The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-09-18
ON THE SUMMIT OF MAUNA LOA
Dr. L. Guppy Camps There Alone For Three Weeks Making
Extensive Scientific Investigations

| had an uncomfortable time of it
The wind was very gusty and was ap-
parently disposed to lift up my tent
and carry it bodily into the crater. II
| was bitterly cold, and l lay down with
my boots on, lit my pipe and prepared
for the worst. The canvas was reek-
| ing with the wet, and every fresh gust
of the biting northerly seemed to prom
ise to deprive me of my shelter. Ma
| ture, however, came to my aid. After
sunset it began to freeze hard, and be-
fore long the canvas of my tent was as
stiff as board and no longer swayed
to and fro with each gust of wind i
then fell asleep for an hour or two, and
woke up to find the wind blowing
strong from the south. A rapid thaw
| had set in, and the canvas was again
soaking with wet, the water running
down on my stores. This was repeated
during the night, and to vary the en-
tertainment there were two earth-tre-
mors, lasting in each case a few Sec
onds. My tent, however, held bravely
on. Sleep came to me in the early
morning and when / woke the sun was
high up and there was genial warmth
in the tent.
My observations on the relative hui
midity have yet to be worked out with
the requisite tables, but l may here
remark that there was occasionally as
much as difference of 20 degrees be-
tween the wet and dry bulb thermom-
eters, the usual difference being 10 to
10 degrees. AT 2 p. m. on August 18th
the reading of the wet bulb was 81 deg.
and of the dry bulb 57.5 deg. The night
as already remarked, were very cold.
The lowest temperature recorded was
10 deg. Fab, and during the last week
the minimum reading was always be-
low 20 deg. The average minimum
temperature for the period, August
9Th to 31st, was 23.5 deg. The error
of the thermometers at the freezing
point was ascertained by placing them
in melting pounded ice. Inside the
tent the temperature was only about
two degrees warmer and the water
froZe every night but one. 1 may add
for the benefit of subsequent sojourn-
erS that the caves are much warmer
at night. In a small cave near the
tent, which was reached by two holes
in the roof, the night temperature did
not fall below 35 deg. The highest
temperature of the air in the shade
was 61.2 deg, the average maximum
daily being 536, which places the av-
erage difference between the night and
day temperature at 80 deg. This great
daily range, which is about twice what
it is at the Coast, was not the least
trying of the conditions of existence in
this elevated region. The mean of the
maximum and minimum temperatures
is 3S.5 deg. Probably the mean tenn
perature for the whole Of August would
be about 40 deg.
The cloud effects were often magni-
fcent, but there is scarcely space to
sea of cumuli that gathered in the fore
noon around the mountain slopes usu-
ally concealed the Kohala mountains,
but as a rule failed to hide the summit |
of Hualalai, and probably the level of
its upper limit is on the average be- |
tween 5000 and 1000 feet. Except on |
the few occasions when there were |
raln-clOudS about, the SUBMITS of Ha- |
leakala and Mauna Kea were always |
visible. On the forms and movements |
Of the clouds | made regular observa-
tiOns. Perhaps the most striking phe- |
nomenon was that of the evanescent |
cirrus. In one minute the observer may |
be gazing at a cloudless sky overhead. |
In the next there appears as if by |
magic a large white cloud, which being |
at no great elevation is carried rapidly |
across the zenith and dissolveS away |
in the course of a few minutes The |
history of one of those clouds may
thus be traced. The spectator looking, |
we will say, to the east, sees only the
clear blue of a cloudless sky. Then |
suddenly a tiny white speck appears
and in a few minutes the speck be-
comes a conspicuous cloud. In less than
half a minute it has attained consider |
able dimensions, and as it is borne
rapidly westward it exhibits violent
commotion in it's interior, frequently
it's form and in few minutes
melting away altogether. Sometimes, |
when there were number Of these
cirri visible, the heavens presented
quite a bewildering spectacle in quick
appearance and disappearance Of the
clouds and in their frequent change of
form.
There was a continual struggle be-
tween the northerly and sOutherly
winds on the summit the vicinity of
my tent in the middle of the west side
of the crater being their frequent bat
tie ground At such times miniature
whirlwinds carried up sand and paper
into the air: and if the tent was open
its interior became filled with dust. |
On the north and east sides the wind
was usually northeast and easterly. |
On the south side it was south and
easterly; whilst on the west side north
Nal n -Act IN n1ttl h