Haw VolcanoesNa al Park National Service Park The Volcano House Register, Volume 2 1873-1885 In this volume, on almost every page, there are entries in which a writer merely gives his name, date, times of arrival and departure, and destination. In the other volumes, whenever this occurs, I mention that I omitted such an entry, and give the page number. But because there are so many such entries in this particular volume, it would become tedious both for the transcriber to record and the reader to read every case of such omission; so I am doing it once only, here at the beginning of the document. On the page facing page 1, there is a rough table of contents, listing the page numbers of various maps and signatures of Kalakaua, Louis Pasteur, etc. In addition, there is a poem: Index Some good Some mediocre And much rotten For the Lord's sake Don't write unless You have somethingHawai'i Volcanoes Park To say & can say it. National Park Ser no signature and no date Between 11 and 12 last night Mokuaweoweo started action again. The wind has been from the southward, and the whole day a dense body of smoke has been passing over Kilauea and across Puna, off to sea. Evidently a much greater portion of the crater is in action than in the eruption of August last. Had a heavy thunder shower about dusk with hail and this evening there is considerable lightning. Weather hazy and top of mountain seldom visible. Kilauea quite active but no lava flowing. D. Kamai, 7 Jan 1873 Arrived at 2:30 A.M. from Hilo en route for Kau. An extensive eruption of Mauna Loa was said to have been seen yesterday from Hilo, the flow being in the direction of Kailua. On my ride up I could see no light in that direction although the night was clear. Kilauea is rolling forth great volumes of smoke and steam--no fire to be seen this morn. G.J., 18 Jan 1873 Arrived this morning from Hilo. No further account of the eruption of M. Had a good view of the crater this morning--the lakes have all joined--no fire seen. Under the guidance of my worthy host I visited the sulphur banks for the first time although Hawai'ipassing Volcanoes frequently. I had presumedNational that inPark specimen cases I had seen the best of Pele's productionsNational but today Park was shown, Service sublimed fresh, from Nature's vast retorts the most beautiful crystals of sulphur and alum(?) They surpass any specimens that can be carried away--they fall in powder at the touch and like many of Nature's exhibitions must be seen in situ. A.S.N., 23 Jan 1873 [Lists relatives and places visited.] Arrived yesterday from Hilo after a ride of 11 1/2 hours. There was considerable activity, 11 fountains of fire, and waves of fire perpetually breaking into fiery spray. Much pleased with the comfort of the Volcano House. Isabella Bird, 31 Jan 1873 tion ai'i Haw VolcanoesNa al Park National Service Park Celebrated King Lunalilo's 38th birthday, in company with the above named lady, by a visit to Kilauea's wondrous workshop. The day was very unfavorable, with fog & rain, but we saw what we went to see, & returned satisfied. Hence, I advise all to do likewise remembering that "Heaven helps those who help themselves;" an untoward beginning often makes a glorious ending. I'm so charmed by everything in this vicinity that I want to stay a month, & go into the crater three times a week! I wish that everybody may enjoy their visit here as much as I do mine. Anna C. Park, Bennington, Vermont, U.S.A., 31 Jan 1873 Judging from what everyone has written, it seems necessary to commence by saying we arrived here. This arrival was mainly due to Joe Puni, our guide and a very good guide he is. He is rather apt to be facetious but is not irrepressible. We would advise anyone having him as guide to make him go to the crater as he is an excellent hand carrying specimens of lava etc., and as he is a pretty heavy man, he makes an excellent leader over doubtful places. (This is a puff for Joe.) Found old Pele rather active during the day, and this evening the old girl is illuminating grandly, but she is not doing her best and as the natives tell us on undoubted authority will not Hawai'ido it again until Volcanoes this present king dies and anotherPark is elected. Joe is a good Christian, but he believesNational in that freak Parkof Miss PeleSer implicitly, giving the reason that it always has been so, even at the recent election of Lunalilo and strange to say argument couldn't convince him against what he has seen. The view of the crater and the two lakes is really grand but if one goes a short distance westerly from when the crater is first seen, the sight is something terrible. Here are two mounds and a slight declivity, and each place is a hole in the crust which enables one to look below, and notice at the same time how this is the arch over the red­ hot cavern into which he is looking. Found the lava so hot near the crater, that it set our walking sticks on fire and we even lit our cigars without much difficulty. In accordance with the authorities quoted above, we close by saying that we start for Hilo tomorrow morning at 5:30. A.B. Carter, Lieut., 24 Feb 1873 Today I went into the crater with my father, mother, and brother. It was very active, and I looked into the holes of the cones, and it seemed like looking into the center of the earth. It was all fire. I got a great many different kinds of lava. It was very hard climbing. Mary H. Williams, 8 years old, 1 March 1873 Hawai'i VolcanoesArrived 1O minutes National before seven Parkp.m., from Hilo 1 O minutes before eight a.m. Had Nationala charming ride, Park fine weather Service most of the way, and no _____ Charles Nordhoff, 1 March 1873 A fine clear day. Made the descent into the crater--the fires in South Lake were very active, bursting up at intervals in jets and large swelling fountains. The lake is at present divided into two about equal parts by a wall of lava. At times the whole surface was molten; again it would cool_ presenting a gray satiny appearance. As the action increases in the center this crust breaks in great cakes which are absorbed in the molten mass. The most interesting feature that we observed was the cone south of the lake; looking through an opening at the base one sees great boulders that seem melting with fervent heat, stalactites six and eight feet long hang from the roof, and at a depth that seems at least ten hundred feet, the molten lava boils and seethes. There are three Haw VolcanoesNa al Park National Service Park openings at a little distance apart which give these views into the interior fire, and to us they seemed the most wonderful and fascinating of all the sights within the crater. Thirteen years ago I visited the crater and I now find very great changes have taken place since that visit. The floor of the crater has undergone much depression in the centre and large overflows have taken place from the South Lake making a toilsome ascent to the edge of the lake. At 2:15 P .M. Mr. Nordhoff and the writer left the Volcano House for South Lake, reaching it in fifty minutes; remained at the lake forty minutes and returned in sixty­ seven minutes for the whole trip. The fire in the lake was very active but we could only approach one of the cones because of the dense sulphurous smoke and the fumes, of which are overpowering. Charles Augustus Williams, 1 March 1873 In visiting the two lakes this day, we noticed two things: 1st, that the wind, when strong, as it was during part of the morning, sensibly affects the rapidity with which the lava is driven from one side of the lake to the other; 2d, that when the lake has been quiet for some minutes and entirely covered over with the gray scum, or solidified lava, there being then no exit for the gases, there comes first a violent ebullition, over the surface: with a somewhat vehement burst of molten lava, and this is accompanied by a strong draft of very hot Hawai'iwind from behind Volcanoes the observers and towards Park the lake--or with the wind--so hot that several timesNational it was almost Parkunendurable. Ser This hot wind proceeded from the numerous cracks in the lava beds: and made the lava sometimes too hot for our feet, so that we had to shift about from one foot to the other. This would seem to show that at such times the gases, failing to escape from the lake's surface, were driven back beneath the expanse of cold lava, and found their way out by the numerous cracks. Madame Pele was very kind to us. We had a magnificent show; the farther lake actually roared and was the finest. But one needs to look out for a sudden change of wind there. Charles Nordhoff, 3 March 1873 We arrived at quarter past three.