the going was very good, along a nice, soft earthen trail and through a beautiful section of woods. Then we crossed a very rough broken lava flow of "aa" lava. "Aa" lava looks very much like the rough slag or the refuse of a blast furnace. It is as bad going as walking over broken bottles. For the next three miles the walking was very good at the end of which we came to Camp Bates, a rest station about a third of the way to the top. There is no shelter here but one can generally get a supply of water. This is the last place that a supply of wood can be found for firewood, as the top of the mountain is entirely devoid of even scrub brush. Just beyond Camp Bates we came across another lava flow which extended for nearly a mile. After crossing this we stopped for lunch. Captain Horan and Party Ready for the Final Lap of the Climb to the Summit of Mauna Loa From here to the top we crossed one lava flow after another until arriving at the rest camp at Puu Ulaula, elevation 10,000 feet, twenty-three and a half miles from camp. The rest house consists of a small kitchen, a bedroom, a small porch, a stable and a huge water tank. There were sixteen soldiers here when we arrived. They had come up the day before and were taking a oneday rest before ascending to the summit. The rest house was built for six. We put five men in a bed built for two, two men in a bed built for one, five men on the floor of the kitchen, four men on the floor under the beds and three on the floor in the center of the room. It was somewhat crowded, but we had all the windows open and it did not get very warm as the outside temperature became considerably below freezing as soon as the sun went down. Thursday morning we woke up about 6 o'clock, pooled our food, one of the sergeants cooked breakfast and eight of us started for the final ascent at 7 o'clock. The other eleven were too worn out to make the trip. It was a beautiful bright morning and the cold tang to the air made us feel like hiking. The trail to the top was over "aa" lava almost entirely. It was a rather poorly-defined trail and we had some trouble in keeping to it as we had no guide. After the first hour or so we began to get rather tired. The high altitude and thin air were very enervating. We took a five-minute rest every twenty-five minutes. The entire mountain seemed to be formed of a succession of lava flows, lava tubes and old extinct craters. We passed hot, steaming cracks by the dozen, and a moment later would be crossing large patches of snow. We finally reached the summit at about 11.30, covering a distance of about twelve miles, and losing only one man on the way. Here we stood on the summit of Mauna Loa, elevation 13,675 feet. The entire top of the mountain forms the huge crater of Mokuaweoweo. It has an area of 2,370 acres, is 9.5 miles in circumference, 3.7 miles in length and 1.7 miles in width. The floor of the crater is a solid mass of lava, mostly pahoehoe or stone-like slabs. While Mokuaweoweo itself has not been in eruption for nearly eighty years, yet vast flows of lava vomit forth from the sides of Mauna Loa a few miles below on the average of about once every ten years. After spending about two hours exploring the summit we started back to the rest house. We arrived about dusk in fairly good condition except that our shoes were completely worn out by the "aa" lava. We had each brought an extra pair, how ever. Friday morning we started back to the camp. It was a very easy and interesting hike. No one was at all tired so we had plenty of time and inclination. to look around us as we had been too tired on the way up. We passed dozens of herds of wild goats, which generally let us get up to within a hundred feet of them and would then scamper away. We got back to camp at about 4 o'clock, just in time to wash up to go down to the Crater Hotel to attend a tea to which we were invited. Mr. and Mrs. Short of the Crater Hotel, have built a very unique lodge a short distance from the hotel. They have fitted it up as a little tea house and have it entirely furnished with Oriental antiques. It is an ideal little place for a social gathering and is very homelike. Here we met most of the people who have country homes in the vicinity and also the National Park and Volcano Observatory officials. Saturday morning we hiked down to the Crater Hotel and took the Keahau Trail to the right. About a mile down this trail we came to Kuluaiki, a small, deep, fern-covered crater. Day View of Flowing Lava, Kilauea Volcano A short distance further we came to the first of the Twin Craters, two old extinct craters noted for their growth of tree ferns and tropical foliage. An excellent trail of tree-fern trunks leads down into the first crater. It leads through a wonderful damp, moist growth of tree ferns to a large cavelike opening in the side of the hill. This is a very interesting lava tube or cave, the finest in the district. It was formed by a lava flow from the Twin Craters, the flow crusting over so that when the lava drained away it formed a tunnel. We entered the cave and followed it for some distance by means of our flashlights. We finally came to a hole in the roof out of which we climbed and returned to the Keahau Trail. We went on down the trail until we came to the Kalapana Horse Trail which we followed to the left. This led us past Puu Huluhulu and Alealea Crater to Mokuapuhi Crater. This is a gigantic, double-floored crater, with perpendicular walls over 900 feet in height and with steaming sulphur banks at the foot. There are also steaming sulphur banks on the top, a short distance from the edge of the brink. There was no unusual activity about the crater, as Hardened Lava Which Forms the Floor of the Crater of Kalauea Volcano, Hawaii far as we could see, but the very next night the lava poured out of the sides into the bottom of the pit in eight huge streams, the first activity that has ever been recorded in this crater. We returned to the Kalapana Horse Trail and retraced our steps to the Cockett, or Six-Crater Trail. About a quarter of a mile along the trail we came to a vast pit, 430 feet deep, and divided into two parts by a high lava wall. One end has a sparsely wooded steep slope, but the other end has a sheer cliff dropping in a perpendicular wall to the bottom. About a half mile further we came to an enormous crater about 500 feet deep. At its far end are two prominent cones which, in all probability, vomited forth the lava which may now be seen at the bottom of the pit. A mile more brought us out on to a sandy, stony plain, in the middle of which we came to The Devil's Throat. This is a deep hole in the ground in the shape of a druggist's capsule, with a small hole at the top. It is about 50 feet in diameter and about 250 feet deep. The next crater is oval in shape and not very deep. It is densely wooded with beautiful vegetation and an ideal place for a picnic. Here we stopped and ate our lunches. The next crater, Puhimau, is a great steaming pit with almost perpendicular walls. It is 350 feet deep and 750 feet across. The last crater, Heake or Bird Crater, is about 250 feet deep and 350 feet across. It is very heavily wooded and is the home of many of the fast dwindling, beautifully colored native birds. A half mile further on we came to the main highway which we crossed to the Byron Ledge Trail. We followed this along the edge of the main crater of Kilauea, going in the direction of the Volcano House. The trail leads down to the ledge separating Kilaueaiki from the main crater, crosses the ledge and leads up the other side of the crater to a point some distance in rear of the Volcano Observatory. Upon reaching the Observatory we stopped and had a long talk with Dr. Jagger, the volocanologist, who explained to us the principle on which the volcano acted. We returned to camp by the main road. Upon arriving at the camp we dressed up in our "Sunday best" and went up to the Volcano House for dinner. One can hardly imagine the change from stepping out of the barren, rocky, lava country into such a magnificent hotel as the Volcano House is. One can almost imagine that one is in a large metropolitan hotel. The hotel stands on the very brink of the volcano. It is a large building and equipped with every modern convenience. They have even built a bath house over a large sulphur crack, where one can sit in a little steam chest, pull a plug out of the floor and enjoy a steam sulphur bath generated by Nature herself. From the front porch of the main building the glow and smoke of the lava lake were plainly visible. About 7 o'clock in the evening one of the ladies who had just arrived that day admiring the view from the front porch when she saw a glow in the sky to the southeast. Halemaumau is to the southwest. She called us out on the porch. The glow was getting brighter and brighter. Still further off to the east another glow appeared. Then a glow appeared above HalemauThree different and distinct glows were brightening the whole sky It began to look as if the whole island were aglow. We called up the Volcano House and Dr. Jagger, but were unable to locate the two new volcanoes. Along toward morning some of the soldiers came in and stated that the old extinct craters of Makaopuhi and Napau were both flowing freely with molten lava. Early on Monday morn mau. Rainbow Falls, Hawaii ing they both stopped flowing and Halemaumau temporarily also went to sleep. Monday noon we took the train back to Hilo as the boat left in the afternoon and we wanted to see something of the city. Upon arriving at the city we hired a car to take us around to the various points of interest. We first went to the Public Library to see the Naha Stone, one of the most interesting relics of old Hawaii. According to Hawaiian belief, the first person who could move the stone unaided would become the great chief of the island, but to him who could turn it would be given sovereignty over sovereignty over the entire Hawaiian group. Kamehameha I, the Napoleon of the Pacific, who in his youth was noted for his physical prowess, succeeded in turning the stone. Inspired to the hope of the fulfilment of the prophecy, he yielded to the persuasion of his friends and began the campaign which ultimately placed him on the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom. We next went to the Rainbow Falls, just outside of the city. This is a beautiful waterfall about a hundred feet high with a large, clear pool just below. Behind the waterfalls is a large recess or cave in which an ancient Hawaiian god is supposed to have lived. I A Training Meet Maj. L. D. Davis, 4th Infantry Na previous article there was discussed the desirability of the more extended use of competitive methods in our training schemes. That article suggested the use of such means as an aid in arousing and maintaining interest in phases of training not inherently of a competitive nature. A maneuver where the situation brings about a meeting engagement between two battalions can not but develop into a competitive affair; any target practice where more than one unit takes part is bound to become competitive, whether the unit be a soldier or a regiment. And in both of these cases the character of the work and the results will be the better for that fact. But there are many things in which we train our soldiers into which the stimulation of competition must be injected if we wish to have that force working for us. For instance, instruction in sketching, unlike target prac tice, does not naturally make itself competitive. The competitive characteristic can be introduced into practically every kind of training, and as the degree is readily regulated by those in charge we do not become involved in something that might overgrow and obscure the real purposes of training. In this article will be given in some detail a plan for a training meet. This is the simplest way to explain the operation of the idea. Two groups of officers are concerned-those charged with the preparation of detailed training schedules and the conduct of training meets, and the organization commanders who carry out the schedules, and for a training meet must select the soldiers to represent their organizations. All that the soldier who may take part has of concern in the matter is to be well trained in the subject, which, while a large problem of itself, is here briefly disposed of. Before going on with the plan, several assumptions will be made, all of them being considered reasonable. We will assume that it is a regiment concerned and that it is proposed to hold a training meet. Quite naturally there will be a number of subjects then being covered by the training schedules, and we will name among them: Bayonet combat, close-order disciplinary drill, sketching for noncommissioned officers, carrying of verbal messages for the personnel of the several headquarters companies. Local training orders have required that for the existing strength each organization have six flag signallers, but no instruction in wig-wag has been called for on recent drill schedules. One other assumption will be made, and that is, of the subjects named only sketching was included among the events of the previous meet. The reason for this assumption appears in paragraph 3 (a) |