MOKUAWEOWEO BETWEEN 1868 AND 1880.
August 10, 1872, heralded the beginning of a remarkable display of lava within the pit of Mokuaweoweo lasting for eighteen months, and no one has reported any discharge of lava connected with it over any part of the mountain or beneath the sea. Mr. Coan saw a lofty pillar of light, two hundred feet high, probably vapors or reflections in part, being sometimes a ver tical pillar, an inverted cone and an open umbrella. Seventeen days later there was no abatement in the brilliancy. Mr. Coan wrote that "of all the demonstrations made in this vast caldron on the summit of the mountain since our residence in Hilo, none have equaled this in magnitude, in vehemence and in du ration." August 27th there was a small earthquake wave at Hilo, the water rising during a calm four feet, and in a second wave, six minutes later, three feet, and diminishing for about fourteen oscillations. No one can say with certainty that this tidal dis turbance had any connection with either of the volcanoes. J.
Lydgate reported the existence of a fountain of fire in the crater in the latter part of August. September 21 the Hawaiian Gazette described the same more particularly—the fountain was in the southwest part of the pit, seventy-five feet in diam ter and five hundred in altitude ; it was in a basin covering one third of the lower platform, upon which a low cone formed. It was "a mighty fountain of clear molten lava." Dr. Samuel Kneeland gives the notes of observations made upon Mauna Loa in connection with its discharges, commenc ing August 9th, The names of the observers were W. T. Conway, H. C. Dimond, G, M. Curtis and H. N. Palmer. The location of the jet is not clear, save that the barometer gave it as 14,000 feet, and it would seem to have been near the precipice on the east wall. From the center of a small cone with an apparent diameter of two hundred feet, sprang a jet of molten lava not less than three hundred feet high and about one hundred feet in diameter. There was an opening on the northeast side of the cone, from which flowed a river of lava. which gradually widened into a broad lake, and from the other end of the lake took its course along the base of the precipice which separates the north from the south side of the crater. The fiery fountain was the principal feature; its roar was not unlike that of Niagara, but without the concussion and irreg ular booming sound of the great cataract. It is hard to con ceive the energy of the forces which could keep this heavy molten column in perpetual suspension so many hundred feet high for several weeks.
September 4. Fountain of lava started August 9 was one hun dred and fifty feet high in the middle part. Continuous all night.
September 8. Party of thirteen men and a guide confirm the report of September 4. The fountain was towards the west wall in the same place where it has been commonly seen.
On January 6th, 1873, the action at the summit was "mar vellously brilliant" as seen from Hilo, apparently that of z fountain. The herdmen at Ainapo represented that the moun tain was "constantly quivering like a boiling pot." April loth the activity was again discernible from Hilo as the light flashed upon the clouds. Rev. A. F. White climbed to the summit May 26th and saw the lava rising from one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet. On the 6th of June Miss Isabella L. Bird and W. L. Green ascended to the summit. For the two days previous no particular action was obvious because of the re flected fire, and they were fearful of being disappointed. When
within two miles of the crater a distant vibrating roar was audible; and on reaching the pit the roar was like that of the ocean. Most of the floor was an area of solid black lava, but at the southwest end there was a fountain of fire one hundred and fifty feet broad playing in several united but independent jets to the height of one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet. Miss Bird writes: "At night the lake was for the most part at white heat, and its surface was agitated with waves of white-hot lava about the fountain at the center. Through the rest of the vast crater the projecting ledges were thrown into bold relief by the reflected light, and by numerous dashes and lines of fire from apertures and crevices. Occasional detona tions were heard, but no shakings except the tremors from the throw and fall of the lavas. At one time the jets, after long playing at a height of three hundred feet, suddenly be came quite low, and for a few seconds there were cones of fire wallowing in a sea of light: then, with a roar like the sound of gathering waters, nearly the whole surface of the lake was lifted up, by the action of some powerful internal force, and its whole radiant mass rose three times in one glorious upward burst, to a height, as estimated by the surrounding cliffs, of six hundred feet. After this the fountain played as before. In one place heavy white vapor blew off powerful jets from the edge of the lake, and elsewhere there were frequent jets and ebullitions of the same; but there was not a trace of vapor over the burning lake itself." Mr. Green, who was with Miss Bird, describes the same scene as follows, having watched it for hours with a binocular: "The fountain generally played to a height of from three hundred to four hundred feet, as estimated from the known depth of the crater, although some spires or shoots would now and then rise to a greater altitude. The form of the fountain would con stantly vary, sometimes being in the shape of a low rounded dome, then perhaps forming a sort of spire in the center, with a fountain in the form of a wheat sheaf on each side. Some times it would look like one great wheat sheaf. On this day the visible vapors or gas connected with this fountain were quite insignificant; by daylight we could see none, but at night time the bright reflection from the molten lava made visible a light blue haze which quietly left it." * * * "There were two noises which were very easily distinguishable; one was the dull roar of the fall of this fountain of heavy liquid, and the other was the metallic clink of the fall of the solidified lavas which were constantly taken up by this fountain and thrown on to the solid rocks at a little distance from it. Indeed, these solid pieces and separate portions of the molten lava, which cooled in the air, formed a light falling veil over the dazzling lava fountain, and as it fell close round the sides, it formed a black, level scum which floated on the lava-lake, out of which the fountain arose. Whenever a more than usually solid mass of lava fell within the area of this lake, it seemed to force itself through the black, floating scoriaceous mass and make a golden splash of the white-hot lava beneath it. * * * Away from the fountain white fumes arose like those which often appear in Kilauea." Mr. Green wrote much more in substantiation of his belief that the fountain was simply a hydrostatic effect with important accompanying vapors.