬ 
sequent flows were kept back, the upper part remaining uncovered 
in the middle of a depression which almost simulates a subsidence. 
Mr. Bartley’s house, though gutted, remains standing in the 
midst of a similar depression. The lava in this case was not so 
deep as in the first. 
The church of Saleaula was near the edge of the lava, which 
was consequently of no great thickness ; the lava was fluid enough 
to enter the building through the windows and cover the floor to 
a depth of several feet, without overthrowing the walls. 
Damage to Yegetation. 
All vegetation overwhelmed by the lava was, of course, killed ; 
but much more damage was done by the Ua Sami, or poisonous 
gases, discharged from the crater, or formed by the action of the 
hot lava on the sea-water. The destruction of vegetation was 
naturally greater in the vicinity of the crater, and was especially 
severe on the high ground to the west, owing to the prevailing wind 
being easterly and north-easterly. O 11 the descent from the crater 
in this direction the destruction of trees was complete, and to 
nearly as far as Olonono, a distance of 2 ^ miles, their bleached 
skeletons were all that remained. It was only in a few sheltered 
situations that the low undergrowth was beginning to return 
from the old roots, till this distance was reached, the trees having- 
suffered more than the undergrowth. I heard from credible 
sources that the cocoa-nut palms had been killed as far as 5 miles 
to the west of the crater. On the low ground, both at Saleaula on 
the -west, and Sataputu on the east, the damage was less. Trees 
close to and actually in the lava were killed, and I noticed many 
moulds -where the lava had solidified round them, and the trunks 
had subsequently decayed 1 or been burnt out; but luxuriant tropical 
growth had returned right up to the lava, and was beginning to 
spread over it, especially near Sataputu. The plains that seem to 
be the pioneers were especially the creeping vines like Ipomea; and 
it is noticed that these were similar to, if not identical with, some 
of the commonest pioneer plants on the Soufriere of St. Yincent. 
1 In Hawaii I have seen this process carried a stage further. The lava has 
cooled and solidified so as to form a mould round a tree, but this solidification 
lias only extended to a distance of a foot or two, the surrounding lava still 
remaining fluid. The flow has continued its course, and the still fluid part run 
away, so that a tube of solidified lava like a chimney 10 or 12 feet high remains 
standing and marks the position of the former tree. 
