KILAUEA IN DECEMBER, 1908.
The conditions at Kilauea in the early part of December were examined by myself in company with Mr. Thurston, who writes as follows, under date of Dec. 6: "No radical change since last September and October. The surface has subsided somewhat, being now three hundred feet deep. No indication of rising or falling seen. The welling of the lava as voluminous as ever. Action less spectacular than in September. Chief action on northwest side, where there was continuous boiling over an area one hundred by one hun dred and fifty feet; lava being spattered up ten to twenty-five feet. A tremendous suction adjacent to the boiling area, mov ing as much as five miles an hour. Three black ledges, the innermost from fifty to sixty feet high." There was no change in conditions from Dec. 3 to 11. The length of the lake was estimated to be three hundred and fifty feet and half as wide. Occasionally the lava would flow in from a hole on the northerly side. Much of the surface was darker because of its congelation ; thus various fire lines would make a network, the pieces would be disjointed and sink out of sight. The spatter work reminded one of gold leaf. Except that the level of the lake was lower than it was early in Sep tember there was no essential change in the conditions, as described above. Pele's hair was plenty.
The general features of the Caldera may be mentioned. A carriage road has been constructed from the Volcano House to the south side of Kilauea-iki, a distance of four miles. The government has furnished a number of convicts from the peni tentiary who are engaged in the necessary digging, grading and removal of the earth. It is intended that this road shall soon be completed as far as to Keanakakoi, and thence directly to Halemaumau across the sulphur banks, so that visitors may ride in carriages to the very brink of the fire; and eventually it will be possible to ride entirely around the Caldera. It is evi dent that there have been several slides of rock into the pit, so that the area of the volcano is constantly growing larger, though not enough to be noticeable upon our maps of small scale.
A few altitudes are presented : Above the Below Volcano Below Sea House kahunaVolcano House ... 117 Waldron's Ledge 4030 IO 127 Kilauea-iki, north side 3922 118 235 Kilauea-iki, bottom 3173 867 Poli-o-Keawe 2932 108 225 Keanakakoi, ,..dg-e 3757 283 400 Keanakakoi, bottom 3357 683 Soo Kapuai 3719 321 Puu Pohaku, heights south of Ki lauea 161 278 Lowest level of this divide 3765 275 392 Uwekahuna +117 ...
Wilkes' camp 70 187 Black ledge, lowest point in path under Volcano House 6or Edge of Halemaumau 3758-3772 268-282 385-399 Bottom of Halemaumau Dec. 6 3460 58o 697 Little Beggar 3702 338 455 Height of cone of Halemaumau 202-216 . . . . . .
Viewed from above the black rock is very suggestive of ink. On reaching the floor the roughnesses are seen at their proper dimensions, comparable to waves on the ocean. A well marked trail leads to Halemaumau, traversed constantly by tourists on foot or horseback. Quite near the starting point is a large fissure spanned by a bridge, as much as a fourth of a mile in length, crossing the path and rudely parallel to the north wall. To the left are many hollow domes from one to three hundred feet long and perhaps twenty feet high, lined with stalactites. These were once liquid lava flowing north erly from Halemaumau. These hummocks and the whole sur face are traversed by fissures, produced by the falling of the roofs of these tunnels, and often these clefts have been occu pied by streams of lava. The floor is an immense black ledge, mostly pahoehoe, and having much ropy structure. Next the east wall the waves are smoother and broader. The flow from Poli-o-Keawe of 1832 is hardly recognizable, having suffered from slides, and also has been obscured by vegetation. Rather towards Uwekahuna are black lines of aa. Near the corral for horses may be seen the flow of the Little Beggar, a sunken tunnel with five flows of petrified lava, films and incrustations of gypsum. To the west are areas from which hot gases arise, as the Devil's Kitchen, where food may be cooked and postal cards scorched. Near the view point of the melted lava are the remnants of three spiracles. Halemaumau is surrounded by the finest exhibitions of the domes, tunnels, and ropy struc ture, being largely the flow of 1894.
The guides can find caves filled with stalactites to the south, where fine specimens may be obtained. There are also places where sulphur has been condensed from the vapors.
When the lava was fresh there were various grades of liquid ity; the thinnest being where the heat was most intense, and the surface had a beautiful black glaze, sometimes called hyalophane.
The sulphur banks in the southwest part of the Caldera seem to consist of tuff dipping gently towards Halemaumau. There are several rents upon it running N. E. and S. W., seem ingly the work of recent faulting. Steam rises after rains, from the east side of Kilauea between the sulphur banks and the 1832 flow. The basalts succeed the tuffs at the mouth of the canyon leading from Keanakakoi, with a horizontal strati fication. A similar consolidated tuff borders the volcano oppo site Halemaumau, and Puu Pohaku is covered by much basaltic pumice.
Early in February, 1909, E. D. Baldwin finds the level of the liquid lava to be two hundred and thirty-five feet below the edge of Halemaumau.