SUBMARINE ERUPTION IN 1877.
On the 14th of February, Mr. Green reported that from a "great vent on the flat top of the mountain there burst forth smoke and white-hot molten lavas" which lighted up the whole Island of Hawaii and was so bright on Maui as to cause people to believe that large sugar mills were on fire, which happened to be between them and Mauna Loa. Mr. C. J. Lyons being at Waimea, thirty miles north, estimates "that the smoke masses were ejected to a height of not less than 16,000 feet above the top of the mountain, where they hung, forming a dense stratum. The velocity with which they ascended was such that the first 5,00o feet were passed inside of a minute." Mr. Coan estimated the altitude at from 14,00o to 17,00o feet and stated that this brilliancy lasted for only ten days. On that last day a submarine eruption manifested itself, accom panied by an earthquake, a mile from the shore off Kealake kua. A crevice was made on a line between the summit and the site of the submarine eruption, extending inland for three miles. Rev. J. D. Paris has stated that the natives reported
fumes of sulphur and red-hot lava in fissures up the mountain side.
This eruption, about three A. M., February 24th, displayed red, blue and green lights, starting in very deep water, at what seemed to be a pali, and so it was at the intersection of two fissures according to Mr. Green. Mr. H. M. Whitney says that blocks of lava two feet square came up from below, fre quently striking and jarring the boats. The pieces were soft, red-hot, emitting steam and sulphurous gases. As soon as they became cold they sank out of sight. Another account says that some of the blocks were hard, as evidenced by the breaking off of a large piece of copper from one of the boats. About this time an earthquake wave was reported by Mr. Coan on the Kona coast. The coincidence of so many seismic phe nomena makes it probable that there must have been a sub marine discharge which relieved the pressure exerted by the column of molten lava in Mokuaweoweo.