A gentleman who slept at the summit in September, 1873, told me the ice made over two inches thick during the night.
If Mauna Loa is active, a traveler on the Islands ought by all means to see it; for Dr.Coan assures me that it is then one of the most terrific and grand sights imaginable.

I did not visit it, as it was not active while I was on the Islands, though its fires were alive.

The crater is a pit about three miles in circumference, with precipitous banks about two thousand feet deep.

At the bottom is the burning lake, which has a curious habit of throwing up a jet, more or less constant, of fiery lava, to the height, this last summer, of four or five hundred feet from the surface of the lake.

It is a fine sight, but, of course, somewhat distant.