Upon Mr. Dodge's map the lava is represented as starting from an orifice below the edge of Poli o Keawe, spreading out like a fan so as to include the Hut, and then turning westerly so as to pour into Kilauea ; and there was so much of it that it makes a tongue-like projection into the contour of the lower plain just at the northern end of the sulphur banks. Professor Dana was greatly impressed by the appearance of these cooled and hollow streams, as he saw them in 1840. "The angle of descent of these streams was about thirty-five degrees ; and yet the streams were continuous. The ejection had been made to a height of four hundred feet at a time when the pit below was under baing lavas and ready for discharge. Elsewhere about the upper walls, and also about those of the lower pit, no scoria was seen. The surfaces of walls are those of fractures, brought into sight by sub sidences ; and the rocks of the layers were as solid as the most solid of lavas. Moreover, no scoria intervened between the beds of lava even in the walls of the lower pit, each new stream hav ing apparently melted the scoria-crust of the layer it flowed over ; and no beds of cinders or volcanic ashes were anywhere to be seen in alternation with the beds of lava. While the cooled lava streams over the bottom were of the smooth-surfaced kind, and would be called pahoehoe, there was the important distinction into streams having the scoria-crust just mentioned, and those having the ex terior solid with no separate crust—facts that pointed to some marked difference in conditions of origin." The floor of Kilauea iki is covered by as many as fifty hum mocks fifteen or twenty feet high. They arrested the atten tion of Professor W. H. Pickering in 1905, who conceives them to illustrate the process of construction of Kilauea itself as well as elevations on the surface of the moon. He says, "The surface of the crater floor of Kilauea iki seems to have solidified into a layer six to ten inches in depth and distinct from the portions be low it. * * * A liquid core forced up from below raised this surface layer locally, and shattered it into separate pieces like cakes of ice. This core in the case of the smaller craterlets was sometimes only two or three feet in diameter, and could be seen beneath the shattered surface. In one instance its summit seemed to have an almost globular form, five feet in diameter. If the volcanic forces beneath these craterlets had been more intense, it is probable that the issuing lava would have completely de stroyed them, forming a series of crater pits into which the lava would have subsequently retreated. In the southwest part of the
floor two such pits were found, perhaps fifteen feet in depth by thirty in diameter, down into which a stream of lava had poured, hut had solidified without filling them u p."40 Kilauea iki, according to Mr. Dodge's map, is 3,300 feet from east to west and 2,80o feet from north to south, and is seven hun dred and forty feet deep, or eight hundred and sixty-seven feet below the Volcano House, from which it is about a mile distant. It is best reached by descending the north wall, making use of ropes in the steepest part of the slope. It is now (19o9) en circled by a carriage road from the Volcano House.
This was the original name given to it by the natives, iki, mean ing little, and was used by Mr. Ellis in his Journal, and by most travelers. Professor Brigham called it Poli o Keawe, and ap plied the Kilauea iki to Keanakakoi ; and was followed by Cap tain Dutton. On questioning reliable natives in 1883 about the nomenclature, I found that Mr. Ellis was right in his early ap plication of these names, and that the expression Poli o Keawe, signifying the bosom of Keawe, should be applied to the bluff overlooking Kilauea between the two side pits. Keanakakoi was derived from ana, a cave, and koi an axe or adze : meaning a chip ping axe cave, because stone implements had been manufactured here in primitive times. The same name is applied to the famous locality for the manufacture of implements situated near the summit of Mauna Kea.
On further investiagtion I have discovered that Professor Brigham has improperly represented that Mr. Goodrich endorsed two names relating to The first is Halemaumau and the second is Poli o Keawe. He has made an abstract of Mr. Goodrich's statement, as partially quoted above, into two sentences amounting to seventy-eight words, including the two geographical names, and has included the whole in quotation marks. Neither of the expressions Halemaumau or Poli o Keawe were used by Mr. Goodrich, although he describes both the localities. Pro fessor Brigham probably did not intend to intimate that Mr. Goodrich used the words indicated.
It is worthy of note that for a short time eruptions may have taken place simultaneously from Kilauea and Mokuaweoweo in 1832. The first one commenced action January 12th and the second June loth. We have, however, no definite statement from any one that the discharge from Kilauea continued as late as to the opening of the fire streams upon Mauna Loa, though it is not improbable.