Further Notice of the Recent Eruption from the Volcano of Mauna Loa in Hawaii (Owhyhee)

Abstract

The stream of lava burst forth in August, 1855, from the side of Mauna Loa, which rises to a height of 14,000 feet above the sea, at a short distance below the summit, and about sixty miles in a direct line from the harbour of the town of Hilo in Byron's Bay. At the date of Mr. Miller's letter it had not ceased to flow, and had then continued for a period of twenty-three weeks, and the stream had a length of about fifty miles in all its windings. For the first three weeks it had flowed uninterruptedly about thirty-eight miles, when it met with a dense forest of trees and jungle which arrested its rapid progress. It had forced its way through ten or twelve miles of the forest, at the rate of about half a mile in a week. There still remained about three miles of the forest to the open ground which extends to the town of Hilo, the lava being about five or six miles distant from the town.