EARLY RECORDS OF ACTIVITY AT KILAUEA.
As is well known, the first detachment of American mission aries arrived in Hawaii in 182o. They gradually made them selves familiar with the island and dicovered the fact of the ex istence of the volcano of Kilauea. Because the natives possessed no written literature, it has been generally understood that their oral traditions transmitted from generation to generation had no scientific value. Historians have discovered that these traditions are of importance in determining the ancestry of the Hawaiians, and to some extent their chronology ; and therefore credence may be given to their statements about volcanic activity. They im agined that the volcano was inhabited by certain deities, and rep resented that there were struggles among them and that they had the power to produce flows of lava, both superficially and by un derground passages from the crater to the ocean. It may be said that these traditions represent the conceptions formed by the na tives of the nature of the eruptions; and consequently the deeds performed can be recognized in one or another phase of volcanic activity. Furthermore, the events are said to have taken place during the reigns of particular kings and therefore make known the date of certain definite eruptions. I have not been able to investigate this history thoroughly, but have gleaned a few facts which may be added to by experts.
The first information afforded by the missionaries is contained in a journal of a tour of exploration undertaken in 1823. Rev. William Ellis was an English missionary who had resided for several years in the Society Islands and had acquired a knowl edge of the language of that part of the Pacific, which is very much like the Hawaiian tongue. With Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennett, Ellis had explored some of the South Seas. The Hawaiian authorities invited Mr. Ellis, together with two Tahitian chiefs, to reside in Hawaii. The Amercan Board of Commis sioners of Foreign Missions took advantage of the opportunity afforded by the presence of these gentlemen to undertake the ex ploration of the island of Hawaii, primarily for evangelistic pur poses, and incidentally for the acquisition of any knowledge of general importance. The missionaries connected with the A. B.
C. F. M. who were associated with Mr. Ellis, were Reverends Asa Thurston, Artemas Bishop and Joseph Goodrich, and Mr. Harwood, an intelligent mechanic. All except Mr. Ellis arrived at Kailua, Hawai, June 26, 1823. Before the arrival of Mr. Ellis, eight days later, the company had discovered various signs of volcanic structure, and attempted the ascent of Mauna Huala lai, but failed to reach the summit, for want of supplies.
At length the journey around the island was commenced, and numerous references were made to volcanic phenomena, which need not be repeated. They journeyed through Kona and Kau till Kilauea was reached. They noted the conical hills of volcanic ashes not far from Tairitii, near Kahuku, which we now recognize as a part of the deposit blown out from Mokuaweoweo in pre historic times. After passing the South Cape they began to see the clouds of smoke and to smell the fumes of sulphur emanating from Kilauea. From Kapapala they diverged on a side trip to Ponahohoa, a distance of five miles, where they saw the discharge that came from Kilauea in the month of March. The story was that the goddess of Pele had issued from a subterranean cavern and overflowed the lowlands of Kapapala. The inundation was sudden and violent. One canoe had been burnt and four others carried out to the sea. At Mahuka the deep torrent of lava had transported a huge rock, nearly one hundred feet high, into the water which was still visible. The ground at ex hibited several chasms, some of them ten or twelve feet across, from which smoke and steam was issuing. The vegetation had been scorched, and a considerable heat was still emanating from the recently ejected lava.