noon before
After many days ' journey the base of the mountain was reached . Resting for the night , the next morning at daybreak Kapoiolani and her attendants , aided by long poles , commenced the ascent . Some carried provisions and others materials for building a hut for the accommodation of the chieftainess . It was past noon before the edge of the crater was reached , near which grew the bushes bearing the supposed sacred berries . It seemed surprising that any vegetation could be produced on such a spot . They now stood on the edge of a vast basin upwards of seven miles in circuit and nearly a thousand feet deep . At the bottom was a level floor two miles in length , in the centre of which was a vast lake of liquid lava , out of which rose numerous cones sending forth jets of smoke .