Hawaii. It is situated on a beautiful crescent-shaped bay, with a fine, sandy beach, and presents a magnificent view, with the palm-covered Cocoanut Island jutting out into the bay and the snowcovered peaks of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea rising above the clouds in the distance. A train met us at the dock and took us into the city, where we were given an hour to see the town before again taking the train for the volcano. We left the train at Glenwood, where we were met by automobiles in which we continued the journey, arriving at the Kilauea military camp, elevation 4,000 feet, at about 11 o'clock. The military camp consists of a group of buildings erected by the Hilo Chamber of Commerce and turned over to the Army as a rest camp for Bulletin No. 48 J the officers and enlisted men of the Hawaiian Department. The officers' building contains about twelve bedrooms, a kitchen, a bath and a large combination living room and dining room, with a huge fireplace built across one end. The east building contains the main kitchen, the mess, the recreation room, the theatre, the post exchange, and the camp offices. The west building contains the dormitories and the infirmary. Here all visitors spend a week of absolute rest and freedom. There is not a sound of a drum or a bugle. There isn't even a mess call. It isn't necessary. The high altitude and low temperature cause the inner man to notify one when meal time is approaching. Here one can wear whatever uniform he desires. The nature of the Headquarters, Hawaiian Department, Subject: SPECIAL REGULATIONS FOR KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP. (Extract.) 1. In 1916 citizens of the Territory of Hawaii contributed about $24,000 for the establishment of a military camp at the Volcano on the Island of Hawaii, to be used by the National Guard, the Army and other organizations. 2. This camp has been turned over to the Army for its exclusive use as long as the Department Commander maintains campers there. The purpose of the camp is to provide healthy recreation for the members of this command and their families by giving them the benefit of a temperate climate. 3. Detachments of not less than 100, nor more than 125, enlisted men will be sent to the camp each Saturday, returning to Honolulu a week from the following Tuesday. country is such that the oldest and roughest clothes are worn. The officers and their wives generally wear riding togs and the soldiers their fatigue uniforms. Immediately after dinner several of us took a walk out back of the camp to the golf links. These links were built by the Volcano House, but are free to the public. We crossed the links to the Tree Moulds. These are large holes in the ground formed during an old lava flow by the lava flowing around the trees, burning them away and leaving perfect casts of them in the hardened lava. We re-crossed the links to the Dent Ranch, passed through the corral and out into the pasture beyond. After crossing the pasture past a dismantled lumber mill we entered a koa forest. The koa tree is the Hawaiian Kilauea Volcano in Eruption mahogany and takes a very beautiful finish. It is chiefly used in making Hawaiian curios and ukeleles. Just beyond the lumber mill we came to an old railroad embankment, which is now used as a trail. This took us through a vast fern forest, a typical tropical jungle. The trail came out near the Volcano House. We next went to the Sulphur Banks, a short distance from the hotel. These are banks of red dirt cracked here and there by long, narrow fissures up through which sulphurladen steam is constantly arising. This condenses on the shrubbery and rocks in scintillating crystals that glisten and gleam in the sun. Nearby the Sulphur Banks was a well-drilling outfit that was boring into the ground endeavoring to secure sufficient heat or steam to convert into electrical energy. A ten-minute walk brought us back to the military camp. As soon as we finished supper we hired a car to take us to Halemaumau, the active pit of Kilauea Volcano. The entire sky above the volcano was a wonderful golden glow, and we were told that there was probably a great activity. We arrived at the end of the automobile road at about 7 o'clock. After a fifteen-minute hike we arrived on the brink of the pit. The activity had practically ceased. In one or two places the molten lava was bubbling and boiling, but there was no spouting or general upheaval such as we had expected. We sat on the edge of the crater watching the seething of the fiery pits and listening to the music of a quartette of Hawaiians who were playing their ukeleles and singing their native songs. Finally it became so cold that, even with our overcoats, we were compelled to pull ourselves away and go back to camp. On Monday morning we took our lunches for a day's stay at the active pit of Halemaumau. We left the camp at about half past eight and took the short cut to the pit by way of Uwekahuna Bluff. We passed along the western edge of the Kilauea crater to the bluff. This is the highest point on the bank of the crater. A magnificent view was obtained here of the entire crater of Kilauea. The craters of Kilauea-iki and Keanakakoi were seen across the crater floor, while the float were ing islands of Halemaumau plainly visible about 50 feet above the surface. A steep trail was negotiated with considerable difficulty to the floor of the crater. From here a well-defined trail led us in a few minutes to the brink of Halemaumau, the "House of Everlasting Fire." About 40 or 50 feet below the brink we saw a great black, smoking mass of rock out of which loomed numerous rocky islands. Not a sign of fire could be seen. We were all disappointed. Suddenly the entire floor of the pit began to heave. A few fiery red cracks appeared. The cracks spread. Molten lava began to appear around the edges of the cracks. The heaving still continued. Suddenly great slabs of the floor were turned on end and disappeared in the molten mass beneath. Other slabs were upended and disappeared. The entire floor seemed to suddenly give way and disappear. In place of the black pavement-like floor Night View of Flowing Lava in the Crater of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii the entire pit was filled with a seething, hissing, tossing mass. Great geysers of molten lava were spouting into the air 30 or 40 feet high. It was a wonderful, awe-inspiring sight. Soon the edges of the floor began to harden. Gradually the entire mass cooled off and the floor resumed its solid formation, except for a few pools that continued to spout. A few soldiers and some moving-picture operators crossed over to the islands across the still hot lava. Here they took pictures of the inner pool and of each other. While they were taking pictures of the pit the lava again began to flow and they had to remain on the island for nearly two hours while the floor of the pit tumbled and tossed in wild fiery disarray. We stayed at the pit till nearly 4 o'clock watching the wonderful display of nature's fireworks. We walked entirely around the pit looking at it from the different sides. On the south side we came to a dome-shaped mound similar to an esquimo hut. We climbed on top of this mound and looked into Pele's Oven, a hot, fiery furnace of seething lava about 15 feet below the surface. This was the source of the lava flows of 1919 and 1920, when the entire floor of the main crater was covered with from 15 to 20 feet of molten lava. Passing on around the pit, we took the old trail leading to the Volcano House. This took us to a steamfilled cavern called Pele's Bathroom. A little further we came to a small tube partly covered by a lava cascade somewhat resembling an elephant. Between the elephant's feet is a recess largely used as a background for photographs. This is known as the Devil's Picture Frame. Just beyond this is a small Lava Tube, Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii cone out of which the 1880 flow torrented, forming a lake at its base. Some distance further on is the Mosaic Pavement, a remarkable lava formation in mosaic form. Still further on is a sunken area in the floor filled with highly heated steam. highly heated steam. This is called the Devil's Kitchen. From here on the trail is well marked with large lava monuments leading across the lava flows of 1919 and 1920 to the foot of the trail just below the Volcano House. From here to the main highway we had a steady climb for about 20 minutes over a rather steep but well-made trail. From the Volcano House we went back to the camp along the main highway. On Tuesday morning we repeated the trip of the preceding day as far as Halemaumau. Here we stayed for about an hour watching the ever-inter esting lava activity. Then we continued on across the main crater in a southerly direction and climbed to the top of the brink by way of a very steep gulch. From here we headed for the Cone Craters along a poorly defined trail. About two miles along the trail we came to a white sign marking the site of Parson's Tube. This is a lava tube the extent of which has never been determined. Not having any flashlights, we did not attempt to explore it. About three miles further we came to Puu Koae, the first of the cone craters. Some distance further we came to Kamakala, an almost inaccessible cone. off to the west, crossing the still-smoking lava flow of 1920 and the steaming cracks and fissures of 1868. A short distance further we came to the main highway, where we caught a ride back to the camp. We were somewhat disappointed in the trip, it being too hard and tiresome considering the few really interesting points on the route. From here we veered At about 5 o'clock we made up our lunches and again went to the volcano to watch the inferno. Upon arriving at the end of the road we carried our food to the windbreak on the north side of the pit. Here we prepared our supper over a hot crack. We roasted potatoes, fried bacon, made gravy, toasted bread and boiled coffee, nature herself furnishing the heat. After having completed our meal, we threw our pasteboard plates and other refuse into the pit, where they were instantly consumed by the fire below. The height of the lava had subsided about 200 feet since Sunday night. But as if to make up for the lower level, the Goddess Pele put on a magnificent show for us. Because of the cold we all climbed down a ledge about 12 feet inside the pit, and watched the fire. At first only Old Faithful, in the center of the pit, seemed to be just playing. The lava merely bubbled and boiled. After about one hour things began to hum. One pool after another appeared. Greater and greater became the activity. Great geysers of lava were hurled 50 feet in the air. Great slabs of lava were upended one after another, the entire pit becoming a lake of fiery lava. One pool would cool off only to have another pool begin its activity. From 8 o'clock until 11 it was just one constant show after another. We could hardly pull ourselves away, even at midnight, the fascination of the activity was so great. Crossing the Lava Beds on the Way to On Wednesday morning three of us packed up our bedding, took a threeday supply of food, hired a pack mule and started for the summit of Mauna Loa, a trip that no officers had hitherto undertaken. We took the trail across the golf links, and through the Bird Forest. For the first six or seven miles |