The Polynesian., 1840-08-15
THE POLYNESIAN.
Vita sine virtue atque eruditione nullius pret est.
SATURDAY. AUG. Is, 1910.
GLEANINGS FROM THE EDITORS NOTE
BOOK.ARAWAH No 4.


men, we found them in state of mutiny-
refusing to go farther, and threatening to
leave us nstantcr. Upon examination, the
reason was soon discovered; they had de-
voured all the food furnished for fourteen
days in five, averaging lbs, weight to
man daily, besides having stolen most of
ours, They were a precious set of rascals
from the first; but it must be allowed the
fault was somewhat ours, in humoring them
too much. After hiring them (when too late
to make CHANGE we learned that they
were government convicts, and we antcpa-
ted trouble - but not vile ingratitude from
kanaka, with ten pounds of poi per diem in
his belly, and as much fish and beef as he
could swallow after, But so it proved; if
we had starved and abused them, they would
no doubt have been faithful servants. There
was no remedy but to give up Nlauna Loa,
and push directly for ltilo. q. ..
The ascent OF Nauna Loa was to us an
object Of great interest, in order to satisfy
ourselves Of. the accuracy of Douglass ac-
count In his journal he differs much from
the statements made by himself in letter to
a friend in Lendon., We give the extract as.
published in his Melnoir:-
"yhe red faced man, 'tho cut o6'the limbs. of men
ana ga'hred sras% is ;il 'knownherc; and the peo-
pie sIy that he climbed Muna Ioa n one how @. or,
has s!nee done So n'l went up short While ago*
of this extraordinary mountain is "a Volcano, ne lrly
tweni y-four miles IN rircmtce ncc, and at present in
terrific activity: lon must not conound this with the
one situated on the tanks of .Nlanna Ioa, and spoken
visited also. difficult TO attempt describing such
an immense place The spectator is lost in terior and
admlration at bchodny an enonnous snnken Pit, (ior
1t differs from all our notions of volcanoes, poaessng
cone shaped SUBMITS. with terminal opcnings,) five
miles square OF which is lake OF liquid fire, state of
IebnhtiQn, sometimes tranquil, at ohcr times rolling its
blazing waves with furious agitation and custiIg them
upwards n columns OF toln thirty Done hundre and
seventy feet hign. in places, the hardened lava
piled one above an other, IN terrific, magnicence,
through and among which the fiery fluid forces lis way
hom,'or loses itself in flhonlqSs chasms at the bottom
of the cauldron. This volcano IS thousand two hun.
red and seyenty-two feet deep; mem down the
surface of the fire. It's chasms and caverns can never
be measured Mauna Loa appears, indeed, more like
nneleynted table LAND than 9mouTptan 1t isa high,
broad dome, formed by an nfintHde Of layers of vol.
canc matter, thrown out from - many mouths of IFS
craters Vegetation docs not exist higher than eleven
thousand feet; herc is no Sol whatever, and water
appears few feet from he verge, the ground dnking
! il up like a-sponge on the higher parts grow some
Ru6ns, Fraseria, Pdccinium and some hnci.
j Twisted also the volcano of Xii luea, The lateral
volcano OF Nauna Lon; it is nearly nine miles round
one thousand one hundred feet deep, and is Likewise in
stare ct terrific aSstivily.'- Ha'oaian Spectator,
\ p9i. II, No. 4, PIP. 1877, SOB.
/. "Ihe summit of this extraordinary mountain is so
flat that from this 20 Ut no part OF the island can be
seen, not even the high pea ks of Naulm kei nor the
distant horizon of the though the sky was remark
ably clear 1t horizon OF itself and about sey en-
miles in diameter. Leaving these three behind, and ac
companed by only Calipio. went on about two miles
and half, when the Great Terminal Volcano or Cone
of Ma,ma I.oa burst on my view ali my attempts TO
scale!he black ledge here were Intellectual, as the i$
sures IN the lava were much concealed, though not
protected by the snow, that the under aking was ac-
Ecompanied with great dinger. Most reluctantly was
obliged TO return, without being able to measure accu
raely its extraordinary dep'h. From this point walk
ed along upon the brink Of the high ledge along the
east SIDE, TO the hump, so to speak, Of the mountains
the pont as seentiom Mpnna keo. appears the high
est. As stood on the brink of the ledge the wind
whHled uptrOm the cavity with such furious violence
that could hardly keep my footing whntw enty pa
ces OF It, The circumference of the black ledge of The
nearly circular crater described as nearly as nv cir
c'unstances would now me to ascertain, is six miles
about twenty -four mIes The depth of the ledge,
4 from the highest part Perpendicular station on The
east) by an accurate me lsuCment with a line and
plummet, is twelve bundled and seventy feet II an
pearst to have filled upcensdeably all round that part
TO the north OF the orcle seeming TO have at no very
remote period Undergone the violent activity moi
by boiling and overlooking, not by discharging under
ground. but by throwing ont stones Of immense size 10
the distance of miles around IFS opening to &c her with
ashes and sand Terrible chasm exist AT the bottom
appearing in some places if the mountain had been
rem, TO- IT'S very rOots no termination can be seen 10
Their depth, even when The eve is aided wi good
glass and the sky is clear of smoke and tie SIM shin
been when this volcano was in state Of actiJity
ihe part to the south of the circles where the oue, of
the lava has evidently been, must have enjoy ed ong
period OF repose Were it not for the dykes on the