THE AUTHOR'S VISIT IN 1883.
By the record of the visitor's book Captain Dutton was at the Volcano July 14, August 4, and September 12. The author ar rived there February 9 in the following year, in company with Rev. A. 0. Forbes of Honolulu, who from his familiarity with the Hawaiian language was able to locate the proper positions of Kilauea iki, Poli o Keawe and Keanakakoi. Several days were spent in the vicinity. At the first inspection it was possible, after dark, to count ninety places from the Volcano House brink where fire was visible. This, of course, included many repetitions of single streams of which portions were concealed by intervening ledges. In general the phenomena observed were the same with those described by Captain Dutton and it will be unnecessary to repeat what has just been described. In the New Lake the lava seemed to spurt up in jets six to eight feet high, and they re semble the drawings of fire tempests on the surface of the sun as given in astronomical text books. The drops spun out to make Pele's hair were observed to dart a distance of eighteen or twenty feet. The description of the behavior of the lava in New Lake cannot be improved. I counted a hundred jets visible at one time. The cliffs about the lake were nearly fifty feet in height. The instant when the heat was most intolerable was just before the break-ups; and I accepted the explanation of Nordhoff, that this heat filled the crevices behind us because the stiffened crust prevented its escape into the air and it therefore made its way outward in the crevices. These periods of break ing up came regularly every hour. The outlet was at the north end; and February 9th it discharged copiously, so much so that it was impossible to return to the Volcano House by the direct road which had been taken in order to reach the lake. We had no diffi culty in obtaining discharges of liquid lava by punching the dome-like structures held in position simply by a thin stiffened crust. The color of the flame contained more of the orange ele ment than is apparent in ordinary fire. Halemaumau was reached with some difficulty and displayed the same freezing and break ing up observed in the New Lake. It was surrounded by three rough walls, rudely concentric with the borders of the fire. See Plate 35. It was a true crater in distinction from the application of the term caldera to the entire pit. The steam cloud rising from Halemaumau was turned either way according to the wind, and presented a general resemblance to the "Pine-tree" of Vesuvius.
In examining the fissures near to and far away from Kilauea, it was observed that they were generally parallel to the walls of the caldera. Apropos of the question of the relations of Kilauea to Mauna Loa, it was noticed that the ground falls off about five hundred feet before reaching the base of the latter dome. Hence
it seemed to be an entirely independent elevation ; and the con tinuation of the basaltic sheets from every side till they met in the air over the pit would have made an eminence several hun dred feet higher than the plain is at present.
March 3o. Occasional overflows of lakes and crater gradually filling up. H. M. Whitney.
May 8. Visitors could not return by the same path on which, they crossed the crater because of the lava overflow.
July 23. Fifteen boiling places in south lake. Lava poured into a cave on the side of the lake.
Aug. 9. Found only slight activity ; but there was a fine dis play upon the following day. G. H. Barton.
Aug. 1o. T. H. Davies. Both lakes : a new caldron; a break into a new cavern. Three rocky islands in south lake which changed their positions at night.
Aug. 13. One hundred and twenty-five feet of the bank fell into the New Lake.
Jan. 2. Submarine eruption off Cape Kumukahu. Mrs. S. J. Lyman.
Jan. 28, 1884. Both lakes in fusion. Rockets rise one hundred feet. Whole of New Lake boiling and surging like the sea. Pele's hair floating in the atmosphere.
Feb. 16. Old crater a sea of fire. New Lake burst into sudden activity.
March 3. The Little Beggar came into being between New Lake and Halemaumau. It was a dome two feet high from which a stream of lava flowed for several hundred feet. So called be cause it screamed viciously. C. H. Dickey.
March 17. Unwonted activity at New Lake.
May 15. New Lake twice as large as on April, 1882, the bank having caved in. South Lake or Halemaumau similarly enlarged. Little Beggar wholly new, as well as a breakdown between it and Halemaumau. W. R. Castle.
May 17. New Lake broken up the first time for several months. Went to floor of Halemaumau through a gap upon the north side. The path descends from ten to fifteen feet below the level of the lake. The lake rose one foot in less than twenty-four hours. The flow from the Little Beggar has nearly reached the north wall of the crater.
Nov. 5 to i 1. Halemaumau active. Little Beggar noisy and blowing and sending forth a fresh stream. New Lake almost quiet.
Jan. 15, 1885. Crater near Halemaumau considerably built up since last visit. C. H. Wetmore.
July 29. New Lake less active, but Halemaumau and the Little Beggar exceedingly lively. E. C. Oggel.
Aug. 23. D. H. Hitchcock. Halemaumau now overtops the west bank. New Lake active; and streams from both of them flow over the crater floor.
Dec. 29. Quite a flow ran out of Halemaumau. E. P. Baker. June 25 to Dec. 15. Both lakes very active. New Lake com to build a wall reaching one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet by March, i886.