most spectacular exhibit of the Hawaii National Park is the lake of
fire in the crater of Kilauea.

Kilauea is unusual among volcanoes. It follows few of the popular
conceptions. Older than the towering Mauna Loa, its height is only four
thousand feet. Its lavas have found vents through its flanks, which they
have broadened and flattened. Doubtless its own lavas have helped Mauna
Loa's to merge the two mountains into one. It is no longer explosive
like the usual volcano; since 1790, when it destroyed a native army, it
has ejected neither rocks nor ashes. Its crater is no longer definitely
bowl-shaped. From the middle of a broad flat plain, which really is what
is left of the ancient great crater, drops a pit with vertical sides
within which boil its lavas.

[Illustration: _From a photograph copyright by E.M. Newman_

THE KILAUEA PIT OF FIRE, HAWAII NATIONAL PARK

Photographed at night by the light of its flaming lava]

[Illustration: _From a photograph copyright by Newman Travel Talks and
Brown and Dawson_

WITHIN THE CRATER OF KILAUEA]

The pit, the lake of fire, is Halemaumau, commonly translated "The
House of Everlasting Fire"; the correct translation is "The House of the
Maumau Fern," whose leaf is twisted and contorted like some forms of
lava. Two miles and a little more from Halemaumau, on a part of the
ancient crater wall, stands the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which is
under the control of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The
observatory was built for the special purpose of studying the pit of
fire, the risings and fallings of whose lavas bear a relationship toward
the volcanism of Mauna Loa which is scientifically important, but which
we need not discuss here.

The traveller enters Hawaii by steamer through Hilo. He reaches the rim
of Kilauea by automobile, an inspiring run of thirty-one miles over a
road of volcanic glass, bordered with vegetation strange to eyes
accustomed only to that of the temperate zone--brilliant hibiscus,
native hardwood trees with feathery pompons for blossoms, and the giant
ferns which tower overhead. On the rim are the hotels and the
observatory. Steam-jets emerge at intervals, and hot sulphur banks
exhibit rich yellows. From there the way descends to the floor of the
crater and unrolls a ribbon of flower-bordered road seven miles long to
the pit of fire. By trail, the distance is only two miles and a half
across long stretches of hard lava congealed in ropes and