General Science — List of' Scottish Patents. 187 



IV. GENERAL SCIENCE. 



19. Large Extinct Volcano in Hawaii. — The varied and strongly mark- 

 ed volcanic surface of the higher parts of the mountain called Mouna 

 Huararai, in the immediate vicinity of Kairua ; the traditional accounts 

 given by the natives of the eruptions which, from craters on its summit, 

 had, in different ages, deluged the low land along the coast, rendered it an 

 interesting object. About 8 o'clock in the morning Messrs Hurston and 

 Gardner left Kairua, accompanied by three men whom they had engag- 

 ed to conduct them to the summit. Having rested all night in a tent, they 

 next morning ascended the hardened surface of an ancient stream of lava. 

 Between nine and ten in the forenoon they arrived at a large extinguished 

 crater about a mile in circumference, and apparently 400 feet deep, the 

 sides sloped regularly, and at the bottom was a small mound, with an aper- 

 ture in its centre. By the side of this large crater, divided from it by a 

 narrow ridge of volcanic rocks, was another fifty-six feet in circumference, 

 from which volumes of sulphureous smoke and vapour continually ascend- 

 ed. The bottom could be seen, and on throwing stones into it, they were 

 heard to strike against its sides after eight seconds, but not to reach its bot- 

 tom. There were two other apertures near this, nine feet in diameter, 

 and apparently about 200 feet deep. As the party walked along the gid- 

 dy verge of the large crater, they could distinguish the course of two prin- 

 cipal streams that had issued from it in the great eruption about the year 

 1810. One had taken a direction nearly N. E., the other had flowed to 

 the N. W. in broad irresistible torrents, for a distance of twelve or fifteen 

 miles to the sea, where, driving back the water, it had extended the bounda- 

 ries of the island. They attempted to descend this crater, but the steep- 

 ness of its sides prevented their examining it so fully as they desired. 



After spending some time there, they walked along the ridge between 

 three and four miles, and examined sixteen different craters, similar in con- 

 struction to the first they had met with, though generally of smaller dimen- 

 sions. The whole ridge upon which they walked seemed little else than a con- 

 tinued line of craters, which, in different ages, had deluged the valleys be- 

 low with floods of lava, or showers of burning cinders. Some of these 

 craters appeared to have reposed for ages, as trees of considerable size 

 were growing upon their sides, and many of them were covered with earth 

 and clothed with verdure. They continued ascending till 3 p. m., when, 

 having suffered much from thirst, and finding they should not be able to 

 reach the highest part before dark, they judged it best to return to Kairua 

 without having reached the summit of Mouna Huararai. — Ellis's Mission- 

 ary Tour through Hawaii. 



Art. XXX.— LIST OF PATENTS GRANTED IN SCOTLAND 

 SINCE SEPTEMBER 9, 1826. 



37. Oct. 10. For certain Improvements in Steam-Engine Boilers, or 

 Steam Generators. To John Poole of Sheffield, in the County of York. 



