The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-09-18

tiOnS of the wind; but the wind was
rarely strong at the camp. One morn
ing | left my tent at seven o'clock with
a light southerly breeze blowing; but
after proceeding about half a mile to
the north l found myself facing a
bitterly cold northeast gale, against
which l could scarcely stand, so that
my purpose of going around the crater
had to be abandoned for that day. Re-
turning to the tent, | met the northerly
wind once more.
In order to familiarize myself with
the principal features of the crater 1
adopted the method of making a rough
plan of it with pocket prismatic COM
pass. The survey of this lonely region
must have been a plucky bit of work.
In some places the lava crust is thin
and fragile and although l never de-
scended farther than my waist there
is always in such localities a chance of
a sudden descent into cavern of con-
siderable depth. / hope to be able to
study the history Of the crater by COM
pairing it's condition at the time of my
visit with the accounts of it's state given
by previous observers. 1t is only by
such a method of inquiry that one
would be able to understand it's various
puzzling features. By a regular study
of this volcano the forecasting of it's
| eruptions would come within the do
main of the possible. AS we see it now,
| it displays to us the result of ages of
| eruptions, each great outbreak leaving
| some mark behind it often more or less
| obScured by the work of subsequent
| eruptions. Years of observation would
| be required to become really acquainted
with the working of this vent; but this
must be accomplished by monthly
| visits of two or three days duration
| The establishment of an observatory
would not be beneath the notice of an
| enlightened government. The sciences
| of vulcanology and of meteorology
| would be greatly benefited; and sun
| flashing signals could usually be made
| to the summit of Haleakala and thence
to other localities. l may remark that
one Sunday morning Captain Sinner
son of the steamship Mauna Loa tried
to flash up to me from Punaluu. How
ever, / was not on that side of the
mountain. To reach there | would have
been obliged to leave my camp at an
early hour with the thermometer far
below the freezing point.
My descent into the crater was made
on the northwest side. 1t was a tedi-
Gus operation and one had to tread
warily on the loose boulders that are
often inclined to roll down and crush
the intruder on his way. AS soon as
reached near the centre of the great pit
the clouds began to pour in on all sides
over the lips of the crater. In a few
minutes l was enveloped in a dense
mist, and any further observation was
rendered impracticable. During the
prevailing dry clear weather with a |
clOudless sky smoke" is only evident |
in two places in the crater, one near |
the centre and in the other in the |
southwest corner from the base of a |
yellOWiSh cliff where there are appar- |
emily extensive deposits of sulphur |
When, however, the sky is clouded |
and especially when the air is moist |
white vapour may be seen arising from |
the greater part Of the surface of the |
crater. The change is a little startling, |
the true explanation being that a large |
amount of the vapour evolved is only |
visible in cloudy murky weather. 1t is,
therefore, possible that the accounts of |
two observers may vary greatly as to
the crater's condition, and yet no diff
ference in the condition actually exist
This especially applies to the district
on the south and southwest borders
of the crater stretching about a mile
to the southwark. In cloudy weather
white vapour arises from many places
in this area. In the bright clear wealth
er that prevails the visitor may see
nothing and even walk unwittingly
over numerous cracks and assures
whence the invisible vapour is being
discharged. | took the temperature of
several of these assures. In those
where the vapour was only seen in
cloudy weather the temperature was
about 1O4 deg. When the Smoke" is
icih ic 20, |
higher, $50 deg. and over. Many of
these cracks and fissures exhibit evil
dence of having originally giving pas
sage to vapOurs at a very high temper
ature The red glaze that coats their
sides could never have been produced
by the comparatively cool vapors now
discharged from them. I should judge
that the subterranean heat is now
more actively displayed in the district
extending a mile to the south of the
big crater than in the crater itself. A
very large amount of vapour is dis
charged from the borders of a small
crater lying near Pohaku Hanalei, and
this is probably the smoke sometimes
observed from the Kona coast. One
may expect that the next eruption will
slope of the mountain. I visited many
of the miniature cones and small era
ters near the large crater. Reference
may here be made to a landslip that |
took place on the northeast side of the
crater during my stay. A tract about
200 yards long and 100 yards wide fell
into the crater producing a large
amount of brown smoke. I visited the
locality, and from my tour of the era
ter's circumference it became evident
that these landslips are not infrequent
and have been important factors in
the enlargement of the crateral cavity.
Traces of numerous camps are to be
found on the east side, at one of them
l found the remains of quarter of
beef and tongue still sweet, but much